Serial link to OK6410-B

Some notes, as I progress. I have found that trying to apply the instructions for the FriendlyARM mini6410 board to my OK6410-B board is not smooth sailing.

Anyway, I have the serial connection with the board working. The board has a RS232 port. My laptop does not have a RS232 serial port, however the board is supplied with a (separate) "USB2.0 to RS232 Convertor" -- and it is truly a no-name brand, no manufacturer identification anywhere.

When the board starts up, it outputs to the serial port. For example, if I were to get Linux booting, then the bootup log would go to the serial port. It is, effectively, the operator console.

But, this requires a RS232 serial communications application running in Linux on my laptop. Wary and Racy have 'microcom', a commandline application.
However, there is a GUI app called 'cutecom', that requires Qt 3.x. In the Package Manager, you will find this in the 'puppy-3' repository.
When it installs Qt, some libraries are reported missing (libmysqlclient*) -- just ignore that.

The 'pl2303.ko' kernel driver is required, and this will load automatically when the usb-rs232 adaptor is plugged in. However, I had to manually load 'usbserial.ko':

# modprobe usbserial

Then, run 'cutecom' and type "/dev/ttyUSB0" into the interface-port box, "115200" into the baud-rate box, then click the "Open port" button.

Now we are in business. Turn on the OK6410 board, and bootup messages should appear in the cutecom window.

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Comments

PL-2303
Username: FeodorF
Device PL-2303H/HX/X version chip Prolific Technology Inc. http://www.prolific.com.tw Search: PL-2303 Used this one for my LG cellphone. hth

Kermit etc.
Username: Dougal
"Barry, there was some discussion in the comments on LWN a while ago about serial console access, which seems to imply minicom is somewhat complicated to use... might want to use Kermit or screen: http://lwn.net/Articles/448636/

mini6410
Username: FeodorF
"https://linuxlink.timesys.com/docs/gsg/mini6410#SECTION00020000000000000000 hth

Tags: puppy