[time-nuts] TBOLT communications

[Arnold Tibus]

On Mon, 1 Sep 2008 08:43:45 +1000, Neville Michie wrote:

>Hello all,
>I received my TBOLT from TAPR and proceeded to stoke it up.
>However I have not been able to get response from TBOLTMON.
>I use a laptop with a USB port driving a USB-serial converter marked  
>N287.
>The laptop, unfortunately, runs VISTA. However I can drive an HP Z3815A
>with a null modem cable and a GCRU/D with a straight cable, and I can  
>also drive
>HOBO data loggers with these USB-serial converters. With VISTA there  
>is always a
>lot of experimenting to find the allocated COM port number and right  
>baud rate etc.
>Whatever I do I cannot get a response from the TBOLT.
>Preliminary poking with a CRO probe shows some signals on both pin 3  
>and pin 2
>of the RS232 lead.
>Is it possible to accidentally put the TBOLT in a state where it does  
>not listen?
>Does it have RS232 requirements that the serial converted does not fit?
>I would be thankful of any good suggestions,
>cheers, Neville Michie


Hello Neville and all the others starting with Thunderbolt,
TBoltMon is very helpful, but some functions are difficult to find. 
In case the com parameters are unknown or changing due to (MS)-OS 
behavier:
Execute TBoltMon, select in 'ser. port window' com1 (default) and hit 'ok'. 
In the following main window of the program klick with the right mouse 
key somewhere in that main window, select in the appearing menu 
'auto find all', the program will find all the existing com ports and the 
active port with Thunderbolt for you, passing along with the cusor to the 
fields, you will find in the bottom line further explanations and instructions, 
right clicking does sometimes open further menus.
Select the active port with the green marker aside (TBolt activities found) 
with a mouse click. 

Have fun with it,
regards,

Arnold