Can't get computer to connect to GSM modem - putty

I'm a student working on a project that involves interacting with a GSM modem via AT commands. I've been having trouble connecting my computer to the modem.
What I know: The modem is on, the drivers are installed, a SIM card is in one of the modem's ports, and I see the COM ports in the device manager.
However, when I try to use PuTTY to enter with serial, it launches, but it never works. On one of the ports, it lets me type, but it never responds when I use the command "AT". On all the others, it simply won't let me type anything.
I have been stuck on this for a while and any suggestions would be appreciated.

Related

Sending regular UDP packets in Windows 10

I currently have an effect here that drives me crazy.
I got a Windows 10 PC System in a local network at home ( A typical 192.168.178.X network with a Fritzbox as DNS and Gateway)
Everything runs fine. The Windows PC can connect to the internet, I can browse, play games in the internet etc.
Now I am currently playing around with a little device (ESP8266 and an OLED) which is connected via WLAN to the Fritzbox, while my Windows PC is via cable. The device shall receive UDP messages (no broadcast, just direct) and display them on its OLED.
I programmed the device and start it, then doing a test via my android mobile (also in the network via Wireless), using some UDP tester app from the store. Every UDP Packet is perfectly received and displayed on the device.
Now I want to test it from the Windows PC. I downloaded a free tool from the internet (Packet Sender). Entered the address and port and gave it some text to send.
The device does not receive anything at all. Strange #1.
Now I do some little coding in Java on the PC now. A simple "Hello World UDP Sender". Taken directly from some tutorial. (Activated IPV4 as Parameter)
The device does not receive anything. Strange #2.
On the Windows PC I have VirtualBox installed with an ubuntu as guest.
I start Netcat within it and start a UDP session. Every single Text I type in appears perfectly in the device. Strange #3.
Now I am confused and could need some help.
What do I miss? Is there any setting in Windows that prevents simple UDP Packets (No Broadcast) from being sent to any host in the same network?
I googled the net but did not find any clue.
EDIT:
The PC seems not to be the problem (maybe). I did a packet recording with the fritzbox and the UDP packets arrive there. They just do not seem to reach any wireless device in my home network.
I still did not figure out the exact problem, but I think it is related to either my Fritzbox and/or my computers "relation" to it. After I updated my Windows 10 with the anniversary update, my PC got a new IP assigned. Now everything works.

Device interface over USB

I have an usb device (pole display), which i don't have driver for.
I installed generic usb driver and opened the port for sending(I use bulk transfer) data to device.
With usb monitoring software i see my data gets to device, but nothing much happens on device side.
The device commands(ESC/POS) work when transfered over (virtual) com port, but not over usb port.
Shouldn't device process commands the same way regardless connection type (com vs usb)?
How can i figure out what commands work with the device (for example, if i send some text, i want it to show on display)?
Any help is appreciated!
Look at the USB descriptors the device reports in order to determine its class. If it is a custom device and not a standard class then you'll likely not be able to work with it. There is a big difference between old RS-232 COM protocol and USB. USB devices can have multiple configurations and endpoints, each responding to data in different ways. Many classes exist and are pretty standard (CDC-ACM is typically used for virtual serial ports.) However, it's not uncommon for device manufacturers to include OEM specific configurations and endpoints which can be used for their own custom interfaces, firmware loading, etc.
Is there any initialization data transmitted through the COM port when connecting the device? The device surely can treat COM and USB different, but another possible thing that goes wrong is that the device needs to hear some sort of "I'm going to start sending commands"-signal from you first, and that signal may be different between COM and USB.
So what I would recommend is first (if you have not done that yet) see what data is sent to initialize the COM connection, and if that doesn't have an obvious USB counterpart, connect it to a PC where you do have drivers (assuming that is available somewhere and somehow, which is possible if e.g. you ask this due to OS incompatibility) and see how the connection is initialized there.
If the first doesn't work and the second is unavailable to you, then I'm afraid there's little I can do to help you, since it's usually not visible for you what commands the device wants to hear other than by guesswork, documentation, or comparing to similar devices where you do have that data available.

How to send modem AT Commands to a board from from OSX

Does anyone out there who has developed on a dev board attached to a Mac OSX machine's USB port know how to send AT tty modem commands to the board? Arduino folks? Anyone?
TL;DR
I purchased a development STEVAL-SPBT2ATV2 "USB Dongle for the Bluetooth class 2 SPBT2532C2.AT module", which, according to the docs and spec has "downloaded FW, enabling the user to create a Bluetooth link with simple AT commands."
Which would be great, except all the documentation is only for old MS Windows, and doesn't give any hints on how to program this device from OSX or Linux.
Do I need to install a driver of some sort? Everything I've tried is like talking to a brick wall: I send commands, but nothing comes back from the board.
Things I've tried:
/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem already existed. Didn't seem to do anything. I think that's the built-in bluetooth device.
/dev/tty.AmpedUp-AMP-SPP and /dev/cu.AmpedUp-AMP-SPP showed up when I went to "Network -> set up bluetooth device" - which is good (correct device name) but strange, why under network?
Then under Bluetooth I can add a "serial port used to connect to this computer" and get the choice of Modem or RS-232. I guessed Modem.
I really hope I don't have to mess with the /etc/tty files
Nothing. the device never seems to react, or send any data back. I've tried several ways to send data to the device. Silence.
echo "AT+AB GPIOConfig 2 O^M" > /dev/cu.AmpedUp-AMP-SPP # ctrl-v ctrl-m for the ^M
screen /dev/tty.AmpedUp-AMP-SPP
cat /dev/tty.AmpedUp-AMP-SPP
minicom # via brew
chat /dev/cu.AmpedUp-AMP-SPP
From the docs:
Each dongle has the following factory default:
UART: 115200 baud, no parity,1 stop bit,8 data bits
Local name: “Amp'ed UP!’
Class of device: Misc Device
Profile: SPP (serial port profile)
Service name: “AMP-SPP”
Deep sleep: disabled
Page and inquiry scan: 1.28s interval, 11 ms duration
Security: disabled
Bonding PIN: “1234”
Bonding allowed: always enabled
I figured out where I was wayyy off-base with some help from a friend.
I thought that I was trying to establish a OSX->Terminal->Serial (Over USB)->Chip communication channel to program the chip.
When in reality, I was trying to establish a OSX->Terminal->Serial (over Bluetooth->Bluetooth) -> Chip channel to talk to the chip using the existing firmware, which includes enough defaults to have 4 GPIO/LED outputs. The USB only comes in later if I want to change the firmware.
Which means plugging the board into my laptop's USB port isn't necessary and only complicates the issue - better is plugging it into a spare USB charger next to my laptop.
... Which let me narrow down the problem to 2 things:
OSX isn't holding an open bluetooth communication channel to the BT device, so of course I won't be able to talk to it, even if the serial port is set up right
Even if I could talk to it, Apple iOS is so locked down that I won't be able to connect to it from an iPhone/iPad. :(

Spying on a USB connection on Windows?

I have an Arduino application talking over USB to an application on Windows 8 using the MAVLINK protocol. The connection appears as COM3.
Is there a Windows application that can spy on this connection and display the traffic going in both directions? Raw bytes are fine, I don't need the protocol decoded.
You could log serial port activity using Portmon. (Edit: You need to first connect to the local computer via the Computer menu, and you must start capture on the port before a program opens it.)
You may not want to log USB traffic. Such a log would include a lot of extra information relating to the USB to serial adapter which is providing COM3. Portmon would only give you the bytes transferred over COM3, and the Mavlink protocol is entirely contained within that data stream. If you're sure you want to log all USB traffic to and from that device, then I recommend SnoopyPro. In Windows 7, you need to run it as administrator.
If you can use Windows XP in your environment, USB sniff should work for you. If you need something more powerful (and are willing to pay a fee for it) then USBLyzer might be a viable option.
The answer is SnoopyPro, and you can download it at:
SnoopyPro Sourceforge
This tool allows you to get USB information and also USB communication data. I used it in the past to know how a USB device worked in order to do its driver on Linux. I used this tool as a sniffer.
Basically, SnoopyPro allows you to intercept, display, record and analyze the USB protocol and all transferred data between any USB device connected to your PC and applications. It can be successfully used in application development, USB device driver or hardware development and offers the powerful platform for effective coding, testing and optimization.

USB Debugging

I'm looking for a very specific USB device for debugging systems that may use USB but not with a regular computer (proprietary hardware). I want a device that has a USB host controller and two USB device connections. The device to be debugged is connected to the USB host controller and one of the device connections is connected to another device with it's own host controller on it. The the other device connection is connected to a pc. The point being that all USB data travelling through the device (from the device connected to the host controller to the device connected to the first device connection) is reported to the pc.
I'll happily write software to do the logging (in fact I want to) but I can't seem to find a board like this anywhere. Can anyone help?
I have an Ellisys USB analyser, which isn't exactly what you describe internally, but does sit between a peripheral and a host and use a separate PC to collect the data.
(i.e. it has two 'B' and one 'A' connectors on it.)
Excellent product, and very helpful company.
Sniffing the USB shouldn't be too hard if you have the right hardware. And that is the tricky question. I haven't seen anything that describes the USB breakout box that you want. However I can say that this is in the realm of the following two magazines:
Nuts and Volts
Circuit Cellar
If they don't have a USB breakout box project in their archives, then at least they will have advertisements for small cheap single board computers that would have multiple USB ports that you can use for buffering the signals and reporting it back to your PC.
Alternatively is it possible to just wire your PC up to the middle of your two devices and write a custom drive that echos data back and forth while sniffing off a stream for you?
Sorry for the long delay in my reply -- I checked out one of our USB developer's toolchain, and he uses a Beagle USB Sniffer. He seems happy with it.
You're looking for a USB device with two upstream outputs. I think according to the USB spec, this is not possible. You will have two USB hosts trying to send messages and control the USB devices at the same time.
What if you were to look for a device which allowed you to view the data going through a hub via something other than a usb output?
If you're building something custom, take a look at this USB chip site. The chips are programmable via a windows application. Once you define how you want it to operate, it's saved on an EPROM on the dev board ($30-$50).
Sorry if this isn't helpful!

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