How can I read a serial port using XCode?

Question

Level 1

6 points

How can I read a serial port using XCode?

Hello,

I'm using an iMac 2009 with Mac OS X 10.6.7. I have a USB to Serial cable and I want to connect a hardware I made using a microprocessor Microchip PIC to my mac. I'd like to read values from the serial port and also write values to it. I'm already able to do this using the Terminal with the following command:

screen /dev/tty.usbserial 9600

I'd like to build my own application now. Does anyone could send me any sample code?

I'm using XCode 3.2.5 and I'm a beginner on XCode.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on May 13, 2011 8:06 PM

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Answer 1

K T

Level 7

23,889 points

May 13, 2011 8:56 PM in response to lffelzmann

Look inside the folder from the Xcode install - /Developer/Applications/Utilities/USB Prober

Search the Dev Center for related code, samples, etc.

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Answer 2

lffelzmann Author

Level 1

6 points

May 14, 2011 6:44 AM in response to K T

I looked at Dev Center for sample code, and I found this link:

http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#samplecode/SerialPortSample/Introduction /Intro.html%23//apple_ref/doc/uid/DTS10000454-Intro-DontLinkElementID_2

I downloaded the sample Xcode project and, when I click on "Build and Run" button, it generates an error with the following message:

"GCC 4.2 is not compatible with the Mac OS X 10.4 SDK (file SerialPortSample.c)"

Maybe, it occurs because the code is too old (2005). I didn't find any newer sample.

Could you help me?

Thank you.

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Answer 3

xnav

Level 5

7,113 points

May 14, 2011 8:51 AM in response to lffelzmann

I wrote an app to control a robot via serial. You can download a zip of it here.

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Answer 4

K T

Level 7

23,889 points

May 14, 2011 9:15 AM in response to lffelzmann

Have you seen the iRobot (Roomba)? iCreate is one way to get going with Mac and TTY controls...there are many educational style projects on the net, etc.

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~robotics/mediawiki/index.php/IRobot_Create

http://hackingroomba.com/?s=irobot

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Answer 5

lffelzmann Author

Level 1

6 points

May 14, 2011 10:04 AM in response to K T

Thank you very much. Both answers can help me to solve my problem.

Thank you again.

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