Serial Communication with RS232 and 30-pin Dock

anerDev,

First I will get this out of my system... RS232 - "Really". OK I am thru with my surprised response. 😉

Google for an USB to RS232 adapter. Someone may still make these but I have not seen one for years. But even if you find one you will need software on the computer that knows how to respond to the RS232 signal.

Anyway your request sounds like the hard way to get data into your computer. Wouldn't it be easier to buy a USB card for your computer assuming your computer doesn't have a USB port?

anerDev,

There is no way to do it with just a cable. You are talking about interfacing two completely different protocols.

While the adapter may be expensive you have no choice and the adapter is not something you are going to be able to build yourself. They use a very sophisticated integrated circuits to accomplish the hardware protocol conversion.

And even if you had the adapter/converter you would have to understand the communications protocol used by Apple and how that would be represented in it's RS232 form. Then you would have to write a interrupt handler/driver to handle the incoming RS232 signal and convert it to a form suitable for your Micro-Controller.

If I was you I would dump the micro-controller concept and buy a small single board PC that comes with a USB port.

Not sure why there is so much negative commentary on this subject. You can make your own cable or buy one. Or you can interface to RS-232 via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth with the appropriate external device.

Google "ipad rs-232" and you'll come up with plenty of information.