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USB Serial Port & Printf

Topic last updated 30 Nov 2009, by Jim why. 2 replies
Jim why
30 Nov 2009

I have 2 questions. i just received my mbed LPC1768 board.

 

i was reading the Windows Serial Configuration located here:

http://mbed.org/handbook/WindowsSerialConfiguration

i follwed it to the letter, and it never installes the driver. the install program just hangs with mbed install window saying "Installing device drivers"  , i am running win XP PRO with all updates and service packs.

#2) can i use printf or do i have to use:

Serial pc(USBTX, USBRX);
pc.printf("Hello World!");
Simon Ford
30 Nov 2009 . Edited: 30 Nov 2009

Hi Jim,

Jim why wrote:
i was reading the Windows Serial Configuration located here: http://mbed.org/handbook/WindowsSerialConfiguration i follwed it to the letter, and it never installes the driver. the install program just hangs with mbed install window saying "Installing device drivers"  , i am running win XP PRO with all updates and service packs.

To think through some potential problems that would cause that behaviour first:

  • Perhaps Windows has popped up a "windows wants permission" dialog, but it hasn't come to the front for some reason? In this case, you'd see nothing in the toolbar and the installer would just still be saying "installing..." as if it was hung. Actually, windows is waiting for you to accept/decline, but you never see the dialog as it is hidden behind something else?
  • It can take a long time on windows to install (usually Vista is the really slow one!), so maybe you are not leaving it long enough? It could take a few minutes (but XP is usually pretty fast).

I suspect it is the first. If not, we'll have to investigate further...

2) Yep, you can use just printf if you want to output to the USB serial, as we've defaulted "stdout" to that. There was a thread from earlier today which discusses some of this which might be interesting:

Hope we get you up and running soon.

Simon

Jim why
30 Nov 2009

I cannot explain it, i shut down the computer and tried it again and this time it worked in seconds. I did the exact same thing before and i letf it on there for 6-7 minutes each time before with no luck. On top of that when i tried to cancel it i could not and could not even shut down the computer each time. i had to press and hold the power button to shut it down.  Strange....

Anyway... thanks for the quick reply and at least it working now.