WiFi Bridge to Periphersl Emulators

[576XE]

Half an year ago I bought HLK-RM04 StsrtKit with the purpose of testing WiFi connection between Atari and PC.

As there were no documentation at all I almost lost in the forest of hundreds of choices.
Now situation stabilized someway and I can say one or two words for those of us who are interested in WiFi bridge.

Some of suggestions.
StartKit was choosen as it has fully functioned COM port from one side and fully functioned protected WiFi connection from the other side.
HLK-RM04 module itself is lvTTL (+3,3V) UART thus can not be used with SIO in simple manner. No one know it's +5V tolerance.
But StartKit has UART to COM (+/-12V) converter and theoretically can be used with SIO2PC directly without any soldering.

Here is the screenshot of main configuration of module.

Upper part of screen is WiFi settings for connection module with my home network.
All settings are almost transparrent and standard for any WiFi device.
I need WiFi(CLIENT)-Serial mode as module needs connection to my home router named ezserv.
STATIC mode was choosen as I need to find Web Interface of module simply by IP/Port.

Bottom part of screen concerns Serial and role settings of COM port.
Serial settings is transparent too, but role of COM interface is something mistique.

We have two choices.

Serial as Server:
Thus it need not Remote Server Domain/IP settings as it Listenes on IP/Port defined above.

Serial as Client:
Thus we need Domain/IP settings for some Server which will be Listen on his own IP with defined port on TCP protocol.

I beleive this settings must work but I could test connection only if I define my real PC IP (loopback) as server.

Here is a screenshot of real connection.

Next thing.
For connection with any Peripheral Emulator I need VSP (Virtial Serial Port) which will emulate COM port on PC.
This port will be connected to APE or AspeQt and really it can be used for sending/receiving data between defined earlier WiFi COM port and VSP.

My all attempts to connect this ports fully failed.

Plese help.

[ctirad]

Converting 5V to 3.3V logic thru RS232 and SIO2PC cable is overcomplicated. Just use simple voltage divider (say 10k/15k) to make 3.3V from 5V SIO output. The other side you can connect directly through a resisstor like 1k.

[Madi]

Logic Level Converters such as THIS ONE will do the voltage conversion easily.

Also, may use a simple MOSFET circuit for the same purpose .. see HERE

madi

[576XE]

Many thanks, friends!

But...

 

The reason I bought full featured DevBoard is really the same.

It has MAX... onboard and convert 3.3 to 5.

 

I even can't understand why the idea to connect ATARI to home router is so badly negligible...

[576XE]

Hello ctirad,

 

All your said is true!

But I came to shop and simply bought this full pack of HLK R-R-RMs.

 

No more.

By the way it was only one in Moscow...

[576XE]

Thank you Madi.

 

Really I have not complicated devices for soldering-desoldering parts.

And of course I have not time... It's much more essential.

 

Best wishes from Moscow.

[ctirad]

I'm not sure the SIO2PC is a plain nullmodem cable. Try it first with the terminal against the PC with the same port configuration on the both sides (and no handhshaking).

[576XE]

I used both crossed and stright COM cables.

Obviously I trying to use the same port characteristics.

 

May be I can't understand china's terminology.

Who is server, who is client...

All options are available and they all on my choice.

[1050]

Hi 130XE,

 

Could this be the problem?

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/231046-sio2pc-w-ft232rl-warning/

 

 

[ctirad]

There is nothing like "client" and "server" on the serial communication. In fact there are just two fully independend lines. First sends data from TX pin to RX pin in one direction and the second line for the other way. That's it.

Edited November 1, 2014 by ctirad

[576XE]

Hi Ctirad, Hi 1050.

 

Glad to see you here.

Really I mean absolutely the same. There are no client no server BUT these options are presented everywhere on settings screens.

[Kyle22]

Can you send details about the device? Pinouts, commands, and such? That would help us understand clearly the details of the device(s). I suspect client/server is only a matter of terminology, possibly DCE/DTE.

 

It sounds like an interesting project.

[576XE]

Hello, Kyle22

 

Many thanks for your interest!

 

(My network admins block sending smth to forum. I'm sorry.)

Here is a link to HiLink site downloads section.

There are HLK-RM04-user-manual.pdf and HLK-RM04 Data Sheet.pdf as well.

http://www.hlktech.net/download.php?CateId=2

 

I only need to add that user manual concerns only module (LVTTL 3.3V I/O)

but no info about Development Board which is (TTL 5V I/O).

 

They say nothing about transmission speed of DevBoard but they say that

speed of module maybe up to 500000 (may be it's concerns only Ethernet or 3.3V UART but not WiFi).

 

Main idea was to connect SIO2PC (from Steven) to Serial port of DevBoard instead of real PC.

While loading Atari it must determine connection through SIO port and send request data to DevBoard.

As DevBoard translate Serial data to WiFi then I can use home WiFi router for connection networked PC to Atari with the help of Virtual Serial Port program running on PC.

 

I understand that there can be as timing connectivity faults as voltage leakages too.

I only have not any tools to investigate it.

 

I still never tried to use this device as WiFi Access Point. It may be a chance

[576XE]

Another question arises.

May be router blocks transmisiion between device and WiFi VCP and I need some port forwarding on router for communication?

[Kyle22]

I looked at the data sheet. You need a device that supports handshake lines like RTS, CTS or DTR, DSR to use for the Command line.

 

That device looks like it only supports data transmit and receive. It may be possible with custom programming to use a GPIO line, but I don't know for certain.