Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Doremi serial port automation

This is topic Doremi serial port automation in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by James Skinner (Member # 7385) on 06-03-2013, 09:41 PM:

I have been trying to get the Doremi serial automation working and so far haven't had much luck.

I have an external box that I am trying to control that uses 5 bytes for each control signal. I've connected this box to a regular PC via serial and was able to successfully send command to it so I know that it works.

I then connected it up to the Doremi 2K4 serial port. I created a new device in the Device Manager for it with the proper transmission parameters. Next I tried to create a Macro to send some commands to it.

The first problem that I encountered was that the Doremi macro editor only seems to be able to specify data in ASCII or binary. The control command that I have are specified in hex. Is there way to input hex characters in the marco editor using the Raw Send Message feature? I've tried converting the hex to binary which should work but it didn't produce any response from the device.

I might have been able to figure it out better if I could see responses from the serial port on the Doremi. I couldn't even tell if it was receiving anything I sent it. When running a macro I could find no way to see the response from the external device?

Does anyone know if its possible to specify the bytes sent in a Raw Send Message on a Doremi in hex? Also is there anyway to monitor the data being sent back from a connected serial device for debugging purposes?

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 06-04-2013, 04:35 AM:

Can you try a nullmodem connection to a PC in order to check wether and what the Doremi sends out?

- Carsten

Posted by Aleksandar Obradovic (Member # 7266) on 06-05-2013, 02:45 PM:

Hi James,

Like Carsten said you can hook up some PC/laptop to the other side of cable and then watch what is going on with transmission.

But (there is one but always) there is not way AFAIK to check receiving part from transmitter because this is a nature of serial communication. It's a one way/simplex since it is created.

For your other question how to send hex data over doremi's serial port i will come back later after i check some manuals. I'm sure it is possible because we are using it in our cinema (i forgot how i did it - one year earlier).

BR Alex

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 06-05-2013, 07:56 PM:

I believe that "binary" is actually hex: you don't enter 00101101001101010010, you enter a hex string.

Posted by James Skinner (Member # 7385) on 06-11-2013, 08:51 PM:

Thanks. I did as Aleksandar suggested and hooked up a null modem so that I could see what was actually being sent. As Dave suggested the 'Binary' input is in fact hexadecimal. Doremi might want to improve their UI wording :-)

Anyway working now. Thanks