Boxed MCU with RS-232 Port

Exactly. You gave a dissertation to answer a question that has not been asked. The worst part is, you can't understand why your answer is not relevant. That's because you are doing a great job of talking, but a crap job of listening. I seriously doubt you will review the thread. Even if you do, I expect you will continue to not understand the question.

Even though, that is what I'm asking for, a pin number. See how you fail to comprehend the question?

I'm trying to get you to do just that. But you are in output mode, and have ceased all input activities.

Now, you are just being weird.

Again, you are projecting. You know virtually none of the facts, but you feel you know more about the problem than I do. Can you not understand your error?

Now you are just being silly, a silly, silly boy.

Wow! Such a defensive attitude. Rather than ask a single question, to learn what you don't know, you insist on being silly.

So what do you think my background is, exactly?

Err... maybe I shouldn't be feeding the troll? Or can you actually answer the question with a reply intended to communicate?

Looking forward to your reply.

In case anyone is interested, I think I've found a good board level solution. Arduino Mega coupled to this board to provide RS-232.

It has no DB9 connectors, which is good, allowing them to be mounted in the case. Now I just need to procure a case. If I have to, I suppose I can design that myself and get a few made. Anyone knowledgeable in designing small cases? I'd love to have this be a turn-key purchase.

You still don't get it. In the post you replied to, there was a board referenced. It even gave the same general info YOU provided in response, about TXD, RXD, DTE and DCE. BUT IT DIDN'T SAY DIDDLY ABOUT WHICH PIN WAS INPUT AND WHICH WAS OUTPUT!

You just keep repeating the same stuff over, and over, without any idea of how to answer the question asked, "which pin is output"?

Now you are ranting about bones. I guess you are upset by the fact that you could not answer the question, because you never understood the question.

Which reference? There is no DB25 connector anywhere in the system being discussed.

No, you've shown a wide knowledge of RS-232 and related issues, but a complete failure of understanding the question being asked. Please go back to the original post you replied to and see what the question is.

LOL You are a trip. I don't think I've ever seen anyone so wrapped around the axle, even on usenet.

I asked you to stop posting off topic. Most people respond to that appropriately. You were trying to educate me, without understanding what I had even asked, which is not at all uncommon for you. Your posts are typically very long, somewhat rambling, nearly a stream of consciousness and a bit hard to follow. Then someone else engages with you on the same level and the thread is forever lost.

Is it any wonder that c.a.e is virtually a ghost town?

I don't care what I'm called it you leave this thread. Although, it doesn't really matter. You've pretty much ruined it for anyone looking for info on the original subject.

Not acceptable because you know NOTHING of the problem to be solved. Why don't you ask some pertinent questions, rather than wasting 1,000 words describing the picture in your head.

Depend on the color. I remember someone in one of these groups, who, when asked to recommend a router, refused saying he didn't know all the requirements such as the color. Yeah, he went on at length about clients he had who insisted he remove a router he had installed, because it was the wrong color. So now, he won''t recommend a router without knowing the user's color scheme. LOL

Wow. You really are twisted. I feel sorry for you.

Which vendor? Again, you fail to understand when I mentioned the input and output, I was not actually expecting an answer. I expected anyone looking at the documentation, which the person I was replying to should have done, to realize there was no answer possible without contacting the vendor. Further, the context was the person considering doing this work for hire, in which case, I expect them to do the work of finding the hardware.

I'm sorry that your near nearsightedness prevents you from seeing beyond your desk.

I am curious, why do you continue to waste your time replying here? What is the benefit to you? Is someone paying you to twitter away your time at this?

That was my thought wwwwaaaayyyy back!

Some people think small. I'm currently negotiating a multi-million dollar job. This design is actually for my brother who needs a gadget and so far, has not been able to find anyone to help him. There are a few people who have contacted me here and one from another group. I expect one of them will turn out to be a good choice.

Thanks for your concern about the use of my time.

I don't expect anything from you, and so far, you have not disappointed.

What board? The one with insufficient information? No, but you still fail to understand that I never expected an answer to the question. It was a question that would have led any intelligent person to the realization that the question could not be answered, which was the point I was trying to make to the person who posted the link to the board. But, in your usual way, you jumped in to fix what YOU thought was the problem, while you knew no more than anyone else.

I figured the vendor has you on speed dial.

This is getting old. Will you ever come to understand what is going on???

Oh, yes, please do! But I won't be using the board, because it has the wrong connector.

If that's how you usually do design work, go for it.

Oh! Now you are getting close to the answer. NO ONE CAN ANSWER THE QUESTION!

This is like the joke of the guy who goes to a delicatessen and orders the soup. The waiter brings the soup. A few minutes later the waiter sees he's not eating and asks if the soup is good. The guy says, "I can't eat the soup!". The waiter is puzzled and says, "What's wrong with the soup?". Again, the reply, "I can't eat the soup!" The waiter asks again, "What's wrong with soup?". Again, the reply, "I can't eat the soup!"

Frustrated, the waiter says, "I'll try the soup, where's the spoon?" The guy says, "Ah ha!"

When are you going to realize I'm trying to show you that none of your DCE/DTE, TxD/RxD is of any value in this case. You don't have a SPOON!

Which is exactly the point. YOU can't answer the question, because there is not adequate information. It has been all this time that you've been spouting about DCE/DTE and convention this and all manner of formality, which is of ZERO value, because the board is not documented as to whether it's DTE or DCE wired!

Do you see the forest, or the trees?

No, we have the same exact information. You just don't understand the information.

LOL You don't really think I'm relying on this group to solve my design issues, do you? It started out as a query about a board in a box. Then it turned into some people discussing the possibility of doing the work. Unlike you, they were smart enough to discuss this further offline, through email.

What is the power supply voltage?

It's best not to follow in Don's footsteps. Do you really think nothing has happened in regards to this? Do you think I've been twiddling my thumbs? I barely have time to think about this effort, and nearly none to do it. But it's looking like I'll need to write the software.

You continue to not understand the application, yet you feel qualified to recommend solutions. Yes, you are very much the sort of consultant that gives the group as a whole, a bad name.

I can't waste your time. That is entirely up to you. I'm finding the rather entertaining. Nothing technical arising from the discussion with you, but at this point, it's exploring your compulsive responses to everything I post.

Indeed. I think you are learning... rather slowly, but learning nonetheless.

Yeah, you are good at your job I guess. Does it pay much?

[snip]

Don't want to disturb your argument, but:

If it has a male connector, it's most likely DTE wired, if it has a female one, it's most likely DCE wired. There's a ~3% chance that this guess is wrong, but whoever designs comms equipment has heard about RS-232, DCEs and DTEs, and tries to get things straight...

[snip]

I long ago gave up trying to answer Ricky, though my resolve sometimes stumbles. He has a kind of willful incomprehension that prevents him from receiving input, either on technical subjects or about his own incapacities... even the excellent and succinct feedback from David Brown. I suspect it's a flavour of autism.

Rick, no need to answer. I'm not talking to you, but about you.

Oh, dear god. Another one who can't understand, no matter how carefully I explain it.

Whatever...

I'm curious, how did you arrive at the 3% figure? I've read that 78.4% of all statistics are made up. In my experience, there is little correlation of connector gender and pin configuration.

You are making the same mistake that Don has been making all along... *assumptions*. Nothing I'm talking about is comms equipment. That was one of my first comments about the issue, that RS-232 defines the connectors at ONE POINT in a comms system, the connectors and pin out of the DTE and DCE ON the DCE unit. It says nothing about what connectors are on the other end of the cable (or their pin out) and it says nothing about how devices are connected when they are not DCE/DTE. *This* is why RS-232 is a mess as a general purpose interconnect.

That's why using the terms TXD and RXD tell you nothing about the direction of the signals. Most of the time, there is no DTE or DCE. So the connectors are not actually the part of the spec that is used. What is used, is the voltage levels, and possibly the connector, but with no guidance to indicate if TXD is input or output, because there's no DCE or DTE.

That's why I always look for an indication of input and output, rather than focusing on the parts of the RS-232 standard that are likely not being used. That was my point, when I kept asking which was input and which was output. It took Don several exchanges to figure out that he could not say, and I'm not sure if, even now, he understands that was why I was asking. I don't need the answer, because I'm not using that board. I was trying to make it obvious, that it was not documented, and so could not be found from the info available, regardless of all the DCE/DTE hoolah.

I have precisely zero interest in your question or the foregoing discussion, which I haven't read and do not wish to understand.

I'm only commenting on some of the various personality defects on display.

Which completely changes because you don't understand the issues being discussed.

I'm happy to receive input. But I also expect to be able to give feedback when people don't understand what is being discussed.

Interestingly, no one has provided any feedback at all, on the technical issues I've pointed out. Only that I'm wrong. DCE/DTE is what it's all about and that my personality is defective. If they don't listen to what I'm saying, they can't possibly understand the issues.

It is *your behaviour* that has made it impossible for anyone to answer you to your satisfaction. Nothing else. RS232 signals bored me over two decades ago, when I last had to worry about how things should be. We encountered equipment that was made with every possible combination of errors, and we all just figured it out and got on with our lives, in exactly the way you seem unable to.

Still misunderstanding the conversation. I wasn't asking for help with the RS-232 signals. Never was. I was trying to make a point that the RS-232 interface circuit did not document the I/O well enough to know which was input and which was output.

Even though I've explained this several times now, some people aren't getting it.