[GreenKeys] USB-TTY need and Heavy Metal

[John Nagle]

On 9/15/2012 2:16 PM, greenkeys-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:
> From: "mail at studio8h.com" <mail at studio8h.com>
> 
> It's great to see some production of new boards to help keep our
> machines running, like Jack's (K0TTY) Idle Line Motor Control Board. 
> But I think that a sticking point for a lot of people is that even
> new iterface3 designs are based on RS-232, which for most of us is
> fast becoming obsolete. I have never been able to get a USB to RS-232
> converter to work with Heavy Metal, though I've tried many times.
> Once my RS-232 machine went down, my main source for current copy,
> Heavy Metal, was lost. ITTY is great, of course. A wonderful addition
> to our resources. But having HM for current news, weather and such
> would keep my AP machine much happier. Javier's rebuilding of HM has
> some wonderful features. An almost perfect source to test and display
> our treasured machines. I think we need to start thinking beyond
> RS-232. As I said, I wish I could do it, but that level of
> electronics is way beyond my talents. Just something to think about.
> 
> Dan Beach

   Here's how to get USB to serial conversion at Teletype speeds:

	http://www.aetherltd.com/connectingusb.html

This is a USB to serial converter which will go down to 45 baud.
I have Model 15 and Model 14 machines running on both Linux
and Windows with this.

   You could also program an Arduno to do the job.

   For a commercial RS-232 to current loop converter, see

http://www.blackbox.com/Store/Detail.aspx/High-Speed-RS-232-to-Current-Loop-Interface-Converter-DB25-Male-60-mA-Terminal-Block/CL080A%C4%82M

You'll need a 25 pin to 9 pin serial converter and a 120VDC power
supply.

   If Heavy Metal isn't working, I have alternative software
written in Python, "BaudotRSS":

   http://www.aetherltd.com/communicating.html

This will read news from RSS feeds and allows sending and
receiving SMS messages if you have a Google Voice account.

I'm coming out with a new release of that soon.  New features
are support of ITA2, and support of the new NWS weather format
for all US cities.

					John Nagle