Please enable javascript, or click here to visit my ecommerce web site powered by Shopify.
Jump to: navigation, search

Zero/dev/serial-console

< Zero‎ | dev
 Radxa Zero >  Development Guide >  Serial Console

Radxa Zero exports one dedicated debug serial console, which can be used to access the low level debug message.

Requirement

  • Radxa Zero
  • USB Type-C power adapter and USB Type-C charging data cable
  • Host PC with Windows or Linux
  • USB to TTL serial cable
    • The definition of each pin of USB to TTL cable is showing like this:

Usb2ttl-cable-definition.jpeg

Note

  • The default baud rate of Radxa Zero is 115200 , please check if your USB to TTL cable support 115200 bps baud rate. This is a well supported data rate, but please still make sure to have a high quality one, as counterfeit products are quite common. The instructions below uses a FT232RL based cable.

Connection

Connect the USB to TTL serial cable as below. DO NOT connect the red wire. We will power Radxa Zero separately from a reliable power supply.

Radxa Zero <---> USB to TTL cable
RX(pin 10) <---> Green wire
TX(pin 8) <---> White wire
GND(pin 6) <---> Black wire

Zero-serial-connection.jpeg

Serial setting on host PC

The default serial setting for Radxa Zero U-Boot and kernel console is:

   baudrate: 115200
   data bit: 8
   stop bit: 1
   parity  : none
   flow control: none

Linux

minicom is a serial tool that supports a wide range of baud rate.

Install minicom:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install minicom

Plug in the USB to TTL cable, kernel sudo dmesg | tail should show the following device:

   [1036835.654076] usb 1-6.4.3: new full-speed USB device number 103 using xhci_hcd
   [1036835.755730] usb 1-6.4.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6001
   [1036835.755732] usb 1-6.4.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
   [1036835.755733] usb 1-6.4.3: Product: USB <-> Serial
   [1036835.755734] usb 1-6.4.3: Manufacturer: FTDI
   [1036835.756728] ftdi_sio 1-6.4.3:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
   [1036835.756750] usb 1-6.4.3: Detected FT232BM
   [1036835.757195] usb 1-6.4.3: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0

/dev/ttyUSB0 is our serial device here.

Setup minicom

First let's add the current user to plugdev group so we can access serial device without root permission.

   sudo usermod -a -G plugdev $USER

Edit your ~/.bashrc and add the following line so minicom will always be launched with the following default setting:

   alias minicom='minicom -w -t xterm -l -R UTF-8'

Login to a new terminal to for the change to take effect.

Create and edit file ~/.minirc.zero with the following content:

   pu port             /dev/ttyUSB0
   pu baudrate         115200
   pu bits             8
   pu parity           N
   pu stopbits         1
   pu rtscts           No

Now executing minicom zero will use the config above, and connect to Radxa Zero's serial console.

Windows

Putty is also great serial tool that supports a wide range baud rate.

Plug in the USB to TTL cable to you windows PC. In your Device Manager you can find the COMX under Serial Port section. In our example it is COM3.

Launch Putty on your windows PC and configure it as follows:

Under Session, set Serial line as COM3, Speed as 115200, and Connection type as Serial.

Put radxa zero in the Saved Sessions textbox and click Save button.

Putty-setting-session-zero.jpeg

Under Connection-Serial, copy the following settings:

Putty-setting-serial-zero.jpg

Once you are done, click Open button to start using serial console.

FAQs

1. When I opened the debug console, there is system startup information on the screen, but I can't type anything?

One possible reason is incorrect serial configuration, such as Hardware Flow Control. Make sure Hardware Flow Control is disabled and try again.