UART Shield

I'm currently jumpering my netduino to one of my other boards to hijack the FTDI USB chip on that board, for serial communication, and I got to thinking it would be better to have a UART shield for the netduino. Does anyone make a UART shield? I've never used an arduino (native C++ on 'raw' AVR's for me) but I understand that the arduino USB connection is used both for programming and communications, so a UART shield isn't really necessary. With that in mind I set about designing one. If there isn't one on the market I'll have to make my own I guess  UARTShield.jpg   76.56KB   104 downloads Currently drawn up with a FT232R, as that's what I have sitting here, with solder jumpers to select which RX & TX pins of the netduino to connect, however I note that FTDI now make a FT2232D, which uses 1 USB connection to expose two virtual COM ports, allowing me to have both UARTs appear as separate COM ports on the PC! I'll have to red-do the design with that on board. Edit: Now with FT2232D  DualUARTShield.jpg   73.17KB   112 downloads

There is this one Arduino RS232 Shield, but it only exposes 1 port.

Stacy

Now _that_ is pretty cool. I would buy one

I use one of the FTDI USB cables that has the FT232R built in.

Works great with the Netduino (make sure to get the 3V3 version).

I use one of the FTDI USB cables that has the FT232R built in.

Works great with the Netduino (make sure to get the 3V3 version).

I have used a 5V cable to also power the netduino via the 5v pin for serial debuging with no problems.

I use one of the FTDI USB cables that has the FT232R built in.

Works great with the Netduino (make sure to get the 3V3 version).

I have one of those and while it works well, I think it is slightly less flexible than cast iron. Using it with 90 degree headers makes it a bit easier.

Still, handy cable

So I got round to ordering the PCB, and some FTDI2232D chips, so it will be interesting to see how it all works together...  UART Shield.png   350.75KB   24 downloads

So the boards arrived and I soldered one together (actually made two, had a minor brain explosion on the first one and put the FTDI chip in 90° out of position, oops!) It almost works The PC recognises that something has been connected but can't identify it. Some investigation required... Ignore the resistors, I didn't have any spare 0805 ones in the appropriate denominations, will be rectified shortly.