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SAM9X60 Curiosity Development Board - Console Serial Communications

Last modified by Microchip on 2024/06/20 12:43
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In this training, you will learn how to connect a host computer running a terminal emulation program to the SAM9X60-Curiosity Development Board UART Debug port to access the console.

The console (also known as DEBUG, device console, target console, applet console, or simply console) is a serial communications port (generally a Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART)) on the target device (thus the term target console or device console) that communicates with a terminal emulation program on a host computer. It provides status information from operating systems, such as Linux® boot log, and debug information from utility programs, for example, from SAM-BA® Applets.

What you will need:

  • SAM9X60-Curiosity Demonstration Board
  • Micro-B USB cable (included in the SAM9X60-Curiosity box) to power the Curiosity
  • Personal computer (Windows®, macOS®, Linux) running a terminal emulation program
  • USB-to-Serial 3.3 VDC TTL Level adapter with a 6-pin single-in-line 0.1” pitch connector

Prerequisites:

UART Debug Port (J11)

The SAM9X60 features a dedicated serial UART port (J11) for communicating with the target console.

sam9x60 debug environment

You will need a USB-to-Serial 3.3 VDC TTL level adapter with a 6-pin single-in-line 0.1” pitch connector to connect the Serial Debug Port to the host computer. Take care to align Pin 1 (GND) of the Curiosity board to the adapter Pin 1 (look for an arrow on the connector and a black wire). Place jumpers J14 and J15 into the DBGU position.

Take care to align Pin 1 (GND) of the Curiosity board to the adapter Pin 1 (look for an arrow on the connector and a black wire)

The CAN0 and Debug UART RX and TX are shared and selectable through jumpers J14 and J15.

sam9x60 debug environment

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Terminal Emulation Program

Download, install, and configure a Terminal Emulation program onto your host computer. There are several choices for terminal programs for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Below is a list of popular programs. Many are free to download, and a few are included with the operating system or distributions.

Windows®

To locate the COM port, open the Windows Device Manager and expand Ports (COM & LPT). Set the terminal program for serial communications:

  • Baud: 115200
  • Data Bits: 8
  • Parity: None
  • Stop Bits: 1

ftdi windows dev mgr

macOS®

  • Screen
  • Find the serial port: $ ls /dev/tty.*
  • To run: $ screen /dev/tty.usbmodemFD121 115200
  • To quit: $ Control-a $ Control-\
  • Minicom
  • Perform an Internet search: “minicom for macOS”
  • Serial
  • Available from the Apple App Store
  • CoolTerm

To locate the serial port, you can open the CoolTerm application and note the available ports in the Port selection. Set the terminal program for serial communications:

  • Baud: 115200
  • Data Bits: 8
  • Parity: None
  • Stop Bits: 1

j-link cdc mac os coolterm

Linux®

You can install minicom and putty from the command line. $ sudo apt-get install putty

Set the terminal program for serial communications:

  • Baud: 115200
  • Data Bits: 8
  • Parity: None
  • Stop Bits: 1

To find the USB port, execute dmesg on the command line:

$ dmesg
usb 1-3: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6001
usb 1-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb 1-3: Product: TTL232R-3V3
usb 1-3: Manufacturer: FTDI
usb 1-3: SerialNumber: FTFXZ39X
ftdi_sio 1-3:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
usb 1-3: Detected FT232RL
usb 1-3: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
Information

If you are not able to access the serial port, try adding the user to dialout group. This will give the user access to USB ports under the dialout group:

$ sudo adduser user_name dialout

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Connecting Host to Target

Connect to port J22:

Power up the development board by connecting a Micro-B USB connector to USB-A port (J1).

Connect to UART Debug Port:

Connect the USB-to-Serial 3.3 VDC TTL level adapter to the host computer. Take care to align Pin 1 (GND) of the Curiosity board to the adapter Pin 1 (look for an arrow on the connector and a black wire). Place jumpers J14 and J15 into the DBGU position.

Serial Communication Established

Once you connect the host PC to your target, open the terminal emulation program with its serial settings configured. Press the RESET Button (SW1) on the SAM9X60-Curiosity.

On the terminal emulation screen, you will see RomBOOT indicating the first-stage bootloader did not find an image to load and the SAM-BA Monitor is running and awaiting a command.

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Summary

In this training topic, you learned how to connect a host computer running a terminal emulation program to the SAM9X60-Curiosity Development Board UART debug port to access the console. The console provides status information from operating systems, such as Linux, and debug information from utility programs (for example, from SAM-BA Applets). This facilitates users in programming and debugging.

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Learn More

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