Kernel debug. Using the UART

[Im4Tinker]

Hello forum,

I'd like to see some debug over the serial port during the kernel booting , but I saw some strange behavior. Perhaps I need more information.

I was trying to connect RX-TX-GND (9, 15, 13 pins respectively) to a USB-RS232 interface that is built with PL2303 and is working for 5 or 3.3 Volts. So I wanted to have the device ready with the terminal program running prior to power up the TB. But I see the red LED at the side of the microUSB lighting up. So I stopped any operation.

So, what could be the right operations to prepare the reading on the serial port when the kernel is booting? And which of the 4 UART is concerned and what's the baud rate ?

[scorpiochang]

Hi Im4Tinker

1. [TB] modify /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
"append earlyprintk quiet splash plymouth.ignore-serial-consoles console=tty1 rw init=/sbin/init"
to
"append earlyprintk quiet splash plymouth.ignore-serial-consoles console=tty1 console=ttyS4,115200n8 rw init=/sbin/init"

2. [TB]set "intf:uart4=on" at /boot/hw_intf.conf
3. [TB] $>sudo reboot   //reboot device
3. [Host]sudo minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 115200

[Im4Tinker]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking to have to do with the kernel line. Your information clarified most of the doubts.
What about the current flowing through the pins. Is there any precautions?

[Im4Tinker]

Is it safe to plug the RS232 interface prior supplying the Tinker Board?
As I mention, there's the power LED coming up if I connect the RX pin. Is this regularly happen?

[scorpiochang]

Hi Im4Tinker

What about the current flowing through the pins. -->3.3V
i think TinkerBoard and your device should have circuit protection design, and even you plug/unplug some pins of UART, it just case some protocol issue at TinkerBoard side, restarting bus or device can solve issue.

[Im4Tinker]

Oops! The TX device pin gives out 5.05 Volts. I'm going to arrange an opto-isolated connection

[Im4Tinker]

I'm back with some disappointment.
I used a little precaution and I add one  2.2KOhm resistor in series to the TX-RX lines, to prevent any bad.

Whatever I tried to get data from, it didn't give any sign of life.
I've set ttyS4, but nothing seen over the pins. Even the oscilloscope shows a brief period going high then low, but really nothing to resemble a serial transmission.
Got back to defaulted ttyS2, but with the same result.
Tried to loopback the TX on RX, but no sign of anything. Both UART2 and UART4. I didn't try for UART3 and UART1, yet, but I feel that will be the same soup.
I've tried picocom and minicom. The picocom says that there's no tty on the ttyS2 or ttyS4.

How am I suppose to test whether there's something working on the GPIOs ?

[scorpiochang]

Hi Im4Tinker

I've tried picocom and minicom. The picocom says that there's no tty on the ttyS2 or ttyS4.
-->if you use USB to TTL device connecting host PC and TinkerBoard( https://www.amazon.com/Armorview-PL2303H...B008AGDTA4 ), you should use /dev/ttyUSBx to communicate with Tinkerboard on host PC, not ttyS2 and ttyS4.

How am I suppose to test whether there's something working on the GPIOs ?
-->please update gpio_lib_c (https://github.com/TinkerBoard/gpio_lib_c), and use command "gpio readall" to check GPIO5B6 and GPIO5B7 are mode SERL or not.
if settings are correct, use minicom by "sudo minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 115200" on host PC
then try "echo -e hello > /dev/ttyS4" on TinkerBoard. you should see "hello" on minicom shell on host PC.

[Im4Tinker]

I did some test by picocom. I found ttyS0 available,  but unusable. About ttyS2 picocom says

Code:

FATAL: failed to add port: Filedes is not a tty

ttyS1, ttyS3 and ttyS4 are working.
Then  I tested with crossing their RX-TX and  the terminal shows the character transmitted.
Here's

Code:

$ gpio readall
+-----+-----+---------+------+---+--Tinker--+---+------+---------+-----+-----+
| CPU | wPi |   Name  | Mode | V | Physical | V | Mode | Name    | wPi | CPU |
+-----+-----+---------+------+---+----++----+---+------+---------+-----+-----+
|     |     |    3.3v |      |   |  1 || 2  |   |      | 5v      |     |     |
| 252 |   8 |   SDA.1 |  I2C | 1 |  3 || 4  |   |      | 5v      |     |     |
| 253 |   9 |   SCL.1 |  I2C | 1 |  5 || 6  |   |      | 0v      |     |     |
|  17 |   7 | GPIO0C1 |   IN | 1 |  7 || 8  | 1 | SERL | TxD.1   | 15  | 161 |
|     |     |      0v |      |   |  9 || 10 | 1 | SERL | RxD.1   | 16  | 160 |
| 164 |   0 |  CTSN.4 | SERL | 1 | 11 || 12 | 0 | I2S  | I2S_CLK | 1   | 184 |
| 166 |   2 |   TxD.4 | SERL | 1 | 13 || 14 |   |      | 0v      |     |     |
| 167 |   3 |   RxD.4 | SERL | 1 | 15 || 16 | 1 | SERL | CTSN.1  | 4   | 162 |
|     |     |    3.3v |      |   | 17 || 18 | 1 | SERL | RTSN.1  | 5   | 163 |
| 257 |  12 |  MOSI.2 |  SPI | 0 | 19 || 20 |   |      | 0v      |     |     |
| 256 |  13 |  MISO.2 |  SPI | 1 | 21 || 22 | 0 | IN   | GPIO5C3 | 6   | 171 |
| 254 |  14 |  SCLK.2 |  SPI | 1 | 23 || 24 | 1 | SPI  | CE0.2   | 10  | 255 |
|     |     |      0v |      |   | 25 || 26 | 1 | SPI  | CE1.2   | 11  | 251 |
| 233 |  30 |   SDA.4 |  I2C | 1 | 27 || 28 | 1 | I2C  | SCL.4   | 31  | 234 |
| 165 |  21 |  RTSN.4 | SERL | 1 | 29 || 30 |   |      | 0v      |     |     |
| 168 |  22 | GPIO5C0 |   IN | 1 | 31 || 32 | 1 | PWM  | PWM.3   | 26  | 239 |
| 238 |  23 |   PWM.2 |  PWM | 1 | 33 || 34 |   |      | 0v      |     |     |
| 185 |  24 |  I2S_FS |  I2S | 0 | 35 || 36 | 1 | SERL | RxD.3   | 27  | 223 |
| 224 |  25 |   TxD.3 | SERL | 1 | 37 || 38 | 1 | I2S  | I2S_SDI | 28  | 187 |
|     |     |      0v |      |   | 39 || 40 | 0 | I2S  | I2S_SDO | 29  | 188 |
+-----+-----+---------+------+---+----++----+---+------+---------+-----+-----+
| CPU | wPi |   Name  | Mode | V | Physical | V | Mode | Name    | wPi | CPU |
+-----+-----+---------+------+---+--Tinker--+---+------+---------+-----+-----+

But no GPIO5B6~7

Code:

$ gpio readall |grep GPIO5B6
$ gpio readall |grep GPIO5B7

No answers.

But I refrain that during boot time, I couldn't see any kind of serial transmissions from UART4 and UART2 (pin 13~15 and 32~33, respectively). Even I probed by the oscilloscope.

Code:

$ uname -srvo
Linux 4.4.103+ #1 SMP Fri Jun 22 16:14:49 CST 2018 GNU/Linux

About the converter I haven't decided yet.
Sending the echo -e hello > /dev/ttyS4 I could see it on the oscilloscope.

EDIT
I successfully seen the output on my oscilloscope while booting. I just set the UART4 for the case. So I can't imaging what might be the default UART for debugging. Definitely not the UART2.

Code:

$sudo echo -e "hello baby" >/dev/ttyS2
echo: write error: Input/output error

[scorpiochang]

Hi Im4Tinker

UART2RX/PWM2 and UART2TX/PWN3 are multi-function GPIO, and the priority of PWM2/3 is higher than UART2.
so, set "intf:pwm2=off" and "intf:pwm3=off" at /boot/hw_intf.conf. UART2 should be work.

thank you.