UART (RS232/com port) development tool

Although the UART/RS232/com-port is already of age (early 1960’s), it is still used nowadays in embedded systems for debug, servicing, etc. Also the GECKO5Education and GECKO5Modular provide such an interface.

To be able to communicate over this interface you require a terminal program on your computer. This section list some possible terminal programs that you can use on the different operating systems.

linux

A good terminal program for linux is cutecom. On the official website you can download the sources; however, most linux distributions already have cutecom packaged. Under Ubuntu 24.04 LTS it can be installed with:

sudo apt install cutecom

macOS

A good terminal program for macOS is CoolTerm. On the official website you can download the latest version.

Windows WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

Under windows WSL you can either use cutecom (see linux above), or you use Bray++ as described below (so outside of WSL). To be able to use the GECKO5Education/Modular in WSL you have to install a driver:

Bridging the GECKO5Education/Modular to the WSL

In normal circumstances, your GECKO5Education/Modular will not show up in the WSL-environment. To be able to, use uspipd-win. Detailed install instructions can be found here. After uspipd-win is installed, you have to reboot your computer.

Installing the required tools

Open a WSL shell and follow the instructions for linux.

Using the GECKO5Education/Modular in the WSL

To be able to use the GECKO5Education/Modular in the WSL environment, following steps are required:

  1. Plug the GECKO5Education/Modular into your computer.

  2. Open a WSL shell.

  3. Open a power shell as administrator.

  4. Execute in the power shell:

    usbpid list

  5. In the output, look for the BUSID for the device:

    0403:6010 USB Serial Converter A, USB Serial Converter B

  6. in the power shell type (where you replace BUSID by the info found in the previous step):

    usbipd bind --force --busid BUSID
usbipd attach --wsl --busid BUSID

  7. In your WSL shell you should now be able to see the GECKO5Education/Modular by executing:

    lsusb

Important

  1. Never close the power shell, as the connection to the WSL will be disconnected.

  2. Each time you disconnect your GECKO5Education/Modular from you computer, you have to follow points 1)..7) again.

Windows native

A good terminal program for Windows native is Bray++. It can be downloaded on the official website. If you do not arrive to download it on the official website, an alternative download site is here. Note that the terminal program cutecom for linux is based on Bray++.

UART-settings

In the courses *CS-473: System programming for Systems-on-chip and CS-476: Embedded System Design at EPFL we use the UART with following parameters:

  • Baud rate: 115200

  • Data Bits: 8

  • Flow Control: None

  • Parity: None

  • Stop Bits: 1