Digi Portserver - Anyone use one? Does it require special cables?

Digi Portserver - Anyone use one?

I bought use used Digi portserver 16 on ebay. It powers up okay. However when I plug in a USB-IRT IR reader with a straight cat5 cable it doesnt light up.

It doesnt appear I need a special cable based on what I think the pin-outs are. Does anyone know if I am off there, do I need to build a 'special' cat5 cable when going right from the portserver to a serial device like the USB-IRT that already terminates as a cat5?

I have one although I haven't used it in years. The RJ-45 pinouts / RS-232 are unique. You would either have to make a custom cat5 cable or make a custom RF-45 to Serial adaptor.

pete_c said:

I have one although I haven't used it in years. The RJ-45 pinouts / RS-232 are unique. You would either have to make a custom cat5 cable or make a custom RF-45 to Serial adaptor.

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Thanks.... I found a lovely 152 page cable doc from digi

If anyone else wants to do this, to connect the PC you need one adapter and to connect to your devices you need another.. You want to get one RJ45 to DB9 female and a bunch of the male versions. monoprice has them, link below.

I made the console adapter on page page 64 - Digi TS, RJ-45 to DB-9 (FEMALE) - I was able to use the console Adapter to hook the the digi portserver up to my PC.
http://ftp1.digi.com/support/documentation/90000253_E.pdf

It took me a while to get my devices going as in the first pass I made a made version of that adapter. However you need to change the pinouts slightly.
The modem adapter is on page 68 of the same doc.

For the modem adapter you need this part
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product....=1&format=2

I will need to do a little reverse engineering on the IRA2 db9 to rj45 male adapters as I really want to just keep it RJ45 all the way. no use going cat5 to my closet and then using the rj45m to db9 female only to convert it back to RJ45. that is tomorrows project.

Yeah if you make the RJ-45/RS-232 adapters you can just mark them for Digi terminal use and then utilize standard CAT5 cables. My terminal server is so old it has a BNC and RJ-45 network adapter on it. Historically used it with a bunch of racked routers to test/configure the routers. We had made a "lab" of sorts to stage and test new Cisco IOS's in the early 2000's. I remember wanting four network connections to my desk. The glass house "lab" temperature was about 50F so it was easier to work at my desk. I went to the wiring closet to patch myself in and meeting the telco guys there and them asking if I had a work order for the patching that I needed to do....no grievances were filed against me.

Just some notes in case some day someone gets a digi on the cheap and wants to hp hook it up to an IRA-2. Ira2 can be bought witha cat5 to serial. I have one and noticed it only uses pins 2,3,4,5 on the cat5 are crimped and sure enough they match up with 2,3,4,5 on the db9

Working backards from the diagram on page 68. I confirmed the following works as far as cutting and recrimping one side of a cat5 cable to go from ira2 to digikey.

Ira -2 only uses 4 pins 2, 3, 4, 5 and they go straight through to a DB9 female.
Following that drawing on page 68 you can work from right to left hooking up pins 2,3,4,5
If uisng monoprice cables these colors should match if you only cut one side. my color coding is based on cutting the digi side
Ira Pin 2 (Orange) Digi Pin 5
Ira Pin 3 (Green White) Digi Pin 4
Ira Pin 4 (Blue) Digi Pin 8
Ira Pin 5 (Blue/White) Digi Pin 6

I picked up a Portserver 8 for $30 and it works great under Linux. Seems you have to shop around to find a good price as they are all over the place - not sure why. I know new units can be very expensive. I got some DB9 to RJ45 adapters from Deep Surplus. Digi is good about having all the old documentation on line. I did have a bit of a problem installing their realport software but their support is good even on the old stuff.

I was a little confused by the OP. It says something about a USB device. I wasn't able to find anything on google for the device exactly as spelled but it did find USB-UIRT. But followups seem to indicate it is a serial device. I would be interested in knowing how this works out with the UIRT if it is serial. I am thinking of making one and hooking it to my digi box.

JimS said:

I picked up a Portserver 8 for $30 and it works great under Linux. Seems you have to shop around to find a good price as they are all over the place - not sure why. I know new units can be very expensive. I got some DB9 to RJ45 adapters from Deep Surplus. Digi is good about having all the old documentation on line. I did have a bit of a problem installing their realport software but their support is good even on the old stuff.

I was a little confused by the OP. It says something about a USB device. I wasn't able to find anything on google for the device exactly as spelled but it did find USB-UIRT. But followups seem to indicate it is a serial device. I would be interested in knowing how this works out with the UIRT if it is serial. I am thinking of making one and hooking it to my digi box.

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That was a mistake on my part in the original post.. The IR eye that I use a IRA-2.. Works like a champ
http://www.home-electro.com/ira2.php

I am logging this more for myself but digi portservers can be found cheap on ebay but the cables not so easily found here are my notes for adapter to RS232 devices. I built some adapters like the ones on page 68 for connecting my nuvo and my directv box
http://ftp1.digi.com/support/documentation/90000253_E.pdf

If using monoprice rj45 to db9f the colors should match but you should always verify colors with a tester first.

rj45 - db9F
1 blue 1
5 green 2
4 red 3
8 white 4
6 yellow 5
2 orange 7
7 brown 8
3 black

I want to use the digi portserver for my home automation. My computer currently has windows xp but I realized that the digi port server is embedded with linux. Will the two work ok?

I currently use two newer Digi USB to 8 port servers (X2). I have these 16 ports plus a few more for my HA server. Its been fine for many years. You can fine these also reasonably on Ebay.

pete_c said:

I currently use two newer Digi USB to 8 port servers (X2). I have these 16 ports plus a few more for my HA server. Its been fine for many years. You can fine these also reasonably on Ebay.

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so pete_c, do you have windows or linux working on your HA server?

The type of operating system on the automation server doesn't make much of a difference. As long as there are Digi drivers available. I know there are drives available for most/all Windows OS. There is no problem using a digiport device with a windows automation server.

sic0048 said:

The type of operating system on the automation server doesn't make much of a difference. As long as there are Digi drivers available. I know there are drives available for most/all Windows OS. There is no problem using a digiport device with a windows automation server.

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thanks for your response.

I use windows for my Digi - but there are drives from Digi for just about any OS as stated.

so pete_c, do you have windows or linux working on your HA server?

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My HA server is Homeseer running on W2003 SP2.

My "play" VM box has W2003, XPSP3, W7, 3 Linux VMs (various flavors). I like the speed of testing these days.

I have been able to connect to my Digi USB anywhere / Digi USB to Serial, Digi Terminal server from each VM session just fine.