Serial to Ethernet for Macs

[roussell]

So, I'm in the process of switching from a combination of Windows/Housebot & Linux to a Mac Mini running Indigo. I have two of the 4 port Quatec QSE100D serial to ethernet converters, and a Wiznet wiz110sr that I've used flawlessly with Windows based drivers and socat on Linux.

I can't seem to find any drivers for the Mac (Snow Leopard) that will allow the converters to work with a Mac GUI app. socat will work fine for the numerous scripts and various shell apps that can read from "/dev/ttyxxx" but Indigo as well as most other GUI apps I've encountered don't seem to interrogate the /dev tree for the serial ports. They all present a drop-down that forces you to choose form a list.

I have ran across an app or two that claim to do what I want (an app called Multicom is an example) but they're really all just wrappers around socat or netcat. Apparently, OSX is taking and extra step in defining serial ports and exposing them to applications that I'm missing. BTW, I've tried symbolic links to a socat-created virtual tty to attempt to replicate the Mac's naming convention for serial ports but that didn't work either.

The main thing pushing my quest is that the HA gear is about 70 feet and 2 floors away from the Insteon PLM. The PLM is plugged into a wiz110sr serial-to-ethernet in the basement by the breaker panel and the HA server is on the opposite corner of the house on the second floor. The solution has worked great for well over a year now with Windows/Linux so I's like to keep using the S2E converters if I could find a freaking driver for the Mac...

I've asked on the Indigo board, sparkfun board, on Quatec's support forum, and have googled until my fingers are numb... Any ideas?

TIA,
Terry

 

[Swancoat]

Not sure if it's important for you to use the actual network, or just the network wire that's in the wall (i.e., is there another networked device at the location or is your serial-ethernet equipment going stright to the wall).

If you DON'T have another networked device using that wire, then I would just use some USB over Cat5 adapters to run USB all the way to the device. Monoprice sells these cheap and they're working great for me.

I'm fortunate enough that I have a couple of Cat5 runs to most locations, so I'm actually using the USB/Cat5 adapters to bring USB from my Computer in my office back to my patch panel and enclosure. In the enclosure, I have a simple unpowered hub, and then two more sets of the USB/Cat5 adapters to go back into the patch panel and off to other locations in the house. So far - works great.

 

[electron]

What about this software?

http://members.iinet.net.au/~mgl/MartysPlace/MultiCom.html

As for socat, I assume you used the parameters shown in the example below?

http://hintsforums.macworld.com/showpost.php?p=473262&postcount=25

 

[roussell]

Not sure if it's important for you to use the actual network, or just the network wire that's in the wall (i.e., is there another networked device at the location or is your serial-ethernet equipment going stright to the wall).

If you DON'T have another networked device using that wire, then I would just use some USB over Cat5 adapters to run USB all the way to the device. Monoprice sells these cheap and they're working great for me.

I'm fortunate enough that I have a couple of Cat5 runs to most locations, so I'm actually using the USB/Cat5 adapters to bring USB from my Computer in my office back to my patch panel and enclosure. In the enclosure, I have a simple unpowered hub, and then two more sets of the USB/Cat5 adapters to go back into the patch panel and off to other locations in the house. So far - works great.

Thanks,

I've worked on an "extension via ethernet" model for years so I hate to stray from it just because of this - but it looks like I may have too. Unfortunately, I "repackaged" my PLM into a different box along with the serial-to-ethernet converter so it will take some rework or buying a new PLM to get where I need to be. I've ran serial longer before, but that was in the good ol' days when components were hand-soldered and the current from a serial port could kill a man

, I'll probably need some sort of booster to cover the distance as I doubt the output of the usb to serial dongle I have will push the distance on it's own.. If only Indigo would let me type in the path to the serial device...

Terry

 

[roussell]

What about this software?

http://members.iinet...e/MultiCom.html

As for socat, I assume you used the parameters shown in the example below?

http://hintsforums.m...62&postcount=25

Thanks Dan, yeah tried Multicom (it's mentioned in the OP) but it basically just wraps socat into a GUI. I did try the exact line you linked, as well as every other config I could come up with and the results are the same. The socat or Multicom redirection works great for command-line apps or anything else that will let me specify the /dev/xxx path manually - but any app that forces you to select a port from a dropdown refuses to show the forwarded port. I believe it has something to do with Apple's IOKIT framework as that seems to be what most apps use to interrogate the available serial devices. Sadly, nothing seems to make available the /dev/xxx devices without a custom kernel extension.

I'm a big-time 'nix and Apple fanboy and made the switch to Indigo 5 mainly for it's Python scripting ability as that's what most of my custom stuff is written in. I never thought I'd be having this problem - it seems to me that this is one of those things that should 'just work'...


Terry