Newbie question - please help

GPS/GNSS Development Boards
1

I am using the GM862-GPS chip [with the development (evaluation) board CEL-00281] with windows XP. I have it connected with a USB cable and the power light (red) goes on and the status light (green) blinks on the board.

I would like to learn how to communicate with the device from my XP machine.

What program should I run on my windows desktop to talk to the device?

My ultimate goal is to be able to program this device using python.

The user guide describes the command set but I need to communicate to the hardware chip first.

Any advice or pointers to documents would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance - Pop

2

Hi,

To start, you need to download “rsterm” from:-

http://www.roundsolutions.com

This is a hyperterminal program that also constructs the required AT commands to:- make and receive phone calls, send and read sms messages as well as reading the GPS position.

The roundsolutions site also has a lot of info on Python (the GM862 can upload and run Python programs - through rsterm). For small applications, no external microcontroller is needed if you can write the Python program (very c/c++ like and easy to learn).

I found the GPS-SMS tracker program at:-

http://www.bernardotti.it/portal/showthread.php?t=17537

very helpfull

Enjoy!

John

3

Hi John,

Thanks for the feedback. I found version 20070209.1 of the RSterminal, and it seems to be ready to do what I want. However, I am a little miffed about how to use it to connect to the USB port(s). I see the COM1 and COM2, but these are usually the serialA and serialB ports, and I would like to use the USB port and cable sent with my kit.

Is there a user guide somewhere that I missed? Indeed the RoundSolutions web site is not too intuitive for me, as I had to google for rsterm and roundsolutions to find the rsterm download. In other words, I could not find rsterm by navigating from the www.roundsolutions.com home page.

Thanks - Pop

4

Hi Pop,

When you plug your USB connector between the GM862 board and your PC, windows will search for a device driver and (when found) will create a new com port number for the USB cable. Depending on which USB socket I plug into on my PC it comes up as com6, com7 or com8.

Plug the USB cable into the GM862 module first. When the driver is found then open rsterm. When you search through the serial port list you should see a “new port” added to the list.

Set the Baud at 11520 (needed for Python script loading) and off you go.

John

5

Hi John,

We got the board to blink the TX light when we typed in the AT command.

How do we upload a python script to the device?

We appreciate the support.

Thanks - Pop

6

Now that I am a little more into this technology, I can answer the question that I posed just before in this thread in order to help anyone else that might have the same issue:

To upload a python script to the device from rsterm, select the “telit Python” button from the menu bar. You then have to point the rsterm to your folder which has your python scripts (by selecting the Working folder, click here to change linkbutton). The list of *py files will then show up in the scrollable text window. Select your favorite one of these, and then push the “Upload sel. file(s) PC → module” button. Note: the buttons might be labeled differently depending on your version of rsterm.

You then have to enable the script with the AT#ESCRIPT “” and run it with the AT#EXECSCR command.