[mythtv-users] DirecTV D10-300 Serial Interface

[Blaine Nelson]

As for the serial port check, I don't have a modem lying around.  But,
I do have an old mouse with the old round serial ps2 port and an even
older adpater that goes from the round serial ps2-style port to a
regular serial port.  I'm not sure if this counts as a serial device
but here's what I did.  Plug the mouse into the round serial ps2-style
port.  Reboot.  Mouse worked fine.  Plug the mouse into the regular
serial port using the adapter.  Reboot.  Mouse did not work at all.  I
tried again on the second serial port.  Still nothing from the mouse.

Should the mouse have worked in the regular serial port?  Xubuntu (the
distro I'm using) picked up on the mouse in the round ps2-style port
but not the regular port.  Can I take this as an indication that the
serial port is screwed up?

And if so, what's next?  What steps can I take to see why the mouse
isn't working?

Thanks everyone for putting up with all this.



On 8/26/07, George Mari <george_mythusers at mari1938.org> wrote:
> Blaine Nelson wrote:
> > I believe the default in the perl script is 9600 baud.  I've never
> > done anything in perl, but here's the line I think does that:
> >
> > $baudrate = "9600";
> >
> > Just to be sure, I ran directv.pl from the command line using the
> > baudrate parameter set to 9600 (I also tried 115200 and 57600).
> > Again, I tried for both ttyS0 and ttyS1 and for both serial outs on
> > the machine.
> >
> > Perhaps the order of the parameters is screwy?  Here's what I got for
> > the 9600 baudrate attempts:
> >
> [deleted]
>
> >>> You've got a D10-100.  Mine's a D10-300.  Maybe the software upgrade
> >>> for the D10-300 that's supposed to make it behave like a D10-100
> >>> doesn't do the trick any more?  Like directv has put out a newer
> >>> version that sucks?
>
> This is a possibility, but I've not heard of problems with the D10-300.
>   The Wiki page at:
>
> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Controlling_DirecTV_Set_Top_Box_%28STB%29_via_USB_or_Serial
>
>
> seems to indicate it should work.  (There are also many useful links on
> that page, BTW)
>
>
> >>>
> >>> The cable?  Could it be bad?
>
> Well, we know the D10-300 works because other people have reported it as
> working.
>
> The way I see it, there are three things that could be causing your failure:
>
> 1. Bad serial port.  To eliminate this possibility, hook up a modem or
> other serial device to your port to make sure the port itself works.
>
> 2. Bad cable.  I have found bad connections in my home-made cable using
> an ohm-meter.  If you already have a meter, I suggest checking the cable
> this way.  If not, another possibility is buy another cable, preferably
> from a different source.  Of course, you could get two bad cables, but
> what's the likelihood of that happening?
>
> 3. The D10-300 has a bad port.  The way to rule out or verify this is to
> get another D10-300 and try that. (Hey, nobody every said logic was
> convenient.)
>
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