communicate mcu w/ computer

how do i program the serial to communicate with a computer? what purpose does the serial serve? does it allow the mcu to display what its doin onto the computer screen?

 RE: communicate mcu w/ computer

To start the serial Port can serve you for some input output basically if you want to start up without having any other type of IO like display or keypad to be interfaced to your micro.

It will display whatever you will tell it to display...

I mean it will give whatever you will output programatically. You can see it on a computer using some terminal program like hyper terminal.

You can find many small programs to start up your basic serial communication or just follow the datasheet and configure the serial port of your MCU.

Suvidh

 RE: communicate mcu w/ computer

"how do i program the serial to communicate with a computer?"

You don't!

A serial port is just a serial port - it sends bytes, and it receives bytes.

The serial port neither knows nor cares where the transmitted bytes go to, nor where the received bytes came from. It is entirely irrelevant to the serial port

 WTF?

Are you just kidding?
In your other thread: http://www.keil.com/forum/docs/thread9378.asp you are saying that you want to program a SiLabs chip. Are you really serious about this? Is this related to some school project?

I'm asking this because 'what is a serial port' is the kind of question that shows that your level of general knowledge of basic digital circuit blocks is not compatible to the task of programming any microcontroller. All manuals and documentation assume a certain background of digital and logic systems, peripherals and theory of computing.

You can seek basic circuit information in a electronic enciclopaedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ports where you can find many other bits of related information.

 RE: WTF?

"what purpose does the serial serve?"

It serves whatever purpose you choose to use it for!

"does it allow the mcu to display what its doin onto the computer screen?"

Not directly.
But yes, you could use a serial port as one part of one way to do this:

you would connect the MCU's serial port to the computer's serial port;

You would need to write software on the MCU to send "what its doin" out of its serial port;

You would also need to write (or buy) software on the computer to receive data into its serial port, and interpret and display this on the screen.

 RE: WTF?

I'm asking this because 'what is a serial port' is the kind of question that shows that your level of general knowledge of basic digital circuit blocks is not compatible to the task of programming any microcontroller.

what is the problem? all this can be learned in 10 minutes (at least some think so).

We old timers realized that learning a (new) technology took time, my first 10 line program (on a PDP-8) took weeks to write because obtaining the underlying knowledge was required.

Today, we see the youngsters post "I want to write a program for a Mars Lander, how do I learn to do so in 10 minutes or less"

If somebody is not willing to spend the time to absorb the required knowledge the all 'help' is futile.

Erik

 RE: WTF?

I wrote: "I'm asking this because [it] shows that your level of general knowledge [..] is not compatible to [..] programming any microcontroller."

Erik replied: "what is the problem? all this can be learned in 10 minutes"

To which I agree. Please note that I've never said that the required knowledge cannot be acquired, and I didn't say that it can't be learned fast enough. I just stated that the OP seems to lack basic subjacent information on general digital computing. I also implied that this lacking will hamper advances and raise doubts in basic understanding of how a microcontroller works.

All the technical documentation on microcontrollers (datasheets, programming notes, manuals) assume the reader has a basic knowledge on general digital circuitry, programming, digital logic, general electronics, and general digital computing.

It is not hard for someone to get that knowledge, as Erik correctly noted. As I said, there are plenty of introductory self-training material on the net, and I provided one good resource, the Wikipedia.

As Erik implied, mastering the learning process is one of the most important skills a developer needs. Every new design that I face demands learning new material on some needed technique, process or standard.

Although it might have seemed otherwise, my intention was not to demotivate the OP, but to show that more basic learning was needed, and indicate where to get it.

 calrification

Erik fastidiously replied: "what is the problem? all this can be learned in 10 minutes"

this, in the same post, should make that clear "If somebody is not willing to spend the time to absorb the required knowledge the all 'help' is futile"

Erik