| PANDORA
ETHERPAD INSTRUCTION MANUAL |
|
| |
|
| What is
an EtherPAD? An EtherPAD is a compact stand-alone
device with an external power supply. It has an Ethernet
and a serial interface and connects asynchronous serial
devices to Ethernet networks. Ethernet is a networking
standard developed to enable computers to be physically
connected to facilitate the sharing of data and resources
by computers connected to that network. This connection
can be achieved by using wires, fibre optic links or
other physical media. Asynchronous serial data
transmission is a form of data transfer where information
is sent one character at a time with variable time
intervals between characters. Serial devices are
typically connected to a COM port of a PC - for example a
serial Mouse. What is the EtherPAD capable of doing? An EtherPAD can connect virtually any electronic
device with a serial interface (a serial device) to an
Ethernet network. This means you can control your serial device
from a remote location as long as your serial device and
your PC are connected to an Ethernet network. For example
your networked computer can communicate with a serial
device, say an electronic display, via the network, using
an EtherPAD. The Internet and Ethernet use the same
communications protocols. These protocols define the way
that data are transmitted and include safeguards to
ensure that transmitted data reaches the correct
recipient. How does the EtherPAD do it? Serial devices are not compatible with Ethernet
networks but EtherPAD makes this possible by converting
(translating) data between the serial device and the network.
The EtherPAD is a channel for transmission, a translator
between devices. It repackages information from the
serial device into information called Ethernet packets,
and simultaneously converts data from the network
(Ethernet packets) into a format understandable by the
serial device. The EtherPAD continuously transmits to and
receives data from the serial device whilst assembling
and disassembling network packets. Remote access and
control of the serial device is thus possible using
standard TCP/IP network communication. |
|
| |
|
| Diagram
of EtherPAD |
|
| |
|
| The
following is a diagram of the EtherPAD, without
enclosure. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| External
Connections ·
Network Connection – RJ45 type connector to make
connection to the network via UTP cable. ·
Application Serial Port – This DB9 RS232 serial port
is connected to the display or external device that is
being communicated with over the ethernet network. ·
Configuration Serial Port – This DB9 RS232 serial
port is connected to a PC using Hyperterminal or similar
program, and us used to configure and setup the EtherPAD.
·
Power Connection - Connection to external power supply 9
– 12 volts DC. Configuration and Setup Procedure There are 2 ways to setup the Etherpad: 1) Over network 2) Connected to configuration port Configuration and Setup over Network Supplied with the Etherpad unit will be a software
disk containing a file "PADConfig31.zip" This
zip file contains 3 files namely:
"PADConfig.exe";"
PADConfig.cnt";" PADCONFIG.HLP" Unzip
these files into a suitable directory and then run the
"PADConfig.exe" executable file. The software will
look as follows: |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| To detect
all the EtherPAD devices on the network click on the pull
down menu "Configuration>Scan Network" |
|
| |
|
| The
following screen will appear after a few seconds
displaying all available EtherPAD devices on the network. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Select the
EtherPAD to configure and click on the
"Retrieve" button. The following screen will
appear. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| All the
settings for the specific EtherPAD will be loaded onto
the screen. Simply edit the relevant settings on the
screen, including the EtherPAD IP address, Subnet Mask,
and Local Port. Click on the "Serial Interface"
tab and ensure the "Serial Device Baud Rate" is
set to 9600. Once all changes have been made, click on
the pull down menu "Configuration>Send to
EtherPAD" and the following screen will appear: |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| The default
password is "xxx" (three letter x) in lower
case. Click on "Ok" to update the EtherPAD
device. |
|
| |
|
| Configuration
and Setup via User Configuration port Manual
configuration of the EtherPAD via the configuration
serial port, requires first connecting the EtherPAD to a
computer via a specially wired serial configuration
cable. This cable is a crossed serial cable with TX &
RX crossed on one connector. Once the EtherPAD is connected to the computer’s
serial port, a terminal emulation program such as
HyperTerminal must be started in order to communicate
with the EtherPAD. For the purpose of this explanation,
HyperTerminal will be used to illustrate the various
configuration steps. Select Hyperterminal in the windows start menu –
Start>Programs>Accessories>Hyperterminal. The
following screen will appear: |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Enter a
suitable name and Icon for your new HyperTerminal
session. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Select a
suitable free COM port on your PC that you will use to
configure the EtherPAD. In this case we are using COM1. |
|
| |
|
| Enter the
port settings as illustrated below. Note that the
Configuration Port is set to a transmission speed of
either 9600 or 19200 Bits per second. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| Click OK,
once the terminal session connects, type in reboot. The
following is a captured text file of what appears. When
prompted for a password type in xxx in lower case. E88
Bootstrap Loader (c) Copyright 1999 SAN People (Pty) Ltd.
Binary Sum : OK Memory : 256K OK VALID APPLICATION AT 8007:0000 Type 'HELP' for a list of user commands, OR type
'ERASE APP' to clear the Flash Array, then upload an Extended
Intel Hex Object Module Format File located anywhere between
0x80000 and 0xEFFFF, inclusive, ie. up to 448K. This
would leave the entire 256K SRAM (0..0x3FFFF) available
for data structures. Transferring control to Application at 8007:0000 EtherPAD
(TCP+SNMP) - v2.01 (07/02/2000)˜ (c) Copyright 1999,
2000 SAN People (Pty) Ltd. Password? Type in lower case xxx Menu: C. Configure... Q. Quit. To configure type c Etherpad configuration: U. User interface... E. Etherpad network... S. Serial interface... R. Remote host... L. Error logging... B. Back. To set up the IP address subnet mask and local port
type e Etherpad network configuration: L. Local port [8000]. I. IP address [130.000.000.204]. N. Subnet Mask address [255.255.255.000]. G. Gateway address [000.000.000.000]. S. BOOTP Server address [255.255.255.255]. O. Use BOOTP [Disabled]. T. Use TFTP [Disabled]. E. Ethernet address [0020B700104D]. B. Back. To change the IP address type in the letter I, and
enter the new IP address Enter new IP address: 130.000.000.204 Etherpad network configuration: L. Local port [8000]. I. IP address [130.000.000.204]. N. Subnet Mask address [255.255.255.000]. G. Gateway address [000.000.000.000]. S. BOOTP Server address [255.255.255.255]. O. Use BOOTP [Disabled]. T. Use TFTP [Disabled]. E. Ethernet address [0020B700104D]. B. Back. To go back to the previous menu type in b Etherpad configuration: U. User interface... E. Etherpad network... S. Serial interface... R. Remote host... L. Error logging... B. Back. To set up the serial application port to 9600 for
the display type in s Your option? Serial interface configuration: R. Baud rate [9600]. D. Data unit size [8]. P. Parity [None]. F. Flow control [None]. I. Incoming data format [Raw]. O. Outgoing data format [Raw]. N. Protocol [None]. C. Terminating character (0..255) [0]. T. Terminating timeout (0..65535 milliseconds) [50]. L. Terminating length (0..1460 bytes) [1460]. B. Back. To set up the baud rate to 9600 press r repeatedly
until the correct parameter is displayed. Type b to
return to the previous menu. JEtherpad configuration: U. User interface... E. Etherpad network... S. Serial interface... R. Remote host... L. Error logging... B. Back. To exit type in b and a menu with two options
appears Your option? D. Do not save changes to non-volatile memory. S. Save changes to non-volatile memory. To save changes type in s Your option? A confirmation message will be displayed Changes were saved to non-volatile memory. |
