I was wondering how do I use a USB to Serial cable to program a the bot(with the IFI loader)?
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The USB to Serial Converter should be connected between your serial cable and your PC. Be sure you check which COM port the USB adapter is using on your PC and set the COM port on the IFI Loader the same.**
What should the serial port settings be on the PC (baud, parity, etc…) to download to the RC. I succesfully downloaded from my PC w/ a USB to Serial adapter, but it was much slower than I remebered (several minutes compared to a few seconds). I hope it is just the serial settings. Help?
**The IFI Loader will set the serial port settings. The only thing you can do is to be sure the FIFOs on your com port are enabled. Your slow download is mostly your USB to Serial adapter. We have used the Radio Shack Model 26-183 with good success.
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What are the FIFO settings(Mentioned in previous question about slowness of downloading), and where are these adjusted/checked?
To see the FIFO settings, go to the Device Manager. Open Ports to find COM1. Right click on COM1 and select Properties. In the COM1 Properties window, click on the Port Settings Tab. Now click on the Advanced Tab. Here the “Use FIFO buffers” box should be checked and the slide bars on both Receive and Transmit Buffer should be set to high. Click on all the “OK” buttons until you are done.
Since serial ports are becoming a rare commodity on laptops, can we use a USB to serial port adapter with the IFI loader? If so, do we need special drivers? If no, would you please consider this for next years competition? Thanks
Yes you can use a USB to serial port adapter with the IFI loader. If the USB adapter requires specials drivers, they should be supplied with the adapter. Some USB adapters will cause a significant increase in download times. We have used the Radio Shack Model 26-183 with good success.