OPTO B1 Brainboard

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Thread Starter

Brent Simmons

Hey Guys! I'm looking for some linux based software for an OPTO B1 brainboard.
I came across some OPTO hardware and being the tinker that I am, want to interface it with a linux system in order to perform basic functions.
ex:
Turn lights on and off. I just need something that can communicate with the brainboard, input, output. The rest I can do. Any ideas???

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The B1 brainboard would talk to your PC via RS-422/485 lines and there are two easy ways to get your PC to talk 422/485. You can either purchase an RS-232 to RS-422/485 converter (Opto 22 makes one: AC7A). Or you can purchase a PCI or ISA card that talks RS-422/485 (AC422AT card from Opto 22). But of course these converters are available just about anywhere.

Once you have a serial connection to the B1 board you need to speak its protocol which is Opto 22's Optomux protocol. The full Optomux protocol is available for PDF download at Opto 22's site: http://www.opto22.com/products/DatasheetSearch.asp?SearchString=0203

This will show you the simple ASCII command sets you can use to interface with the hardware. Opto 22 has also dedicated several resources to linux development and you can send any of your questions to [email protected]

Rene Gamero
Systems Engineer
 
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Mario de Sousa

Hi Brent,

Sorry for the delay. I have never used Opto hardware myself.

I have been browsing their web page, and it seems you can freely download software to get the brainboard to talk modbus/tcp.

With this protocol you can get it to interface with most software, including LinuxPLC, and PuffinSCADA too.

They also say they have some linux code to interface directly with the brainboard, including the source. This is reading from the manuals. I
haven't searched for any software from their web site yet.


Cheers,


Mario.


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Mario J. R. de Sousa
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The box said it requires Windows 95 or better, so I installed Linux

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Brent Simmons

Great, but I still need some kind of software to run on linx that will push the commands through the serial connection in the brainborad. Or am I totally confused?
-Brent
 
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Greg Goodman

> Great, but I still need some kind of software to run on linx that will push the commands through the serial connection in the brainborad. Or am I totally confused?

You're not confused. You need a software implementation of the Optomux protocol. Unfortunately, I don't know of any Open Source / Linux implementations. On the other hand, as somebody already noted, the spec is available:

http://www.opto22.com/Datasheets/0203_Optomux_Protocol_Manual.pdf
The protocol isn't very complicated, and it shouldn't be too hard to implement enough to satisfy your turn on / turn off requirements.

Incidentally, the protocol document also says that Opto sells an OptoDriver Toolkit ($295) which contains a "generic" Optomux driver (i.e. not for DOS, Win16 or Win32) that "builds packets to be sent to Optomux hardware and parses the response received."

I have no idea what licensing restrictions, if any, apply to drivers build with the toolkit.

Regards,

Greg Goodman
Chiron Consulting
 
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