Listen to serialport

[Medien Forscher]

Hi
Is it possible to read from a serial usb port? I want to read data from a waterrower which can be connected via serial usb.

Thx!
Olivier

[Steve Garman]

You can read serial data from a USB but only if it supports USB OTG.

I don't think the Waterrower supports OTG

[Medien Forscher]

Thanks Dave! Can you point me to a code sample for reading serial data?

I only can find sample for writing to a device.

Thx!
Olivier

[Medien Forscher]

Sorry, again, Waterower outputs data via usb serial. Theres even a javascript library for it, but not for android:

https://github.com/jamesnesfield/node-waterrower

Would be cool to be able to get data into droidscript.
Best regards
Olivier

[Steve Garman]

As I said above,

I don't think the Waterrower supports OTG

That would probably be one reason they have not been able to offer Android support. 

[Medien Forscher]

Thanks for your response. I obviously didn't understand the technical problem of not supporting OTG by the sending device.

Thanks anyway and keep up the good work on droidscript.

Olivier

[Charles Wilt]

It would take an extra step but you could use a device like arduino or better yet an espruino. The espruino works as OTG and should be able to communicate with the waterrower. Acting as a relay or sorts.

[Steve Garman]

Charles,

Are you suggesting
  Waterrower>USB>Espruino>Bluetooth>phone
or some sort of dual USB solution?

I am not sure I understand the suggestion at all.

[Medien Forscher]

Thats what has been archived here:
https://github.com/olympum/waterrower-ble

I thought it may be possible to sniff the serial usb of the waterrower directly. I still wonder: has the sendig device also to support otg to get the data in?

[Charles Wilt]

Steve,

What little info I can find on the waterrower S4 says it has a micro USB port and the output is standard serial. Maybe I am missing something? Sure sounds like you should be able to use an OTG adapter on an android device with a standard USB to micro USB cable.

Perhaps use a tessel 2 using the NPM module that is available to create a web page with the waterrower information.

Since I have no way of testing these ideas the they are just speculation.

[Medien Forscher]

Thanks for your suggestions! Could this driver be integrated in a droidscript script?
https://github.com/mik3y/usb-serial-for-android

Thx again. Waterrower is a great machine but electronic remains in stone age...

[Charles Wilt]

I am not the developer but I would say no.

[Dave Smart]

DS already has a USB serial driver (based on that same library actually).  It should just work with an OTG cable (as long as your phone is new enough to support OTG)

[Dave Smart]

Use the 'USB Arduino' sample to read serial data.

[Medien Forscher]

Thanks Dave, I've tested it, no luck, no connection. Although waterrower sends cdc and I have a app from playstore which connects (but sees no data).

Is it possible to use a custom VID and PID? Usbterminal app says VID=0x04D8, PID=0x000A

Thx, if we get data in, maybe the result will be a nice app.
Olivier

[Dave Smart]

Hi Oliver,

I'll add those PID/VID values to the next beta release of DS for you and you can see if that works.

Are you sure those are the PID and VID for the waterrower?

[Medien Forscher]

Hi Dave, Im coming back to this topic. Yes these are the values.
Serial USB Terminal App connects via CDC and receives data. So it should be possible. I tested it today again and it did not work.

[Medien Forscher]

Sorry if Im asking again, would it be possible to implement VID=0x04D8, PID=0x000A in the next version?

Or take out the necessity for pid and vid out completely?

Thx!

[Dave]

Hi Medien,

Those PID and VID values are already in DS... been there for a while I think.

In the latest DS release, I have removed the PID check anyway: http://androidscript.org/alpha/DroidScript_169a3