RS stands for recommended standard. In the 60's a standards committee now known as the Electronic Industries Association developed an interface to connect computer terminals to modems. Over the years this has been updated: the most commonly used version of the standard is RS232C (sometimes known as EIA232); the most recent is RS232E. The standard defines the electrical and mechanical characteristics of the connection - including the function of the signals and handshake pins, the voltage levels and maximum bit rate.
There are many areas where the ability to identify troubles in serial interfaces and devices can be important. As the RS-232 is a common standard, it can be used from medical monitoring equipment to scientific instruments. It can be quite difficult to identify the underlying issues.
To troubleshoot the problem you have to use a quality tool that can provide the information required to address the issue. And here is the excellent tool like RS-232 Tester.
RS-232 Testing Software will help you to monitor and analyze serial port communication.
RS-232 Testing Software is a high-quality application that offers plenty of features that set it ahead of the competition. It supports the RS232, RS422, RS485, Modbus and many other serial communication protocols. Serial port tester is an optimal program solution for IT professionals and users who need to test serial applications. This professional tool allows you to:
It comes with advanced filters and flexible search options which let you track the data you are interested in, etc. You can also export data to a file or copy it to the clipboard from within the application.
For testing COM port activity follow the next simple steps. At first, download and install the RS-232 Tester. The next step is to launch the program and start to test serial port data. Here is how it is done:
1. Go to the main menu and select "Session -> New session". There is also a "New" icon on the main toolbar that you can click, or use the "Ctrl + N" keyboard shortcut. This will launch a screen entitled "New monitoring session".
2. Next, select the view modes for your monitoring session. You can select as many of these modes as you want to view at the time, and there is a “Select all” and “Select none” button to simplify your selection.
Here are the differences between view modes.
Table view – displays recorded IRPs in table form
Line view – displays all requests and details that are passed through a selected serial line
Dump view – data passed through the serial line is displayed
Terminal view – all received data is displayed on a text console in ASCII characters.
3. Choose the "Start monitoring now" or "Start in new window" when opening a new session.
You can specify what events you are interested in with the "Capture options" – Create/Close, Read/Write, Device Control.
4. Click “Start monitoring” to activate the RS232 Port Tester session. This displays a new monitoring window.
5. To save the session, select “Session -> Save session/ Save session As” from the main menu. Again there is a clickable “Save” icon on the main toolbar and a keyboard shortcut is available by using “Ctrl + S”.