I admit: I love command line interfaces. Because that gives me usually much more control than any GUI (Graphical User Interface). I like the fact that they have put a UART interface on the RIoT board:

The header is J18, and labeled as ‘DEBUG’. But it is not really debug port, it is the console/UART to the system running on the board 🙂

To connect it to a host PC, I need a level shifter or a UART-to-USB CDC converter.

A convenient one is available from element14, and Embest has a Quickstart Guide for it (http://www.embest-tech.com/download/201406051241.html).

The converter gets connected to J18. The Rx and Tx lines need to be crossed as shown in the picture below:

The UART8000-U uses a FTDI chip, and I already had drivers for it installed on my system, so everything installed automatically:

💡 http://www.embest-tech.com/shop/product/uart8000-u.html provides drivers downloads for Linux and Windows.  Mac Users probably can get the drivers directly from http://www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm

Connection to the board is with 115200 baud:

With this, I have a working console and shell interface to the RIoT board:

🙂

Summary

The RIoT board comes with a 3-pin header (Tx, Rx and GND) which gives a console/UART connection to the board. Any kind of UART-to-Serial (USB CDC or RS-232) can be used, and using the UART8000-U cable is a convenient solution.

💡 And as a last tip: I have found http://www.embest-tech.com/shop/star/riotboard.html which is an excellent source for schematics and other information.

Happy UARTing 🙂