Sharp I/o Connector On C1000/3x00

[scholbert]

Hi folks,

in the last few weeks i followed some postings & tried to find out some facts about the sharp I/O connector on C1000/C3x00  devices (the port covered behind the plastic shield on the back). This led to some confusion   .
So perhaps we might clear this up and collect some facts about this port, that's why i started this post.

You can find the specs of the I/O connector in this forum. It was released from sharp in 2001 and covers the SL-5000.
There are also some posts with a link to a document on hrw site where JTAG access for collie is mentioned (see link below).

All in all, these technical informations seem not to be completely valid for the latest C1000/3x00 devices.  

Many of you reported that the serial lines are still available on the I/O connector of the C1000/3x00, because the standard sharp serial cable (C170) is still working with the C1000 as well as with the C3x00 devices. Another guy used it with a homemade cable as serial console output and had success.

I personally use a C3100 and did some measurements on the dedicated pins looking into the old spec from sharp.
The signals made sense to me, so i also assumed that the serial port is still there.
For now it is not completely tested by myself, but one may assume that pin 3-7 and pin 14 still carry the serial lines of ttyS0 (there's still some uncertainty about the handshake lines, i'd like to check this more intensely).

The behaviour of these pins may be identical to the SL-5000 spec.
So for the moment this could be taken as confirmed on C1000/3x00 devices!

Trisoft brought the JTAG thing on I/O into this forum.
At least in one of their famous documents JTAG is mentioned as service port available on I/O connector.

After having a closer look in the schematic published by hrw i thought it might be there as a secondary function of some of the serial lines.
Have a look at pin 13 (mentioned as reserved pull-down in SL-5000 spec), it is connected to VCC. Maybe there's a gate beeing activated through this pin which gives access to the JTAG lines of the cpu. At least on collie this should work.
This has to be checked for C1000/3x00!

Let's go further on!

How about the USB pins of the traditional I/O connector pinout (SL-5000 spec) on C1000/3x00?
No one mentioned a working USB connection using the USB pins on I/O connector.
Perhaps there's another USB host port waiting for connection.
As far as i remember albertr made some investigations concering additional USB inside C1000 (great page!!). The I/O connector is not discussed there.
I tried to connect a host PC as well as a memory stick with external power supply.
No success so far, but this has to be checked more extensely.
So the function of pins 9&12 of the connector is unsure (at least for me   !)

Excluded on the C1000/3x00 I/O connector are pins 1,2 and 15,16. These were told not to be connected internally (formerly used as power input). This also seems correct.

The last thing is tested as well:
Pin 11 (VCC3) and Pin 8 (GND) deliver 3.3V power. These pins are allways under power. I don't think it can be switched without additional hardware.

Discussions are welcome!

scholbert

[TRIsoft]

Hi Scholbert,

in the last few weeks i followed some postings & tried to find out some facts about the sharp I/O connector on C1000/C3x00  devices (the port covered behind the plastic shield on the back). This led to some confusion   .

ok, let's maximize the confusion  
I know, that we wrote in our startupguide that the connector is
for JTAG only now.
That's not the full truth. You're right, that there's also the serial
port functionality left. The funny thing is, that it only works well
with the original SHARP CE-170TS. We read a lot of reports that
the ZThinCableM/F and the ZBPDB9M/F fail.
The USB functionality is definitely not connected. Also the power
pins (used to charge the SL-C7x0/8x0 series) are now only connected
to testpoints.

Have a look at the pinout for the SL-C3x00 series here:
 [ Invalid Attachment ]

///TRIsoft

Marc Stephan

[scholbert]

Damn, this was a fast reply!

Thanks a lot for this useful information.
So there's less to discuss for you folks   !

The question about charging the C1000/3x00 over I/O port maybe solved now for all times!

I also didn't have to waste my time on testing USB functionality on this port  .

Trisoft rules!

Regards,

scholbert

[pelrun]

Hmm... so a few appropriately connected wires inside the case could re-enable both power and USB?  TP601/TP602 to positive on the power connector, TP620/TP621 to ground, and TP609/TP612 to the usb.

Marc, that diagram you posted is an incredible tease! There wouldn't happen to be the rest of the schematic it came from floating about anywhere would there...?

I only just got my 3100, I'll hold off on this mod personally... for a while anyway *g* I loved the old "one plug dock" manoeuvre on my 860, I find the cxx00's incredibly clunky in comparison...

[speculatrix]

I only just got my 3100, I'll hold off on this mod personally... for a while anyway *g* I loved the old "one plug dock" manoeuvre on my 860, I find the cxx00's incredibly clunky in comparison...
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agreed... there are sync/charge cables for the xy00 series, a Y-shaped cable which split into mini-B and power plug, but they're not as neat. having the connector on the back somewhat precludes having some sort of docking station, which is a shame.

[Armagon]

Good thread.  My first thought on seeing a related post was, "What?  The C1000 has a serial port!?"

... there's also the serial
port functionality left. The funny thing is, that it only works well
with the original SHARP CE-170TS. We read a lot of reports that
the ZThinCableM/F and the ZBPDB9M/F fail.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=147501\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I just want to be sure I understand correctly:  If I get a CE-170TS cable, I have physical access to the serial port, and the signals it provides are correct for use with a PC.  [Does anyone know how do the other cables differ?  Are they just straight connections, or are there electronics inside?  I imagine that I could get one of them and hack the connector off, but it seems like a lot of work since the original cable is still available.]

Do any of the current ROMs provide access to the serial port on a C1000 or C3x00?

Thanks,
Armagon

[Edit] PS.  Does the cable act as a null-modem cable?  Which is to say, if I plug it directly into my Z and into my PC, can I establish communications, or do I need a null-modem cable between the two of them?

[TRIsoft]

Hi Armagon,

Good thread.  My first thought on seeing a related post was, "What?  The C1000 has a serial port!?"

yes, it has. Shame on us because of the "only JTAG" in the manual.
But the cover is soooooo fragile and the serial port will only work
with the 170TS cable, so we haven't changed it.
OK, i should add that the first SL-C3000 sample we got, had no
serial I/O functionality. So, at the day i wrote that statement for
the manual, it was correct. Looks like Sharp changed something
for the mass production.

I just want to be sure I understand correctly:  If I get a CE-170TS cable, I have physical access to the serial port, and the signals it provides are correct for use with a PC.  [Does anyone know how do the other cables differ?  Are they just straight connections, or are there electronics inside?  I imagine that I could get one of them and hack the connector off, but it seems like a lot of work since the original cable is still available.]
Do any of the current ROMs provide access to the serial port on a C1000 or C3x00?

Yes, you understood it correctly. No black magic, no vodoo needed (OK,
throwing three dead cats over the cemetery fence at midnight could
help a bit   ). Remove the cover, plug the CE-170TS in and you'll have
access to the serial port via /dev/ttyS0 .

PS.  Does the cable act as a null-modem cable?  Which is to say, if I plug it directly into my Z and into my PC, can I establish communications, or do I need a null-modem cable between the two of them?

The CE-170TS is a null-modem cable for use with a PC. If you want
to setup routers or do other strange things, you'll need a null-modem cable.

///TRIsoft

Marc Stephan

[TRIsoft]

Hi all,

just noticed that we forgot to answer one question:

Yes. There's some high-density, high-tech (haha) electronics
hidden in the cable (precisely, in the connector).
We assume, that the power consumption on the 3rd party
cables is a bit too high for the SL-C1x00 / SL-C3x00.
So the CE-170TS is the only one, that works.

///TRIsoft

Marc Stephan

[hvontres]

Hi all,

just noticed that we forgot to answer one question:

Yes. There's some high-density, high-tech (haha) electronics
hidden in the cable (precisely, in the connector).
We assume, that the power consumption on the 3rd party
cables is a bit too high for the SL-C1x00 / SL-C3x00.
So the CE-170TS is the only one, that works.

///TRIsoft

Marc Stephan
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You could also try this circuit : [a href=\"http://www.pdaxrom.org/node/92]pdaxrom serial board[/url]

[scholbert]

Fantastic,

it seems we got everything together concerning I/O connector on the new sharp models.
Below you find a reply from pelrun in another post.
I just wanted to add it in here for completion.

The 3100 schematic definitely provides for JTAG wired to behave as scholbert says: holding pin 13 high remaps 5 as TDI, 6 as TMS, 7 as TDO, 14 as TCK.

Unfortunately it looks like all the components in that circuit have been left off the production board, as one of albertr's nice highres photos of the board shows unpopulated chip positions right where I'd expect to see the two TC7WB66FK bus select chips, and the schematic has all the components in that part of the circuit marked as "OPEN". 
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Maybe some warning is also required:
You should be very aware of what you're doing when using JTAG on the zaurus devices. Do not brick it forever!!!

At least you will need the bus switches on your board to use it   .

Regards,

scholbert

[InSearchOf]

Bring this back from the dead.... to hopefully bring the 6000 from the dead... So, in the efforts to get uboot working on the 6000L I seemed to have borked the bootloader and NOR as a whole... No FN+D+M, D+P, Q+T, etc... plus no charging, no lights... nothing at all...

So my question is, has anyone actually had any success using a JTAG cable and tools with there Zaurii? I'm going to keep working with the 6000L to attempt to get it functional again but I may have to send it to SharpUSA. It will be 125USD minimum (already called them)

So, Just looking for suggestions.

Late

[speculatrix]

could it be that the switches which lock the battery in place are faulty? or the backlight connector is faulty?
I'd definitely open it up and reseat every connector and look for other faults (like the traditional blown surface mount fuse in the charger circuit) before sending it off to Sharp.

[InSearchOf]

could it be that the switches which lock the battery in place are faulty? or the backlight connector is faulty?
I'd definitely open it up and reseat every connector and look for other faults (like the traditional blown surface mount fuse in the charger circuit) before sending it off to Sharp.

I may do so... but I think the issue is caused by me... I flashed the bootloader and it was dead from there... prior to the flash it was fine... I thought the 6000L has the same NAND/NOR setup as the clamshell models,,, with the RO Diag menu... am I incorrect in the statement???

Late

[speculatrix]

yes, the 6000 has the same diagnostics D+M. have you tried accessing using the recessed reset switch, and checked that the battery has some power in it using a voltmeter on the terminals?

there's an auxiliary battery in the 6000 which might also affect operation?

[InSearchOf]

yes, the 6000 has the same diagnostics D+M. have you tried accessing using the recessed reset switch

Yep

and checked that the battery has some power in it using a voltmeter on the terminals?

No, will do

there's an auxiliary battery in the 6000 which might also affect operation?

No clue if it is the culprit...

Late