Complete NewBee - Roboard 110 How do I make it work?

[rrbecker]

Greetings all,

Well the subject line says it all. I have a just recently purchased a RB-110 along with the Mini VGA card. I have been trying desperately to get some form of Display output from it but so far I have been unsuccessful. I really need some help in getting at the BIOS so that I can get started with this board. Here is some information that may help.....

Power Supply - 12V 2Amps

Have tried the VGA Card by going through a KVM switch.
I use a PS2 to USB Keyboard and Mouse 'Y' Cable
I have tried the Serial (COM1 ans 2) port method of communication

The board powers up and the RED LED come on... a few seconds later the GREEN LED comes on...

Also.. How does everybody else gain access to the BIOS? What am I missing here..

Thanks in advance,

NewBee - Feeling Pretty Dumb

[rrbecker]

Hi All,

Just an FYI.... I have been working with the Arduino for quite some time and have written many Sketches and have developed several Shields, but this is my first attempt at using the RoBoard

I find myself in a position that I do not know how to proceed and I am just looking for some suggestions...

Thanks again in advance for any help that you can offer..

rrbecker

[rrbecker]

Greetings All,

I have resolved 1 issue. The Null Modem cable that I was using was bad. I replaced it and I can now communicate through the serial port (COM1).

I still have a problem with the VGA card/display. I will continue working that issues as well.

Thanks to all that have viewed this post and if you have any suggestion on the VGA, please feel free to post your ideas, comment or suggestions.

rrbecker

[roboard]

Hi,

some PS2 to USB devices don't work on RoBoard; please use USB keyboard & mouse for RoBoard manipulation.

For OS installation, you can find WinXP and Ubuntu installation guides in the following web page:

http://www.roboard.com/download_ml.htm

If you are interested in using COM1 to manipulate RoBoard, you can refer to the RoBoard Console Redirection How-To, which can be downloaded from the same site.

Introduction Slides for H/W and programming information are also provided there.

[rrbecker]

Hi Roboard,

Thanks for all the great information, it is greatly appreciated.

OS - I have actually created 2 SD chips with operating systems on them. One with WinXp and the other with Ubuntu. At this point I still do not know if either will boot because of my 'Visibility' problem.

PS2-USB - Thanks for this bit of information. It is well received. However I do have a question. Would my use of this PS2-USB configuration cause the problems that I am seeing with the Video card? I guess that I would have assumed that I would at least be able to see the initialization and 'POST' statements.

I will get a USB keyboard and mouse and try this out... Thanks for your suggestions...

rrbecker

[rrbecker]

BTW... I guess at this point that I must assume that the RoBoard can not provide video output through the KVM switch that I am using and must drive a VGA video display directly... is this a correct assumption?

Again Thanks in advance...

rrbecker

[rrbecker]

Hi again,

Well I have now tried different VGA monitors and still no video out of the miniPCI VGA card.

I now have a USB keyboard and mouse and I am able to Boot up but the display is via COM1.

I guess I will see about getting mu VGA card replace or repaired.

Thanks again for your help, and please if you have any other recommendations please let me know.

rrbecker

[roboard]

Hi, rrbecker,

the VGA card should always have output at boot time. If you have installed the VGA card correctly and your card still has no output at BIOS boot screen, you may need to replace or repaire your VGA card.

[rrbecker]

Hi Roboard, How are you....

Yes, that is what I thought. I tried everything I knew first, before concluding that the board was bad. I re-seated the board many time and examined the board under a magnifying glass in hopes of discovering a repairable defect.

I have notified www.robotshop.com and I am awaiting an answer from them on whether they will repair or replace the board.

Thanks for all your help. I will let you know how it goes. In the mean time I will be working with the RoBoard via the Serial port.

rrbecker

[rrbecker]

Hi Again All,

Well I sent the VGA card in for repairs and I should get it back next week sometime so that problem should be solved.

In the mean time I have Another problem that I would like help with. So I am going to create another 'Topic' instead of asking for help here. I will leave this thread for the VGA video card.

I'll keep you all informed as to my progress....

Thanks again to all,

rrbecker

[rrbecker]

Hi again All,

Well it took awhile to get the VGA card back but it did arrive yesterday. I plugged it in and everything started working as advertised. I had already installed Ubuntu and it came up just great, and in Graphics mode to boot.

I am currently working to get the Ethernet port to work but that should not be a problem, as far as I can see.

Also as a side note, I am using a KVM switch and I am able to switch between my main PC and the RoBoard very nicely. This obviously allows me to have a single Keyboard, Video Display and Mouse.

One other interesting thing is that I can also use the PS2 to USB 'Y' cable for the mouse and keyboard. The RoBoard seem to like it just fine. It is able to 'See' a Keyboard and a Mouse across a single USB connector...

I will post more as I make progress...

rrbecker

[rrbecker]

Hi All,

Just FYI, I have discovered that my MAC address is all F's. I have sent email requesting the Tutorial on how to correct this.

Once I receive the Tutorial I should be able to get the Ethernet port working and then the Fun will really begin...

rrbecker