unknown IO-cards

[MjTom]

Hello,
Does anyone know the manufacturer or the software for the cards in the picture.
They are called:
FFS.KEY01.01.00
FFS.REL01.01.00
FFS.SMC01.01.01
FFS.SENS01.02.00
This is a connection box for motorized yokes with 2 stepper motors, stickshakers, 2 potentiometers, 2 sensors and all the switches from the yokes.
I would be grateful for any information.

[ame]

Couldn't find anything, even with my amazing Google-fu.

My two suggestions are:

- lift up the boards to see if there is anything printed on the back.

- the boards have a micro USB connector on them and a microcontroller. I'll bet it's an ATMega328P. You could try connecting the USB port to a PC and see if a serial port is created to talk to the micro. Then run a serial terminal (such as PuTTY) and see if there is any useful information transmitted.

Actually, I just looked again at the photo. There is already a USB socket wired up to the front panel. What happens when you plug the unit in to a PC?

[MjTom]

Thanks you for answer.
The first time it was connected to USB, a driver have installed. I can also hear the typical sound if I connect/ remove an USB device. I think, I need the right software now.
The backside I still must check.

[ame]

Ok. It's quite possible that the driver is a serial port driver. Take a look at the Device Manager in the Control Panel in Windows and see if a serial port appears and disappears when you plug in the device.

[MjTom]

Hi,
Yes, I get an serial USB device (COM4)
Checked the backside, no title.
The microcontrollers on the cards is a STM32F.

[ame]

Ok. So the whole unit is a serial device. There must be internal wiring between the four boards to communicate data from the single USB port that is connected to the PC.

STM32 is another very common and capable microcontroller.

Now you know the serial port (currently COM4, but it might change later) you can use a terminal program, such as PuTTY, to look at data coming from the unit. You might have to change the baud rate, but popular choices are 9600, 57600, and 115200. If you are extremely lucky you might see a manufacturer name of product name or some other useful information when the unit starts up.

[MjTom]

unfortunately did not work, I could not get any information with PUTTY.

[ame]

Well, you'd have to get lucky. Firstly, you have to guess the baud rate (although there are some that are more likely than others). Secondly, you have to get lucky that there is a 'power-on' message that might give you some information. Thirdly, maybe you are lucky and the device will respond to characters that you send. For example, maybe a '?' character will give you some help message. Or maybe just pressing Enter a few times will do something.

If detective work like this is new to you then it's going to take a while.