David, Using a USB dongle with an Apple Mac Laptop works fine for me.
The chip is a FTDI FT232BL. Drivers from the FTDI site. In "terminal or console" use one of the following commands: [generic $5 dongle with no serial number] cd /dev screen tty.usbserial [xs880 with a serial number, http://www.usconverters.com/usb-serial-adapter-xs880] cd /dev screen tty.usbserial-A101OFXZ Having one (or more) with a serial number(s) allows several to work at the same time... I use the same USB-serial converters on windows PCs too. Jim ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David Andersen" <d...@pobox.com> > To: time-nuts@febo.com > Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2015 10:28:30 AM > Subject: [time-nuts] z3801a - serial help and for sale. > > I'm throwing my hands up in the air - I don't have the time to > wrestle my > silly mac into trying to talk to the box, unless someone has quick > advice > on something I might be doing wrong. > > z3801a, jumpered to RS232, modified with an internal switching power > supply > (see photos below). Power light comes on, unit is outputting stable > 10MHz. Doesn't GPS lock, but that makes sense, since I haven't been > able > to issue a SURVEY command and I don't live where I used to. > > The internal green status light is blinking (as normal), suggesting > that > it's probably happy and I'm an idiot for not being able to make it > work, > but I don't vouch for anything about it past the 10mhz being there. > The > double-oven oscillator is clearly happy given the 10mhz (compared > against a > working Thunderbolt). > > Hooked up a serial cable at 19200, 7, O, 1, but only got a garbled > little > prompt back - no response to standard z3801a commands. I *think* I > have > the cable configured properly. I opened it up and checked the RS232 > jumpers and they're correct. > > I'm open to advice on getting the serial working under my Mac or > Linux, or > anyone who wants to relieve me of the burden of z3801a ownership and > take a > risk that it's a fixer-upper. :-) I suspect that in some previous > life, I > switched it over into a binary mode of some sort while using it to > sync > something, but I can't for the life of me remember what I might have > done. > > Some reasonable price plus shipping and it's all yours... I'm trying > to > de-clutter in preparation for a sabbatical on the other side of the > country. > > Pictures: > > https://www.dropbox.com/s/ursszjgie8m1xj8/2015-06-09%2011.57.16.jpg?dl=0 > https://www.dropbox.com/s/it8d2f65ztn4rkq/2015-06-09%2011.57.24.jpg?dl=0 > https://www.dropbox.com/s/1p1g6xrapzdmvzh/2015-06-09%2011.59.56.jpg?dl=0 > > Thanks! > > -Dave > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.