printf PSoC Creator in a Windows VM on Mac OSX

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Anonymous
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I'm using Creator 3.3 in a Windows 7 VM (hosted on OSX) and I'm able to compile/write example programs to the PSoC 4 BLE Pioneer Kit (CY8CKIT-042-BLE). Besides the following problem it works great and Creator is a fantastic system to get started with quickly.

   

Now I come across a project in the "100 Projects in a 100 Days" (day 10) which is full of printf statements. I'd love to see these output messages and use this printf debugging feature in general.

   

My guess was that they would write back to a log window in Creator over the usb cable with which I'm writing/debugging the Pioneer Kit.

   

However, after some research I got the impression that they write back to a serial com port, still done over that same USB cable to the Pioneer Kit. Some say one can see this data by using PuTTY/hyperterminal connected to COM1.

   

Firstly, is this how it is supposed to work? Do other's regularly do this with Windows systems?

   

I could be wrong about this as I've never seen it work. I don't know if it's because I'm in a VM or because this is generally bad information.

   

To use a COM port in the VM I need to connect a COM port from OSX. There is a list, but unfortunately no com port seems to have been created for the Pioneer Kit in OSX.

   

Secondly, is it possible to receive these messages on OSX directly? 

   

After some research I suspected it might be purposed to work like a serial-usb-bridge and that if it was recognized by OSX then one might expect it to create a tty file in /dev. It does not.

   

I don't know if I have a problem with my system or if this is even supposed to work this way in the first place.

   

Any help and insights are much appreciated.

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1 Solution
Anonymous
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Yes, it's like a USB Serial Bridge, on the same cable. You may try this.

   

https://www.vmware.com/support/ws3/doc/ws32_devices3.html

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6 Replies
Anonymous
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Yes, it's like a USB Serial Bridge, on the same cable. You may try this.

   

https://www.vmware.com/support/ws3/doc/ws32_devices3.html

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Anonymous
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Thanks for your reply. The link you gave though is only useful if OSX can communicate with that USB Serial Bridge. Then my VM could "use a serial port on the host computer".

   

I guess the question really becomes is there an OSX driver for the Pioneer board's USB Serial Bridge?

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Anonymous
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You don´t need any driver for USB serial bridge in OS X - It works out of box.

   

However, as you have your kit connected to VM, you need to read COM port in you VM. If no COM is available, try either restarting VM and/or reinstaling Windows PSoC drivers. It works for me (latest Paralells Desktop - Win XP VM, OS X 10.11.6 beta).

   

COM1 is system-reserved port, PsoC should create its own COM port - for me it´s COM7, on Win 10 workstation it´s numbered as COM3.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Thanks for this reply Martin. It's good information to know that someone has it working in a VM.

   

Good point about the COM number. However, I don't get any COM created in my VM.

   

For the benefit of others with this problem I was using Windows 7 in Parallels 11.0.2 on OSX El Capitan 10.11.5.

   

I had two problems. One was the COM port not being created. Secondly, performing firmware updates would fail for the programmer on the Pioneer development board and the CySmart Dongle.

   

I got around this by installing Windows 10 via OSX Bootcamp. Dual boot is not as convenient as a VM, however, everything works perfectly. I've been able to update the boards' firmware and the COM port is created just fine.

   

Now knowing that Martin has it working in a VM I may try to create a Windows 10 VM and see it that works better for me.

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Anonymous
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Eric: Does your machine have PD Guest additions installed ? 

   

Sometimes, the COM port isn´t available when I connect the device to VM - the solution is simple: Disconnect and reconnect the Kit. COM port should appear now. There are some issues with USB and El Capitan, maybe it´s related - most of them were sorted out by .4 and .5 updates, but not all...

   

Also, PSoC works for me... With a small glitch (a suspect Win XP OS is the culprit) - It crashes due to syntax checker, it´s weird as on Windows 10 workstation the PSoC is perfectly stable...

Anonymous
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Thanks for your help Martin. I installed Windows 10 in a Parallels VM and the COM ports are working very reliably now. Same OSX and Parallels versions as in my previous post. If others are having this issue hopefully this will be helpful info.

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