Gilderfluke&Co old Smart Brick Manual - Manual (Page 38)

If you have hooked up the Brick Brain to your computer and it still doesnÕt seem to respond to the
keyboard, the first thing to check is that you are attached to the correct serial port. The easiest way to
check this is to disconnect the Brick Brain and short between the Tx data out and Rx data in pins on the
serial port connector on the back of your computer. On all IBMs and compatibles this means sticking a
paper clip or similar tool between pins 2 and 3 on the ÔCom.Õ connector. While still running the modem
program, anything you type should be shown on the screen while this paper clip is in place, while noth-
ing will appear when you remove it. If your computer passes this test, then you are using the right serial
port and the problem is most likely the baud rate setting or in your wiring to the Brick Brain. If you get
characters on the screen even with the paper clip removed from the serial port, it means you probably
need to set the ÔechoÕ mode to ÔnoneÕ or Ôfull duplexÕ and try this test again.
The Brick Brain uses a 6 position RJ-11 modular telephone style connector for the serial data. This is
the same style of connector and pin out as is used on the AB-100 Digital Audio Repeaters. Facing the
end of the cable with the release latch upwards, its pin out is as follows:
pin # COLOR SIGNAL NAME:
(left) 1) WHITE: signal ground
2) BLACK: - serial data out from Brick Brains
3) RED: + serial data out from Brick Brains
4) GREEN: - serial data in to Brick Brains
5) YELLOW: + serial data in to Brick Brains
(right) 6) BLUE: signal ground
To cross wire the RS-422 / RS-485 signals from the Smart Brick System to the RS-232 serial port of an
IBM compatible or Pioneer LaserDisk player, cross connect the signals as follows:
IBM IBM Pioneer LaserDisk
DB-25 DE-9 DB-15 SIGNAL SIGNAL FROM/TO BRICK BRAIN
2 3 2 DATA OUT - serial data in to Brick Brain (GREEN)
3 2 3 DATA IN - serial data out from Brick Brain (BLACK)
7 5 1, 11 or 15 GROUND signal ground (BLUE or WHITE)
Apple Macintosh computers have true RS-422 serial ports built in. To connect to the Smart Brick
System, the pin out is as follows for a Macintosh mini-DIN-8:
to + serial data in to card (#5 yellow)
to - serial data in to card (#4 green)
1 2
3 4 5
6 7 8
from - serial data out from card (#2 black)
from + serial data out from card (#3 red)
signal ground (#1 blue or #6 white)
The Smart Brick System expects to see the serial data in the following format:
ONE START BIT
EIGHT DATA BITS
TWO STOP BITS
If the ODD PARITY is enabled, then the data appears in the following format:
ONE START BIT
SEVEN DATA BITS
ODD PARITY BIT
TWO STOP BITS
When the parity is enabled, any data with a parity error in it is simply ignored.
There are a number of methods which you can use to access a number of Brick Brains and Digital
Audio Repeaters at the same time. If you are controlling the animation and audio systems through the
serial input, you can use any or all of them as best suits your application. They are
1) Global - Any command of this type affects all of the Brick Brains in the system.
EXAMPLE: A 'START GLOBAL' command will start all of the Smart Brick Brains and Digital
Audio Repeaters in the system.
G ILDERFLUKE & C O .¥ 205 S. F LOWER S T .¥ B URBANK , CA 91502 ¥ 818/840-9484 ¥ 800/776-5972 ¥ FAX 818/840-9485
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