Hi

I have followed all the steps in the cheat sheet (I use Ubuntu) and i am unable to connect to my dev Board with carambola.
I tried connecting using the 3.3V FTDI TTL serial to usb as illustrated here. (Did the solder connections)
http://www.8devices.com/wiki_carambola/ ... rial_cable
Putty is my console program. I gave the settings 115200, 8 ,1 , no flow control
Didn't connect. Tried again with rx and tx swapped. Still no luck.

This is quite messy. Can i just buy a usb to RS232 male cable and connect to the Carambola?
My laptop only has a usb and i am connecting via putty. I am running Ubuntu.

Thanks

If you have latest motherboard (with no jumpers), you have to carefully cut tracks. Look at 6 pin group for serial control. I do not motherboard nearby, so can't take photo right now. If it is still not clear you have to wait until next year I will take picture of it.

Thanks, I have the latest board with no jumpers. I had to solder some headers like in the pic on your site.

Can you give me a link to a usb to rs232 cable that i can buy, or provide more details about connecting with a LAN cable

Did you double-check that you've connected to the correct pins ?

As you can see in the schematics ( http://www.8devices.com/uploads/downloa ... ematic.pdf ), the jumper shorts between the max3232 and TX/RX *or* TX2/RX2.

And that may be the point where it goes wrong:
You'd have to make a connection to TX2/RX2, instead of a connection to TX/RX, as mentioned in the wiki ...
[That is because actually TX2/RX2 is the serial port the console is running on, TX/RX is the serial connection not used in factory state (you'd have to enable it first, fyi see http://www.8devices.com/wiki_carambola/ ... xing_ttys0)]

So try triple-checking the connections you've made and report back here.

If you have soldered headers you have to raise plastic parts up. Look for exposed yellow metal tracks. You have to carefully cut both of them. Closer to mounting hole transmits data (TX from Carambola).

If you use serial to USB converter it is recommended to be based on FTDI chip.

I was thinking of getting the following one
http://www.mercateo.com/p/615-R07134/Lo ... Adapter(20)RS232

As recommended by the following site.
http://dwaver.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/ ... -reset-it/

Shall i go ahead and buy it?

All (well, most of them) will work. I can't tell if this one is the best choice.