Hi, On Thu, Jul 31, 2025 at 01:38:15AM +0100, mick.crane wrote: > serial console/ parallel is likely me not understanding terminology. > These Raspberry Pis, Arduinos with the connection with all the pins, what > protocol is that expecting?
Raspberry Pis and Arduinos are normally talking serial over their USB connector. The multitude of pins on these things are not normally used for serial; they are GPIO pins for doing other things. One could implement a serial protocol over them if one wants, but there is serial right there on the USB port. The serial protocol used here is the same as what would be done over a dedicated 9 pin serial port. I expect you can do serial over a parallel port but it is rare to see a parallel port on any device these days. Everything tends to converge on USB. Note that Raspberry Pi is capable of running a full operating system so most people would have it run one like Linux and manage it over SSH rather than use the USB for a serial console. They might have other uses for the USB, and SSH is anyway more pleasant to use. When the device runs a full operating system like Linux, serial consoles tend to be for emergencies. Arduinos and other microcontrollers on the other hand can give you serial output and make it seem like a luxury. And I suppose it is, compared to having to use an oscilloscope and probes. I expect that most uses of the term "serial console" today refer to something going over a USB cable or over a network to a virtual serial console. It's been about 15 years since I have bought a full rackmount server with a physical 9 pin serial port. These things have virtual serial ports exposed over Ethernet these days. Thanks, Andy -- https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting
