Exactly. We would need both modules to make this work…
If I understand this correctly you would use the Xport and connect it to one of the serial outputs of the Matchport and you would then plug in the camera into this. You would then use the second serial port of the matchport to serially connect up to the robot? If this is correct wouldn’t the camera be limited to the 921K speed? Also my guess is the conversion to serial back to TCP/IP… might eat up some time and bandwidth? I probably need to reread this stuff to see what it is doing…
What I don’t understand yet is once you have a serial port on the route, how do you then gain access to it over the net from your computer…
Another idea was if you take a router that has a USB port on it, is there any way to add the appropriate USB to serial drivers to add a port that way. If so then back to first question.
I am trying to investigate this approach with DD-WRT. I have a router Belkin Play(F7D4032), whose firmware totally s… Sounded good, dual channel, USB port… I was ready to hit with a sledge hammer… Today I found they have some DD-WRT support for it so I updated it’s firmware to that. I earlier had good luck with DD-WRT on a different router (which I am currently using instead of the Belkin…). Now to see what I can figure out…
Kurt
I’ll just throw this out there…
“usable video at reasonable frame rates” … a 900 MHz, 1.2 gig, 2.4 gig etc. wireless pin hole camera with receiver to an MSI USB tv vidio input device or simalar, there is your video.
" AND a serial channel " any serial to serial wireless or Blue SMirF
The video can be used for any purpose you want depending on what software you have on your laptop IE: some kind of media server or watch the video directly and operate the Bot with your controls or Robot Realm which actually can use the video to “SEE” and respond to the video, it also has a module to run an SSC32 or send serial data directly to an MCU.
The Bot that is my avatar is operated in that way, It has PS2 control with semi autonomous ( semi auto meaning that if the scanning PING sensor receives a ping that is too close it will turn away from it over riding the PS2 input at the same time pan the camera to the detected object) and do what ever I want with the video IE: snap the shot for later or id the target or have Robot Realm directly send commands to the SSC32 etc.
Don’t know if this is any use to you but I can remote pilot my robot.
With the Matchport once you have it setup, you can download software from Lantronix called com port redirector which takes care of basically mapping an ip address to a com port of your choice, for example I am using com19 which the software will automatically map to the matchport ip address and port (10001 or 10002 by default).
It’s fine, but the approach we are investigating will be a much more robust and powerful solution. The range will be huge with wifi. The video with wifi uses advanced compression and is far superior to “spy” cams. This really is (or should be) the better way.
Called Lantronix again today. Was assured I would be contacted by someone knowledgeable on the “custom” firmware front. Their normal tech support staff are not able to address firmware changes as solutions.
A little of this and a little of that…
Yep, I have done this as well and had the second serial port talking fine. But my question yesterday is with the XPort can you run what is connected to it at full speed?
I am keeping my fingers crossed…
But there still is the Hybrid approach:
Camera: Use Something like the Trendnet TV-IP110W - It does all the internet stuff it is a little more expensive: $97 versus $70 (TV-IP110) at Amazon.com. That takes care of the video.
Control: XBee Option:
On PC: Dongle: $25 ($20 for 100+) sparkfun.com/commerce/produc … ts_id=9819
XBee: If 300 feet is sufficient($23): sparkfun.com/commerce/produc … ts_id=8665
If you want a mile($38): sparkfun.com/commerce/produc … ts_id=8742
If you need more range (lower baud rate): sparkfun.com/commerce/produc … ts_id=9085
You add which ever receiver you want on the robot, depending on distance needed… Need Adapter that does conversion of 5v to 3.3, could use sparkfun or parallax ones. Added expense that you need to buy 2 XBees and 2 adapter boards.
This is more or less our DIY remote control with XBee setup plus a webcam. I already have VB code that runs on PC to control, could be converted to flowstone…
Lots of options!
Kurt
P.S. - the probably useless camera arrived today 
Quick update: I thought I would try the camera on the matchport but so far not having much luck.
First there is what color wire to hook up to where.
The camera document shows: pin 2=vcc, 3=Gnd, 4=Tx and 5=RX. But they solder in 4 wire connector that has polarity and the wires in the order are: yellow, white, red, black. I am assuming documents are correct that Red/Black are not power and ground…
2nd - I can not get the Matchport 2nd serial port out of 9600 baud. I tried to go into the web page to configure it to lets says 38400, say OK and then click on the apply changes (or some name like that). It says rebooting processor to save setting, so after reboot, I reload and it is still at 9600 baud. Note: My comm port on PC setup by CPR. I can connect to that comm port at any speed I want and it will send at the speed, but it does not change the speed that is seen at the matchport which stays at 9600… Any one else have any luck changing the baud?
Kurt
I’m not sure about the camera but I am able to change my port speeds on the matchport and they stay after it reboots, try resetting the defaults first, reboot and then try to set it again, it should stay…
I think I’ve read of the setup menu not updating the baud (and/or) possibly other parameters.
You might read through some of the Lantronix threads on the Blackfin forum. I’ve spent a lot of time reading and trying to understand them!
Alan KM6VV
Ahh, yes, forgot to mention that too… I almost burnt mine when I got it. You may want to change the wires in the connector. The manual is right, aslo seems that there is a voltage regulator on the camera but not sure if the input is 5v tollerant (camer is running at 3.3v).
Another quick update:
Got the Comm port to save the new baud rate of 115200. I did it this time by using serial interface. (hooked up serial cable to comm1), connected up to a serial port on my computer that I connected at 9600 baud, then while holding down the x key turned on power. Hit enter at prompt and did the serial interface method of configuration…
I wired up extension wires to the camera, with colors that made sense (Red-Power, Black Ground…). I am using 3.3v from the Lantronix board to power it. By spec valid voltages (3-3.6) so the 3.3 should be good. The outputs going to the serial are in the 3v range so I directly connected, by removing the jumpers from RX and TX and connected the camera. Got the connection to work and using the test program for the camera was able to get it to take some images. It was quick to figure out that:
a) The image quality is not great.
b) It is Slow
c) I am not sure how robust it is. Did not get it to successfully do a JPEG download. Downloading Raw worked, but was not a speed demon 
A Raw 640x480x8 bit color took a long time to download a single image. could probably get some smaller images quicker but I pretty sure it will never fly. At least for something like driving the car by. Might be fine if you wish to drive somewhere and then snap a picture or two…
Kurt
Kurt, you may want to reduce the speed to 57600 kbps and try jpeg mode, may be a bit faster if you use higher res (640x480 jpeg is about 16kb). Also, you may consider using raw low-res during navigation and only hi-res for snapping, if you really want to reach the max speed… I got it run on their uLCD-144 GX, changing their sample code to only do raw streaming on 128x128 and I can reach 600kbps without data loss.
Btw, their test software is pretty unstable. Havefun!
- Concerning firmware changes… Here is something to think about!!! 8)
Jim,
This functionality is not in our standard FW. But, it is possible to do this using our programmers kit.
The ease of doing this depends on your ability to work with low level C code and network sockets.
Or, we have a close relationship with a developer/distributor that could possibly add your functionality to the MatchPort BG. They typically customize products for little or no NRE but you must purchase the product from them.
Please let me know how I can be of further help.
Gary Marrs
Field Application Engineer
LANTRONIX
Obviously I’m contacting them for more information on the partner. This project is back on track!
That’s goo news!
Thanks!
Alan KM6VV
I have started a dialog with an engineer at Gridconnect! I need someone with a little more knowledge and experience with Lantronix to provide the technical requirements for this firmware change. I will give it a shot if I have to, but I think I know the least of all involved. lol
Sounds good. I am not a network expert either. So I may not be able to tell you things like should the code do MAC address substitutions or the like…
But hopefully you can simply say to him, that you would like to:
a) be able to use the Matchport as a wireless bridge. That is that you can connect a wired Ethernet connection in and be able to connect to that device through the wireless part of the Matchport. Which IP address? Does it use the address of the device plugged in (that is what the bridge mode appears to do now), Or does it use the matchports address? Probably not.
b) Be able to use at least one of the serial ports. I am not sure if you can use both or not. My looking at the schematics, makes me almost think the some of the IO pins used for the first hardware serial port are the same IO pins used for the wired port. I would assume on this one you would use the matchports IP address to talk to it the same way as today.
c) Optional: still support some or all of the GP IO pins.
Kurt
Looking at the integration guide, The serial ports use RXD1/TXD1 and TXD2/RXD2 (and other signals, while the differential TX+/TX- and RX+/RX- signals drive the integrated RJ-45 connector. So maybe it’s possible?
Alan KM6VV
I have received a reply from Gridconnect. Yes they can “probably” make the changes. The cost will not be free as Lantronix suggested, and the cost of $5,000.00 is a little out of my budget for this… 
I spent some time on the Internet researching this. It should not be this difficult.
Sorry to say I think this is a dead end.
Wow, $5,000.00 is kinda high there… What about the XPort idea we were talking about, has anyone else contacted Lantronix and asked them about the idea?
I am trying to figure out a layout that would allow the extra hardware that would go on a board for both the matchport and the xport. As far as using any of the gpio’s on the matchport, considering it would slow down the transfer rate while any gpio operations are being done, I wouldn’t waste the time on them.
I can tell you that there is a custom firmware that will allow anyone to run up to 2.5mbps on both ports, however we only need that speed on the first serial port on the matchport. I realize that at 2.5mbps we won’t see full speed 30fps, more likely 15-20fps which isn’t that bad considering…