Selecting Homer Power-Up Server

Occasionally, you may wish to switch between different SrvHo Servers or methods of communication. The available alternatives are listed below.

  • SrvHo Server communicating via RS232/422, transmitting results in:

  • Binary format (default)

  • ASCII format (for easy monitoring)

  • SrvHo Server communicating via CAN Bus (only with CAN Bus option).

  • SrvHo Server communicating via EtherNet/IP (only with EtherNet/IP option).

  • SrvDld file transfer utility.

After Homer’s DC power supply has been switched ON, one of these Server programs will be started, depending on the contents of its internal cfg files. Once a Server is running, the user can send a command via the active communication interface to switch to another available Server (which will then become the new default Server). The easiest way is to use a HomSoft application. This approach of switching Servers has some limitations. For instance, you can run into problems in the following situations:

  • If you miss the Homer playing the startup Morse code, you may not know which interface and communication protocol should be used to establish contact with the Homer (or which of the HomSoft applications should be employed).

  • If you have accidentally switched Server to CAN Bus mode and you do not have a CAN Bus hardware to switch back to RS232.

  • If you do not use HomSoft, you have to be familiar with the communication protocol to be able to assemble and send an appropriate command to the Homer.

To eliminate the inconveniences, there is a way to take control of the Homer via RS232 during the very power-up process. The procedure described below enables the user

  • to see the information about Homer HW and options,

  • to select which Server to run.

To Choose Homer Power-up Server:

  • Connect your PC and the Homer using an RS232 adapter as shown in Fig. 5.

  • On your PC, install, configure and start an RS232 monitor, e.g., Tera Term.

  • Switch the Homer ON and watch the PC screen with your hand ready at the keyboard.

Newer SrvHo Server versions (starting V55):

To invoke the Server selection menu, you have to hit B key twice as soon as prompted. Do it as follows. When the screen displays the message

Press B key twice to select program  (waiting 1500 ms...)

press B or b key within the time indicated. If you make it, another prompt appears:

Waiting 1500 ms for 2nd B...

If you succeed to hit B again within the time indicated, the screen displays information about Homer HW, Server and Homer options

HW : STHT 2.3/36

SW : V50 SRVHO.EXE 156352 26-Nov-09 11:26:24

COM: RS232 COM1 115200 8N1

OPT: SW=YES Puls=YES CAN=YES Dnet=YES Mism=YES DDE=NO

These lines are followed by a prompt instructing you to choose which Server or mode should be started

Select:

R=RS232  C=CAN  A=ASCII  E=EtherNet/IP  D=SrvDld (waiting 30 seconds)

30

25

20 ...

with the indicated time countdown. In the example above you have 30 seconds to decide and hit a corresponding key (the letter case does not matter). If, for instance, key R was pressed, the message appears

Selected: RS232

If no such key has been pressed, the message will be

Nothing selected - exit code 99

meaning that the system will start the default Server. The same happens if you fail to press BB at the beginning.

SrvHo Server versions V54 and older:

  • Server version V54:

When the screen displays the message

Press B key twice to select program  (waiting 1500 ms...)

press B or b key within the time indicated. If you make it in time, another prompt appears:

Waiting 1500 ms for 2nd B...

Hit B or b again within the time indicated.

  • Server versions V53 and older:

When the screen displays the message

Press any key to select program  (waiting 1500 ms...)

press any key within the time indicated.

If you succeed, the screen displays information about Homer HW, the running selection program (Loader) and Homer options, such as

HW : STHT 2.3/36

SW : V50 LOADER.EXE 156352 26-Nov-09 11:26:24

COM: RS232 COM1 115200 8N1

OPT: SW=YES Puls=YES CAN=YES Dnet=YES Mism=YES DDE=NO

which is followed by a prompt instructing you to choose which Server is to be started

Select:

R,S=RS232  C=CAN  N=DevNet  D=SrvDld  A=ASCII (waiting 30 seconds)

30

25

20 ...

with the indicated time countdown. In the example above, you have 30 seconds to decide and hit a corresponding key (letter case does not matter); otherwise the message appears

Nothing selected - exit code 99

meaning that the system will start the most recently running Server.

Tera Term RS232 Monitor

Since Windows 7, the popular old Hyperterminal has not been supported. As an alternative, one can use Tera Term, which is an open-source free terminal emulator. The program can be downloaded/installed from https://github.com/TeraTermProject/teraterm/releases/tag/v5.2.

After installation, configure the Tera Term as follows:

After the first start of the application, a window titled Tera Term: New connection pops up (accessible from the menu item Edit anytime later).

Select Serial, choose an appropriate COM port, and click OK.

Click the menu item Setup|Serial port and make COM port settings equal to those of the Homer, as shown in Fig. 10. (The default baudrate is 115200 kBd; otherwise it can be defined by the Homer internal Rs232.cfg configuration file.) To apply the settings, click  New setting .

To set your preferences, use other Setup submenu items, such as Setup|Window and Setup|General.

Finally, click Setup|Save setup to save your settings.

Fig. 10.  Settings of Windows Tera Term RS232 monitor.