Controlling a projector via RS-232

[cheddarbob]

We are just switching from mac to PC at my church's sound booth and I am wondering how i can control our projector that has a usb to RS-232 cable. we had a program that controlled it on our PC, but obviously that won't work on a mac... i have all of the codes, and all i need is to know how to do this through terminal and then i can make an automator app to make it simple... thanks in advance for your help!!!

[PseudoScifi]

What was the name of the program that you used on your PC? And what do you mean by control the projector through the terminal? Do you want to be able to turn it off and on through the terminal, project images, etc.? Also, can you post the 'codes' that you say you have?

[cheddarbob]

The program was custom madeby the people at projector pilot, its name is the same as the projector model, "Panasonic PT-LB30U"
when i say control, i mean turn it on and off and switch inputs.
Here is the list that came in the owners manual...

Control commands
The commands which the personal computer can use to control the projector are shown in the following table.

PON Power ON
In standby mode, all commands other than the PON command are ignored. B The PON command is ignored during
lamp ON control. B If a PON command is received while the
cooling fan is operating after the lamp has switched off, the lamp is not turned back on again straight away, in order to protect the lamp.

POF Power OFF

AVL Volume
Parameter 000-063 (Adjustment value 0-63)

IIS
Input signal selection
Parameter VID=VIDEO SVD=S-VIDEO RG1=RGB1 RG2=RGB2 NWP=NETWORK (PT-LB30NTU only)

Q$S
Lamp ON condition query
Callback 0 = Standby 1 = Lamp ON control active 2 = Lamp ON 3 = Lamp OFF control active

OSH
Shutter function
Operation will be switched between ON and OFF each time the command is sent. Do not switch operation ON and OFF after only short periods of time.

i know that i need to somehow "print" these codes to the projector, but I am not too great with the Terminal and can't quite figure this out yet...

[PseudoScifi]

Ok now I know what you are wanting to do. I have done this before. Take a look here:

Let me know if it works for you!

http://blogs.sun.com/blogsagainbynight/entry/terminal_to_serial_usb_devices

[cheddarbob]

Ok, i tried the

ls/dev/tty.*

and all it came up with was the bluetooth modem and bluetooth pda sync.

[PseudoScifi]

Ok, i tried the

ls/dev/tty.*

and all it came up with was the bluetooth modem and bluetooth pda sync.

On that page, scroll down a bit to where it says: To connect via a USB to Serial adapter. The first step is to install the drivers for the device so the computer can recognize it. I will look around and see if I can find some drivers for this device. But the command to control it will look something like this: screen /dev/tty.PT-LB30U

Another option, maybe the easiest, would be to use the bootcamp utility to set up a windows partition on your mac. This way, when you need to use the projector, you can just boot into windows and use it in a familiar environment.

[cheddarbob]

I tried the serial one, but not with PT-LB30U i will try that right away!
Sorry, i don't have any drivers.
The bootcamp partition wouldn't work unfortunately, and we would prefer not to use virtualization, because it is a hog...
if we can get this to work through terminal, then i would probably make an automator program to make it simple or everyone
thanks for your help!!! i'll tell you if it worked or not.

[PseudoScifi]

Just out of curiosity, what was the problem with the bootcamp partition?

[cheddarbob]

Oh yeah i meant to put that,
we can't do a bootcamp because, we are switching between projector inputs, and showing powerpoints, and recording, all on the mac (well hopefully switching inputs!) we can't do that all with the bootcamp partition unless we just wanted to switch to a PC!

btw i found the manufactuar name and called them up and left a message asking if they could hook me up with the drivers, so hopefully they will call back after the holidays!

[PseudoScifi]

I will look into this more, I'll see what I can find.

Good Luck!

[cheddarbob]

OK, I got the drivers and when i did the ls /dev/tty.* it brought up usbserial-FTCC5SHA . i then did screen /dev/tty.usbserial-FTCC5SHA everything in terminal went away then at the bottom, it said cannot open line '/dev/tty.usbserial-FTCC5SHA' for R/W: Resource Busy
then it said Sorry, could not find a PTY...
any ideas on whats going on here?

[cheddarbob]

Do you have any ideas on why i cannot connect to this projector?