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RS232

What is it?

The first ever Plug-and-Play RS232 Adapter Designed for use with the Flipper Zero. No special Configuration Needed, No having to turn on 5v, or special firmware... Yes, this will work with Official Firmware out of the box :)

What does it do?

It handles the conversion of the TTL Communication that your flipper knows what to do with, to a standard RS232 compatible serial interface.

What makes it special?

First off, it's smol, compact, and sits flush on top of the flipper's 10-pin GPIO header. This is important because it truly is, plug-and-play. All you need to do is make sure your baud rate to the device you're connecting to is correct, and you can interface your flipper with any RS232 interface. (I tested mine on my Ubiquiti EdgeRouter 4 using a Cat5 Cable to the console port).

How to use it:

  1. Place board onto flipper, connect Cat5 cable (RJ45) to either a console port using the proper pinout (Cisco requires a special "roll-over" cable) or to an RS232 to RJ45 adapter (commonly found on Ebay, or Amazon).
  2. Open the serial APP of your choice :) In my testing, I used the UART to USB Pass-thru and was able to turn my flipper into a simple USB to RS232 adapter, for changing parameters on my router.

Why Serial? Isn't it Old?

What's old is new, and is still in use by hundreds of thousands of devices worldwide due to it's reliability and simple standard. Everything from modems, to receipt printers, to barcode scanners, there are RS232 version of all of these things. Even my new Vinyl Cutter (Used to make the Rabbit-Labs Decals and other swag) and Laser use RS232 to interface with my PC!

This seems pretty neat, What are the possibilities?

Write a FAP to offer Flipper-Dial-Up service, or maybe a wardialing FAP? Maybe Bad-USB, but for Serial interfaces? What about using the Flipper as a standalone controller for a laser, or a Plotter / Cutter without the need for a full-fledged PC? Maybe someone can make a FAP to use a Thermal printer to print photos taken on your Mayhem Camera! There is quite a bit of possibility :)

Why did I make it?

Because Serial is cool. My first job out of college, I was working with old RS232/485 Time clocks, and had to deal with a LOT of serial stuff. I wish I had this back then, it would have made things a lot more interesting (like being able to maybe write a FAP or something to back up the contents of a timeclock to an SD card, rather than having to lug a laptop around).

Anyway, I've always loved serial interfaces, Maybe it's because I'm part of the generation that has the modem sounds living rent-free in the back of my brain... or maybe it's because of Cereal-Killer from the movie Hackers in 1995... or maybe it's because I'm a Rabbit and Bits are for Skids. Whatever the reason... Serial is COOL