3 ms·

Why is this better than Bluetooth? All the iOS devices have it and there are breakout boards with RS232. There are even some that are cheaper than this cable...

marvin 15y ago
Forgive me if this is an ignorant reply, but I thought the point of this was to give developers the ability to make official, Apple-approved apps that interface with devices that communicate across serial. Things like industrial machinery, GPS loggers etc. I've actually been looking around for something like this in order to make an iPhone application to use as a flight computer with gliders, since all glider-approved GPS loggers (which are MUCH more accurate than the iPhone's built-in GPS) communicate via a serial connection. If I understand correctly, until now you would have to use a jailbroken iPhone in order to do this? Is there an easy way you can use Bluetooth to solve the same problem? Please correct me if I'm missing something here.
- sebastianavina 15y ago
  is more an interface to play around with your ipod and Legos and alike...
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
sebastianavina 15y ago
it's easier, and cheaper, and more accesible to play around with a RS-232 cable... I've like 4 USB-RS232 adapters, and it's very easy to implement the protocol even on the dirtiest and cheaper chips...
- KeithMajhor 15y ago
  Here is a Bluetooth breakout like I described: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10559 http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10559 It's cheaper than the cable. You don't need to implement any protocols.
  - sahaj 15y ago
    did you check the price? it's around ~60USD.
  - tlrobinson 15y ago
    You're comparing one component to a complete product. At a minimum you'd need to add a TTL-to-RS232 converter, wiring, connectors, and I believe a proprietary "MFi" chip from Apple is required to use protocols other than the ones blessed by Apple (and surprise, the serial port profile isn't one of them) Plus the prices I'm seeing right now show the cable is $59.00 and the Bluetooth chip is $59.95.
  - sebastianavina 15y ago
    don't you realize that your chip is an bluetooth-serial interface? at the end, you'll have to implement RS-232 on your microcontroller to get access from that bluetooth chip... > Fully configurable UART > Press the 'A' character from a terminal program on your computer and an 'A' will be pushed out the TX pin of the Bluetooth module. Yes, they are talking about THAT terminal and THAT TX pin...
mortenjorck 15y ago
If you want to get an app into the App Store, you can't really use Bluetooth apart from audio and iphone-to-iphone gaming. You have frameworks for those at your disposal, but the actual Bluetooth stack isn't open. As far as I understand this breakout cable, it should free you up a lot: You can use public frameworks to interface with the dock connector and simply send whatever you want over it to whatever you want on the other end.
pittsburgh 15y ago
Who said it was better than Bluetooth? There are a lot of existing hardware devices that have RS232 connections but don't support Bluetooth. For those devices this is "better" than Bluetooth in the sense that Bluetooth isn't an option at all.

marvin 15y ago

Forgive me if this is an ignorant reply, but I thought the point of this was to give developers the ability to make official, Apple-approved apps that interface with devices that communicate across serial. Things like industrial machinery, GPS loggers etc. I've actually been looking around for something like this in order to make an iPhone application to use as a flight computer with gliders, since all glider-approved GPS loggers (which are MUCH more accurate than the iPhone's built-in GPS) communicate via a serial connection. If I understand correctly, until now you would have to use a jailbroken iPhone in order to do this? Is there an easy way you can use Bluetooth to solve the same problem? Please correct me if I'm missing something here.

sebastianavina 15y ago
is more an interface to play around with your ipod and Legos and alike...
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

sebastianavina 15y ago

it's easier, and cheaper, and more accesible to play around with a RS-232 cable... I've like 4 USB-RS232 adapters, and it's very easy to implement the protocol even on the dirtiest and cheaper chips...

KeithMajhor 15y ago
Here is a Bluetooth breakout like I described: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10559 http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10559 It's cheaper than the cable. You don't need to implement any protocols.
- sahaj 15y ago
  did you check the price? it's around ~60USD.
- tlrobinson 15y ago
  You're comparing one component to a complete product. At a minimum you'd need to add a TTL-to-RS232 converter, wiring, connectors, and I believe a proprietary "MFi" chip from Apple is required to use protocols other than the ones blessed by Apple (and surprise, the serial port profile isn't one of them) Plus the prices I'm seeing right now show the cable is $59.00 and the Bluetooth chip is $59.95.
- sebastianavina 15y ago
  don't you realize that your chip is an bluetooth-serial interface? at the end, you'll have to implement RS-232 on your microcontroller to get access from that bluetooth chip... > Fully configurable UART > Press the 'A' character from a terminal program on your computer and an 'A' will be pushed out the TX pin of the Bluetooth module. Yes, they are talking about THAT terminal and THAT TX pin...

mortenjorck 15y ago

If you want to get an app into the App Store, you can't really use Bluetooth apart from audio and iphone-to-iphone gaming. You have frameworks for those at your disposal, but the actual Bluetooth stack isn't open. As far as I understand this breakout cable, it should free you up a lot: You can use public frameworks to interface with the dock connector and simply send whatever you want over it to whatever you want on the other end.

pittsburgh 15y ago

Who said it was better than Bluetooth? There are a lot of existing hardware devices that have RS232 connections but don't support Bluetooth. For those devices this is "better" than Bluetooth in the sense that Bluetooth isn't an option at all.