How do I receive and transmit UART signals with my PC?

jwalamukhi

If I have access to a UART communication signal on a board, both the TXD and the RXD, is there anyway I can interface this with my PC to both read and interpret these bytes from the Transmit, and even produce my own signals and feed them through the Receive? Can I just cut open one of my old 9-pin serial cables, connect the Receive and Transmit data lines to the UART TXD and RXD, and just connect this to my PC? Is there then software which can interpret and produce these signals?

Am I just way off in my question to begin with, and misunderstanding something fundamental here?

Dan O'Donovan

You would need to use a cable such as one of these:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/954
https://ie.farnell.com/ftdi/ttl-232r-3v3/cable-usb-to-ttl-level-serial/dp/1329311

An important point here is that those pins carry UART signals at 3.3V, and the cables above are compatible with that.

Your old 9-pin serial cables are designed to work with RS232 DB9 ports, which use different voltages (+/- 15V, iirc), and are not compatible.