Re: GUI interface to an embedded system

"GMM50" <gfm5050@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1181068872.313050.19060@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Jun 5, 2:14 pm, Grant Edwards <gra...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2007-06-05, GMM50 <gfm5...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm developing am embedded system with Ethernet, USB and
Serial ports. I want to provide a GUI interface which the
user can use to configure and program the system. One
approach is to use java and deliver a compiled/compressed file
to a browser that provides that gui interface.

My question is are there alternatives to this approach that I
can use with either the USB or Serial interfaces?

Sure. Put a web server in your device. You can use either
a normal HTML interface, JavaScript, or Java.

And can I download and run that software using the USB or serial
ports?

To get USB to work you need device drivers that understand your device. You
could use a USB-Serial chip, which looks like a serial port to a PC - though
it still may need a driver (from the chip supplier) there. At that point you
can use USB like a com port and run PPP/SLIP to get TCP/IP. Now you
implement a web server in you machine, accessible over the COM port from a
web browser.

If you have ethernet, then this is the way to go because the PC side will
already have all it needs. The complication is configuring the device TCP/IP
setup e.g. when the PC connects to the device via routers and firewalls.

Peter



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