PASHA Input kills bootup!

It can't work, when the machine boots it activates the NION bootloader: that waits for a command prompt for... 5 seconds and then continues on booting, eventualy handing over the port to the application. If you send stuff on the serial port during the bootloader prompt, it will interrupt the boot.
Even with the 30 seconds pool time, there is still a 5 seconds window where that problem would occur anyway, for the same reason...

Uh, is the boot loader treating the serial port as a console redirect at that point? If so, that does seem weird on a application such as the Nion.

So...the other port (COM1) is labeled RS-485/RS-422...does it mind that we give it an RS-232 signal?

I know that it works, because I have done it...but what I need to know is if it is electronically correct. My Japanese clients have already complained because we used the COM1 (Rear) port for RS232 (before I knew to disable to console config using the web interface), since the software labels it as RS-485/RS-422. They are very afraid of things that are not used as directed by the manufacturer.

If RS-232 is acceptable usage for this port it should be labeled as such...!

Thanks!

DR

So...what I am getting is that the RS232 port is unusable for functions like a status heartbeat. Unfortunately, there are a huge number of legacy installations I support that use the RS232 port in this manner with MediaMatrix frames. I don't think it is reasonable to ask these installations to change their choice in show control equipment, or buy extra gear to make up for a feature that has gone bad in the new product.

There ought to be a way to allow the serial port to be ignored on boot. If there is an application that needs the serial port, then perhaps it can be toggled with the web interface (in fact I thought we were already doing that...)

Sorry to rant, but it seems that the unit should be fixed to operate in an appropriate manner (i.e. no hidden gotchas like this) rather than saddling users with a pile of workarounds.

Thanks!

Other vendors show control equipment aside... The Peavey PageMatrix paging controller itself only talks RS232 to the Nion and legacy mainframe systems.

In this case, anybody making a page, selecting a zone, or using a "last button breakaway" during the NION boot cycle will cause the NION to hang.

Since all we (users) are every using that port for is to send and receive PASHA strings, wouldn't it make sense to have the NION ignore PASHA prefixed/formatted (S, G, L, ect) strings during the boot? (Good idea, Joe)