Cannot find serial device in configuration

[gabeale]

I have successfully installed nxgipd program on Pi Zero and properly configured the serial port that in my case is /dev/ttyUSB0.
Unfortunately I'm not able to get serial port working because not found by the program.
Any idea?
Thanks!
Alex

[tjko]

What is the version of Rasbian (or Raspberry Pi OS)? And version of Mini-XML? (dpkg -l libmxml-dev)

[tjko]

I just checked in change to fix compile issue against Mini-XML 3.x (5123887), that might help with your issue as well?

[gabeale]

Hi, thanks for the very quick feedback. Raspberry Pi OS is raspbian bullseye In Release.

If now I install Mini-XML 3.3.1 shall I recompile nxgipd program? If yes shall I first remove version without the fix 5123887? Any particular command for doing this?

[gabeale]

I have installed library Mini-XML 3.3.1 and recompiled nxgipd with the fix 5123887 but I get the following message:

What I'm doing wrong?

[tjko]

Sounds like you don't have nxgipd process running on the background?

It needs to be running as nxstat and nxcmd tools communicate with it via IPC.

To setup nxgipd run as a "service" on background there is contrib/nxgipd.service file to copy under /etc/systemd/system/

Then you can enable (so that it starts automatically after reboot) and start the service by running

systemctl enable nxgipd
systemctl start nxgipd

[gabeale]

Thanks for the information. I have followed your suggestions but service cannot start. I receive the following error message:

Is it linked to some user missing permissions?

[gabeale]

For your info, I have created manually file and folder for nxgipd.log because not there. Then I launched the service but I receive the following error message:

I have set my Aritech CS575 RS232 serial port either as "printer" or as "serial". The third option is "Serial STU".
I'm sure that serial communication in "printer" mode can work because tested with Nodered. Unfortunately by this method (i.e. Nodered) I can get very limited information (e.g. arm, disarm and opened zones) and no control. Any suggestion?

[tjko]

You may want to run nxgipd on foreground at first, to confirm it is able to connect and talk with panel ok... Simply launch it from shell with -v flag (and no -d flag so it stays running on foreground).

Double check your panel settings/programming. Settings must match between nxgipd.conf and what is configured in the panel settings (i.e. protocol must match and baudrate, etc...). And at least on NetworX panels you need to configure enabled transition messages and commands for the serial interface (as listed in the README), before it works correctly.

I've only ever used (GE) NetworX panels with nxgipd, but I recall someone reported CS575 working fine... Unfortunately, I don't have details how it needs to be programmed to get it working...

[gabeale]

I tried also this and debug through minicom just to see the exchanged messages:

It seems no messages are there! For your info I enabled all the available transition messages as well as commands as per your Git. Also baud rate, parity etc. match. I'm wondering what should be the first message that nxgipd sends to detect panel model.

[tjko]

You may want to use terminal emulator (tio is probably easiest to use), to make sure you have working connection to panel, panel should be sending messages when there is activity (zone tripped, etc...) that you should see if you have terminal emulator connected.

Something like:

tio -b 9600 /dev/ttyUSB0

(in tio you can press ctrl-t + h to enable hex mode, to see if panel is sending binary data that is not 'printable'...)

You can change the "log" setting in the config file to 3 , to see the serial messages being sent received, as well...

[tjko]

When the nxgipd starts, it will at first send NX_INT_CONFIG_REQ (0x21) message to panel. Based on the error you saw, looks like panel did not respond to that message.

Common reason for this is serial cable is not wired correctly or panel is in 'binary' mode and nxgipd is configured for 'ascii' mode....

[Dogora]

I can't speak at all for the Aritech CS575, but the NX-584 serial communication module has jumpers on it that will switch RXD and TXD between pins 2 and 3 on the 9-pin serial connector. The factory default is reverse of what you probably want. Or, you can use a crossover ("null modem") cable (or adapter) that swaps the two signals rather than a straight-through cable.

You can easily check which pin is TXD with a voltmeter. The voltage between TXD and GND (pin 5) will be something like -5V or -10V, while the voltage between RXD and GND will be basically zero. Obviously, TXD on one end needs to be connected to RXD on the other.

[gabeale]

Tested the emulator as you suggested:

Communication with /dev/ttyUSB0 is ok (tested the partial closing that excludes volumetric sensors 001÷005 (i.e. Zones). Alarm panel communication type is set to "Printer". The other two options are: "serial" and "serial STU": I don't know the exact meaning of this. If set to "serial" I get this:

I'm not able to acknowledge it, I suppose this is the reason why it comes every two seconds!

If I set the Panel to " Serial STU" I don't get anything!
However when I set back to "Printer" I get log of previous bad communication (due to "Serial STU" mode) plus all the arming and disarming tests.

In conclusion: the only way to get communication with /dev/ttyUSB0 is setting the Panel communication to "Printer" but in this way I'm not able to establish the communication using nxgipd program.

Any suggestion?

P.S. log in /etc/nxgipd.conf is "3"

[tjko]

Looks like "serial" is the NX-584 "ascii" protocol (and perhaps "Serial STU" is the "binary" protocol....)

So, you should use that "serial" mode on the alarm panel, and configure protocol to "ascii" in nxgipd.conf.

If panel is still not responding, it could be that TX pin from the computer side is not connected to RX pin on the panel side....

For the "log" setting try increasing it, maybe it needed to be 4 (or 5) to show the serial comms...

[tjko]

Also, make sure nothing else is using the serial port at the same time (as nxgipd process).

Something like: fuser -v /dev/ttyUSB0