0

my linux machine doesn't have a RS232 port, only an RJ45. I also have my grandpa's old pentium machine running windows 95 that has an RS232 port. The only means of interfacing these two computers are via an RJ45-RS232 cable which I acquired a few years ago.

Is there any tool I can use on my linux machine to use my old Pentium as a terminal? Here's a diagram explaining my goal:

enter image description here

I'd love to be able to work using the 13" CRT I have connected to the Pentium. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

1 Answer 1

1

The cable you have is probably a passive RS232<->RJ45 adapter which allows using Ethernet cables to carry RS232 signals.

However, it's still the same RS232 signal in the cable, which means that you can't connect it to your network interface and expect it to work (and it may be a very bad idea since there's 12V on a serial cable, more than enough to damage a NIC).

What you need to use is either a serial port on the Linux machine (eventually use another RS232<->RJ45 to convert the RJ45 connector back into a standard serial connector), or use a device like this that converts RS232 to actual Ethernet (and sends serial data in TCP packets), however that device requires quite a bit of configuration and the first option is way easier.

1
  • @JasonWoodland yeah that's a good idea. :)
    – user256743
    Jun 3, 2014 at 7:48

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .