CoolTerm USART Terminal Application

When creating projects with RS232 style serial communication, you will need a Terminal Window application running a PC to communicate with the hardware. Projects on this site often use the open-source CoolTerm but any terminal application should work similarly. An RS232 to USB adapter, such as the MCP2221, is typically required to communicate with the project.

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The PICDEM™ Lab II has an MCP2221 USB to UART converter built into the development board. You may need to install a USB driver for this to work with your PC. The driver installation instructions can be found on the MCP2221A product page.

Setup

The first step in using the MCP2221 with CoolTerm is to establish the communication settings. Click on the Options menu to open the Serial Port Options window. Select the USB port from the drop down menu, then set the communication to the settings in the firmware of the project (i.e., 115200 baud and 8N1 format as shown).

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Close the Serial Port Options window and then click on the Connect button and the communication will begin if the application is running on your development hardware. The following example is controlling an LED connected to RB7 according to the H or L sent from the terminal window.

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