hTT - hex Terminal Tester

1 First install

• Connect to the remote machine using ip address or host name
• clone repo
• build the executable

	ssh pi@zero.local
	or
	ssh pi@192.168.....
	
	$ git clone https://github.com/nbgsmk/hTT.git		// clone the repository
	$ ls -l 						// check folder
	...
	drwxrwxr-x 1 user user 72 јул  4 20:58 hTT		// look for the repository name
	
	$ cd hTT/src						// enter the source folder
	$ pwd							// check where we are
	/home/pi/hTT/src					// expected result something like this
	
	$ g++ *.cpp -pthread -o hTT				// compile the application
	// this may take a while
	
	$ ls -la						// check the result
	...
	-rwxrwxr-x 1 user user 692088 јул  4 21:42 hTT		// and verify the executable exists

NOTES on g++

1 - If compiler g++ is not installed, the error message will be like

	Command 'g++' not found...

So try to install it

	$ sudo apt-get install build-essential			

Then repeat the command 'g++ ...' as described above

2 - Compilation errors 'std::thread::thread'...

Depending on the running OS version and architecture, try adding some combination of flags: -pthread -lpthread -static

	$ g++ *.cpp -o hTT			// no flags needed when compiling with eclipse for c++
	or
	$ g++ *.cpp -pthread -o hTT		// most of the time this is enough for command line
	or
	$ g++ *.cpp -lpthread -o hTT		// sometimes...
	or
	$ g++ *.cpp -static -o hTT		// usually not needed
	
	or a combination of those

3 - If the compiled executable crashes on start, try a different combunation of above flags and run again.

2 Updating

If hTT is already installed, and you need to update it from github, the steps are:

• connect to the remote machine
• enter the folder of cloned repo
• git pull
• compile the code

	ssh pi@zero.local				// again, connect, eg with ssh
	
	$ pwd						// check where we are
	/home/pi					// should be your home folder
	
	$ ls -l						// check what is there
	...
	drwxrwxr-x 1 user user 72 јул  4 20:58 hTT	// look for the folder of previously cloned repo
	
	$ cd hTT					// enter the 'hTT' folder. Do _not_ go into 'hTT/src'
	/home/pi/hTT					// you should be here

	$ git pull					// pull updates from github to local machine

Application code is updated to the latest version.
Compile with g++ as explained earlier.

3 Using hTT

Check available command line options:

	$ ./hTT --help					// --help or -?
	$ cd /home/pi/hTT/src				// go to folder where hTT executable is
	
	$ ./hTT -d /dev/ttyS0 -b 9600 -a		// run in ascii mode
	or
	$ ./hTT -d /dev/ttyS0 -b 9600 -h		// run in hex mode

where:
-d = specify serial device eg /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyUSB4 or other
-b = serial port speed
-a = for testing ascii devices (eg. modems with AT commands)
-h = for testing hex devices (eg sensors, communicating in binary mode only)

3.1 HEX mode

Run hTT and enter hex codes, separated with spaces.
Enter commands, one line at the time, press ENTER to send.

For example: you type "5a 4f 4b 49" and press Enter. That is all.

Exit the app with a single dot '.' in a new line, or with Ctrl-C

	$ ./hTT -d /dev/ttyUSB3 -b 115200 -h
	
	41 54 0d					// 'AT' and <newline> as hex characters. Press ENTER to send it
	hex str=  41  54  0d				// display what is sent in hex
	hex2int=  65  84  13				// display what is sent in decimal
	  ascii=   A   T    				// display what is sent in ascii
	
	(6) chars					// received 6 character response
	hex: 0d 0a 4f 4b 0d 0a 				// hex characters received
	ascii:      O  K  	     			// ascii equivalent, if any
	
	41 54 2b 43 47 4d 4d 0d				// entered command
	hex str=  41  54  2b  43  47  4d  4d  0d	// hex representation
	hex2int=  65  84  43  67  71  77  77  13	// decimal representation
	  ascii=   A   T   +   C   G   M   M    	// ascii representation
	
	
	// received response
	(27) chars
	  hex: 0d 0a 53 49 4d 43 4f 4d 5f 53 49 4d 37 36 30 30 45 2d 48 0d 0a 0d 0a 4f 4b 0d 0a 
	ascii:        S  I  M  C  O  M  _  S  I  M  7  6  0  0  E  -  H              O  K       
	
	// another example response
	(32) chars
	hex: 0d 0a 2b 43 4d 45 20 45 52 52 4f 52 3a 20 53 49 4d 20 6e 6f 74 20 69 6e 73 65 72 74 65 64 0d 0a 
	ascii:      +  C  M  E     E  R  R  O  R  :     S  I  M     n  o  t     i  n  s  e  r  t  e  d       
	
	.			// single dot exits the program
	

ASCII mode

The same as in hex mode, but commands are entered as plain ascii text.

$ ./hTT -d /dev/ttyUSB3 -b 115200 -a

	AT
	OK
	
	at+cgmm
	SIMCOM_SIM7600E-H
	OK
	
	at+csub
	+CSUB: B04V03
	+CSUB: MDM9x07_LE20_S_22_V1.03_210527
	
	.			// single dot to exit
	

Read input from file

It is possible to read input from a file, in both ascii or hex mode.
Save the desired commands to a text file, one line at a time. The same as you would enter them into hTT.

Run hTT with any flags you need, and append redirection at the end:

	./hTT _your_flags_ < example_commands.txt

The file will be sent to the device, one line at a time, with a few seconds between lines.

Finall thoughts

A very nice ASCII chart found here https://www.sciencebuddies.org/cdn/references/ascii-table.png

Thanks to the author!

--------- Usefull ideas, some tested, some not --------

serial port sniffer!

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/12359/how-can-i-monitor-serial-port-traffic

https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/542819

strace -s 9999 -e read -ffp $(sed '/ttyUSB0/s/^.*proc.\([0-9]\+\).fd.*/\1/p;d' <(ls -l /proc/[1-9]*/fd/* 2>/dev/null)) |& perl -e '$|=1;my %qa=(a=>7,b=>10,e=>33,f=>14,n=>12,r=>15,t=>11);sub cnv { my $ch=$_[0];$ch=$qa{$1} if $ch=~/([abefnrt])/;return chr(oct($ch));  };while (<>) { /^read.\d+,\s+"(.*)",\s\d+.*$/ && do { $_=$1;s/\\(\d+|[abefnrt])/cnv($1)/eg;print; };};'

I run them by using syntax:
script -t ttySniff.log 2>ttySniff.tm -c "./ttySniff.sh USB0"
so I could replay the whole operation and trace timing executions.

Others

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/76299250/how-to-use-getline-in-a-separate-thread-in-c

https://stackoverflow.com/a/76334993

https://www.onlinegdb.com/E9Gwgje7T

https://stackoverflow.com/a/42264216