Iris 4D/60 Buttons Controller - Printable Version
+- IRIX Network Forums (//forums.irixnet.org)
+-- Forum: SGI/MIPS (//forums.irixnet.org/forum-3.html)
+--- Forum: Hardware/Triage/Repair (//forums.irixnet.org/forum-11.html)
+--- Thread: Iris 4D/60 Buttons Controller (/thread-4613.html)
+- IRIX Network Forums (//forums.irixnet.org)
+-- Forum: SGI/MIPS (//forums.irixnet.org/forum-3.html)
+--- Forum: Hardware/Triage/Repair (//forums.irixnet.org/forum-11.html)
+--- Thread: Iris 4D/60 Buttons Controller (/thread-4613.html)
Iris 4D/60 Buttons Controller - atomirex - 08-28-2025
Hi, first post here, and it's an odd one. I recently obtained an "Iris 4D/60 Buttons Controller" and have been attempting to talk to it via RS232 from a Mac but so far no luck.
What is odd is this buttons controller looks very different to what came later. While it has the same layout of switches/leds it's on a big metal cheese wedge with a built in power supply, and it has a display which when powered on shows "DS REV A". I have poked it with a multimeter and oscilloscope and it appears to be waiting for some command sequence before doing anything.
There's some code around for talking to dials, but it didn't seem to help. Has anyone run into one of these before?
It's in ridiculously good condition, and must have just sat in storage since at least the early 90s.
RE: Iris 4D/60 Buttons Controller - vishnu - 08-29-2025
When you plug hardware into a Mac, MacOS should post something to the system log files. Link:
https://support.apple.com/guide/console/log-messages-cnsl1012/mac
RE: Iris 4D/60 Buttons Controller - robespierre - 08-29-2025
Just making sure, but are you certain that your Mac serial port is providing a compatible interface? Not all 'serial' adapters use the right voltages.