# Let Ruby read the serial port
**URL:** https://rubytalk.org/t/let-ruby-read-the-serial-port/62438
**Category:** ruby-talk
**Created:** [16 April 2011 12:58 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/let-ruby-read-the-serial-port/62438 "2011-04-16T12:58:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Superpelican\_X](https://rubytalk.org/u/Superpelican_X)
#### Post date: [16 April 2011 12:58 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/let-ruby-read-the-serial-port/62438/1 "2011-04-16T12:58:56Z")
Hello everyone,
I would like to read a serial port. I'm going to connect want to connect
my Arduino Uno microcontroller board to the computer via USB. It acts as
a virtual serial port automatically. I can already read with the Arduino
IDE' s serialterminal.
Processing can also read a serialport from a Arduino.
But now I would like to let Ruby read the virtual serialport and save
the data in a variable. And then do a lots of stuff with it.
Is there a special library or gem for this? I already installed libusb
for ruby.
Greetings,
Superpelican
> **···**
>
> --
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).
---
### Author:  [@Brian\_Candler](https://rubytalk.org/u/Brian_Candler)
#### Post date: [16 April 2011 21:14 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/let-ruby-read-the-serial-port/62438/2 "2011-04-16T21:14:52Z")
Superpelican X. wrote in post #993185:
> Is there a special library or gem for this?
Which platform are you running under?
The ruby-serialport gem worked fine for me (under Linux) when I last
tried it, although that was several years ago.
> **···**
>
> --
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/\](http://www.ruby-forum.com/%5C).
---
### Author:  [@Josh\_Cheek](https://rubytalk.org/u/Josh_Cheek)
#### Post date: [16 April 2011 22:03 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/let-ruby-read-the-serial-port/62438/3 "2011-04-16T22:03:09Z")
Almost a year ago I used [serialport | RubyGems.org | your community gem host](http://rubygems.org/gems/serialport) successfully on
my Mac to talk to USB and Bluetooth Arduinos.
> **···**
>
> On Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 7:58 AM, Superpelican X. \wrote:
>
> > Hello everyone,
> >
> > I would like to read a serial port. I'm going to connect want to connect
> > my Arduino Uno microcontroller board to the computer via USB. It acts as
> > a virtual serial port automatically. I can already read with the Arduino
> > IDE' s serialterminal.
> >
> > Processing can also read a serialport from a Arduino.
> >
> > But now I would like to let Ruby read the virtual serialport and save
> > the data in a variable. And then do a lots of stuff with it.
> >
> > Is there a special library or gem for this? I already installed libusb
> > for ruby.
> >
> > Greetings,
> >
> > Superpelican
> >
> > --
> > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/\](http://www.ruby-forum.com/%5C).
---
### Author:  [@Regis\_Aubarede](https://rubytalk.org/u/Regis_Aubarede)
#### Post date: [18 April 2011 14:26 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/let-ruby-read-the-serial-port/62438/4 "2011-04-18T14:26:39Z")
I use IronRuby :
require "mscorlib"
require "System.Windows.Forms"
def portConfigure(portName,bauds,bits,stop,parity)
@components = System::ComponentModel::Container.new()
@serialPort1 = System::IO::Ports::SerialPort.new(@components)
portName ||= "COM3"
bauds ||= "9600"
bits ||= "8"
stopBits ||= "1"
parity ||= "none"
#puts "Configure..."
@serialPort1.DtrEnable = true
@serialPort1.RtsEnable = true
@serialPort1.PortName = portName
@serialPort1.StopBits = stopBits.to\_i
@serialPort1.BaudRate = bauds.to\_i
@serialPort1.DataBits = bits.to\_i
@serialPort1.Open()
@serialPort1.DataReceived do |sender, e|
buff = @serialPort1.ReadExisting()
scanner(buff)
end
end
def writeString(str)
buf = System::Text::Encoding.GetEncoding("ASCII").GetBytes(str)
size = buf.Length
@serialPort1.Write(buf, 0, size)
end
> **···**
>
> --
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).
---
### Author:  [@Andrew\_Mcelroy](https://rubytalk.org/u/Andrew_Mcelroy)
#### Post date: [16 April 2011 21:38 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/let-ruby-read-the-serial-port/62438/5 "2011-04-16T21:38:33Z")
> Superpelican X. wrote in post #993185:
>
> > Is there a special library or gem for this?
>
> Which platform are you running under?
>
> The ruby-serialport gem worked fine for me (under Linux) when I last
> tried it, although that was several years ago.
Make sure you have the baud and port number correct.
It's an often overlooked part of connecting to serial.
> **[GitHub - tenderlove/ruby-serialport: ruby-serialport is a Ruby library that...](https://github.com/tenderlove/ruby-serialport)**
>
> ruby-serialport is a Ruby library that provides a class for using RS-232 serial ports - GitHub - tenderlove/ruby-serialport: ruby-serialport is a Ruby library that provides a class for using RS-232...
This might help also.
It also supports windows as well as linux (and theoretically mac)
Andrew McElroy
> **···**
>
> On Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 4:14 PM, Brian Candler \ wrote:
>
> > --
> > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/\](http://www.ruby-forum.com/%5C).