Using serial port on Uno

Projects General Guidance
1

Is it possible to use the serial usart on an Uno for TTL level serial comms? I suspect the only way to do it would be to cut the tracks to the ATmega8U2 - thus disabling the USB connectivity - something I don't want to do - defeats the object of it being a dev board.

Work-around is likely putting the a micro-controller on some strip board and swap between a GPS module and a FDTI usb / serial cable using a 3.5mm jack.

Thanks

Pete

2

Why not connect the GPS to two digital pins, and use NewSoftSerial to read the GPS?

3 
Why not connect the GPS to two digital pins, and use NewSoftSerial to read the GPS?

Eventual plan is to make a datalogger / autopilot. Therefore I need to do stuff continuously, the old software serial would hang awaiting input. The website for NewSoftSerial is down at the moment but I would expect it to do the same?

Pete

4

The latest NSS library uses interrupts and a received character buffer to handle incoming serial data, just like the hardware serial handler.

5

Thanks, I'll have to have a play.

Pete