This FAQ will explain what ASCII TCP is and communicating using ASCII TCP with the BB-400.

ASCII TCP

The ASCII Transmission Control Protocol, or ASCII TCP is a query-response/question and answer communication protocol in which a host PC uses ASCII characters to send commands to a device, and receive responses back from the device.

ASCII TCP is a connection-based protocol, in which the client establishes a connection with the server and the server waits for an incoming connection from the client. Once a connection is established, the ASCII command set is used to configure devices, send data to devices and to read data and status information back from devices. This occurs until the client closes the connection.

BB-400 IO and ASCII TCP

The BB-400 IO can be controlled over TCP/IP using simple ASCII commands, these can be found on the Brainboxes ASCII protocols page: ASCII protocol and commands.

The default port number of the ASCII TCP server on the BB-400 is 9500, as shown below:

There are a number of ways to communicate with the ASCII TCP on the BB-400, and the following is a list of Brainbox FAQs regarding the various different methods:

1. C# – How do I use C# to communicate with my remote IO module?
   
2. Visual Basic – How do I use Visual Basic to communicate with my remote IO module?
   
3. Node.js – How do I use Node.js to communicate with my remote IO module?
   
4. C++ – How do I use C++ to communicate with my remote IO module?
   
5. Perl – How do I use Perl to communicate with my remote IO module?
   
6. PHP – How do I use PHP to communicate with my remote IO module?
   
7. Linux – How to communicate using ASCII TCP between the BB-400 and a Linux system?
8. Windows – How to communicate using ASCII TCP between the BB-400 and a Windows system?