36 The IR Serial Port
MX6 User’s Guide E-EQ-MX6OGWW-E-ARC
The IR Serial Port
Figure 31 IR Port Location
The serial port is a half duplex IR (Infrared) port. Through software commands, the port may be
set up for IR or a modified RS-232 serial communication.
In general, the IR mode is used when communicating to other IR devices (printers, computers,
etc.) and the modified RS-232 mode is used to communicate with the dock for host
communications.
In IR mode, all physical communications meet the IrDA physical layer specification. In the
modified RS-232 serial mode, the IR port is used to transmit RS-232 level data out the IR port.
The third pin along the bottom of the MX6 is used to receive RS-232 level data while in the dock.
When transferring files using the IR port, flow control must be the same on both sides of the
transmission (specifically, with Zmodem: both must use Xon/Xoff).
The COM 3 / 6 port is always the IR port on the lower left side of the MX6. It is accessed as
COM3 for Raw Infrared communication and as COM 6 for Infrared communication using IrDA
protocol.
To use COM 3 for Raw IR communication, select Start | Settings | Connections | Beam and
uncheck “Receive all incoming beams …”. This action disables IrDA protocol.
