Return d if type(d) is str else ''.join() This can lead to all sorts of problems (such as unwanted exceptions) so I’ve included specific functions to ensure that all outgoing data is converted from the internal representation (which could be Unicode) to a string of bytes, and incoming data is converted from the external type (data bytes or string) to a string type: # Convert a string to bytes (for Python 3) There is also an issue with the different ways Python 2 and 3 handle serial data older versions assume that the data type is an ASCII string, while in later versions it is a binary type. This necessitates some rather clunky inclusions at the top of the file: try:įrom PyQt4.QtGui import QTextEdit, QWidget, QApplication, QVBoxLayoutįrom PyQt5.QtWidgets import QTextEdit, QWidget, QApplication, QVBoxLayout My code is compatible with Python 2.7 and 3.x, PyQt v4 and v5, running on Windows or Linux. It won’t win any awards for style, but could come in handy next time you encounter an obscure serial protocol. The following blog describes a simple Windows & Linux serial terminal, that can be adapted to handle special protocols it also demonstrates the creation of Python threads, and can serve as a basis for other multi-threaded applications. I do a lot of work with serial comms TeraTerm is an excellent serial terminal, but sometimes a customised application is required, for example when dealing with binary data.

A simple demonstration of threading in PyQt

Qt serial port read write example