Hi, all. I'm new to the forums, and if it's not painfully obvious at the end of this post, I'm a complete noob when it comes to RS-232.

I recently purchased iRule for my theater system, with one of the primary reasons being its RS232 compatibility. I have the system set up and running beautifully EXCEPT for two devices I'm trying to operate via RS232. These devices are an Onkyo TX NR905 Receiver and an Epson 3020 projector.

After researching and posting in a few HT pages, it seems I need to ensure that my port settings are correct. I'm using a GC-100-12 to control the devices, and initially kept everything on default setting (no flow control, 8 db and 1 sb, no parity) but I did set the baud from 19200 to 9600. Since then, I've tried several different combinations to no avail. Does anyone out there know the correct port settings? I can't seem to find them anywhere... manuals, web, and so-on.

The second part is cabling. Once again, I had no idea that RS232 cables didn't have an absolute standard, and so I perhaps have the wrong cabling. Here are the items I ordered/purchased for connecting the units to the GC-100-12:

The Onkyo TX-NR905 is connected with this cable:

[Link: newegg.com]

And this gender changer:

[Link: radioshack.com]

The Epson 3020 Projector is connected via this cable:

[Link: newegg.com]

and this gender changer:

[Link: newegg.com]

I also stumbled upon the difference between DTE and DCE. I saw online a rule-of-thumb (but by no means the "rule") is that a male connector is DTE, where a female connector is typically DCE. The RS232 ports are both male on the GC-100. The RS232 on my projector (Epson 3020) is also male, where the connection on my receiver (Onkyo TX-NR905) is female. What conclusion should I come away with as far as the types of ports they are?

Sorry for the long post, but I'm at my wit's end.