Overview
This guide walks you through connecting a Nexmosphere sensor board to a NovaStar Taurus TB40 running OnSign, enabling interactive sensor-triggered content.
Requirements
- NovaStar Taurus TB40 with OnSign TV installed and running
- Windows PC on the same network as the TB40
- ViPlex Express installed on the Windows PC
- Nexmosphere sensor board + USB-Serial cable
- ADB installed on your Windows PC (Installing ADB on Windows)
If you haven't installed OnSign TV on your NovaStar Taurus device yet, follow this guide first: Installing OnSign on NovaStar Taurus (Android).
Phase 1 — Hardware & Network
Step 1 — Power on the TB40
Plug the device into power and wait for it to fully boot before proceeding.
Step 2 — Connect to the internet
Connect via Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi. Confirm network access by navigating to the Android home screen.
Phase 2 — ViPlex Express: Enable ADB
Step 3 — Open ViPlex Express and connect to the TB40
Double-click the ViPlex Express icon to launch the application. Connect your PC to the TB40 using one of the two methods below:
| Option A — USB Cable | Option B — Wi-Fi |
|---|---|
| Connect your PC to the USB-B port on the front of the TB40 using a USB-B cable. | Connect to the Wi-Fi network named AP+<SerialNumber>. Password: 12345678 (or check the sticker on the side of the unit). |
Once connected, the Taurus device will appear in the ViPlex device list automatically.
Step 4 — Unlock User Software
With ViPlex Express open, type novasoft anywhere on the screen (no text field required). This reveals a hidden option called "User Software".
Step 5 — Select User Software and connect to the device
Click User Software in the menu. Select your Taurus device in the left-hand column and click Connect.
Enter the credentials when prompted:
- Username:
admin - Password:
123456
The device will show a green connection icon once connected successfully.
Step 6 — Configure User Software settings
With the device selected, apply these two settings:
- ✅ ADB communication → Enabled
- ❌ PlayService (NovaStar internal player) → Disabled
ADB is now enabled on the device and ready for use from your Windows PC.
Phase 3 — ADB Shell: Sensor Setup
Make sure ADB is installed on your Windows PC before proceeding. See Installing ADB on Windows for instructions.
Step 7 — Open a command prompt in the ADB folder
Navigate to the folder where you extracted the ADB platform tools. Hold Shift and right-click inside the folder, then select "Open PowerShell window here" (or "Open Command Prompt window here").
Step 8 — Check that the device is visible
Run the following command to confirm the TB40 is recognized by ADB:
.\adb.exe devicesYou should see your device listed as attached. If it does not appear, double-check that ADB communication is enabled in ViPlex Express (Step 6) and that the USB cable or network connection is active.
Step 9 — Open an ADB shell on the device
.\adb.exe shellYou are now inside the device's shell. Confirm you are running as root:
# Check current user
whoami
# If the output is NOT "root", switch with:
suStep 10 — Plug in the Nexmosphere sensor board
Connect the sensor board to the USB 3.0 port on the back of the TB40. Then verify it was detected:
dmesg | grep -i usb
# Expected output (example):
# [ 1069.112982] usb 5-1: New USB device found, idVendor=067b, idProduct=23d3 ...
# [ 1069.113018] usb 5-1: Product: USB-Serial Controller
# [ 1069.113025] usb 5-1: Manufacturer: Prolific Technology Inc.
# Note down your idVendor and idProduct valuesStep 11 — Register the USB device driver
Use the idVendor and idProduct from the previous step to bind the pl2303 serial driver:
echo "<idVendor> <idProduct>" > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/pl2303/new_idStep 12 — Configure the serial port baud rate
Set the communication parameters for the serial interface:
stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 raw cs8 -cstopb -parenb
# Parameters:
# 115200 → baud rate
# raw → raw mode (no processing)
# cs8 → 8 data bits
# -cstopb → 1 stop bit
# -parenb → no parityStep 13 — Confirm the USB serial port
Verify the device node is available:
ls /dev/ttyUSB*
# Expected output:
# /dev/ttyUSB0✅ The sensor is now ready. Note that this configuration is lost on reboot — follow Phase 4 to persist it.
Phase 4 — Persistence: Auto-configure on Reboot
Step 14 — Make sure you are root and remount /vendor as writable
Before editing system files, confirm you are running as root. The su command from Phase 3 only applies to that shell session — if you opened a new shell or your session changed, switch to root again:
whoami
# If the output is NOT "root":
su
mount -o rw,remount /vendorStep 15 — Create the boot init script
Write the initialization script to a persistent location. Replace <idVendor> and <idProduct> with the values found in Step 10. The sleep 15 gives the system time to fully load USB drivers before running.
cat > /data/local/tmp/usb_serial_init.sh << 'EOF'
#!/system/bin/sh
sleep 15
echo "<idVendor> <idProduct>" > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/pl2303/new_id
log -t usb_serial "PL2303 ID added"
EOF
chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/usb_serial_init.shStep 16 — Register the service in the init RC file
Append a service definition to the device-specific RC file. This tells Android's init system to run the script automatically once boot is complete.
cat >> /vendor/etc/init/hw/init.rk30board.rc << 'EOF'
service usb_serial_init /system/bin/sh /data/local/tmp/usb_serial_init.sh
class late_start
user root
group root
oneshot
disabled
seclabel u:r:shell:s0
on property:sys.boot_completed=1
start usb_serial_init
EOFℹ️ The service is triggered by sys.boot_completed=1 — it fires once after every reboot.
Step 17 — Remount /vendor as read-only
Restore the partition to its secure read-only state after editing.
mount -o ro,remount /vendor✅ The configuration will now persist across reboots.
The Nexmosphere sensor is now configured and ready to communicate with your NovaStar Taurus device. The final step is to configure the serial port in the OnSign Platform so the player can receive and process sensor events.