Can I connect an Arduino GSM Shield directly to a PC?

Question

Is it possible to communicate with and use the GSM shield directly from the computer, without using an arduino board?

Answer 1

You can connect a https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield to your computer with a USB-TTL serial cable, but you need to make sure you supply enough 700-1000ma to drive the GSM when it is transmitting.

Power It is recommended that the board be powered with an external power supply that can provide between 700mA and 1000mA. Powering an Arduino and the GSM shield from a USB connection is not recommended, as USB cannot provide the required current for when the modem is in heavy use.

• sferaud: thanks. A follow up: I'm assuming I wont be able to use the existing Arduino libraries (gsm, softwareserial). Do you know of any that I could use?
• Majenko: @sferaud A GSM shield is usually be controlled as a modem using AT commands. You don't need "libraries" to make an operating system control a modem. You may need an "application" or maybe a "driver" but never a "library".
• Chris Stratton: Actually that depends a bit if you want the operating system to treat the modem as a general purpose network interface, or if you want to use it more explicitly, similar to how it would be used by an Arduino. In the latter case library code (maybe even Arduino stuff backported to processing?) could be an option.