The great iPhone serial port hack

I discovered that the iPhone serial port is in fact a TTL device - super low voltage. I looked at what I'd need for the dock connector too, and quickly realised that I'd have to be a LOT better at soldering than I am. Not wanting to spend time learning, instead I bought a breakout board. I'd been meaning to buy one of these for a long time for the purposes of building a line-in from a mixing desk, but eventually bought one for this project.

This particular dock connector breakout cost $US35 because it was fully labelled, but you can buy cheaper ones. They also get cheaper if you don't want them pre-soldered. The connector board lets you easily access all the pins on the bottom of an iPhone.