Serial ports, a.k.a. RS232 ports, are no longer available on new computers and laptops. Many devices still use RS232 for communication (network equipment, data acquisition boards etc.).
There are several USB adapters that provide a “Virtual COM Port” using a special “USBtoUART” or “USBtoSerial” chip. Conversion cables containing these chips can be found online – but the documentation rarely specifies which chip is used! The Prolific PL-2303 chip is very popular, but a number of other chips can be found. Some chips are supported by the OS, others need a special driver.
| Manufacturer | Chip | Linux driver | Mac driver | Windows driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTDI chip | FT232RL | Included since 2.6.31 kernel | Download VCP driver | Automatically installed by Windows 7 |
| Prolific | PL-2303 | Included since 2.4.10 / 2.4.31 kernel | Download VCP driver | Installation under Windows 7 |
| Silicon Labs | CP210x | Download VCP driver | Download VCP driver | Download VCP driver |
| – | – | ? | ? | ? |
RS232 information
Links
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[USB to Serial for Mac OS X Snow Leopard Davy Schmeits](http://schmeits.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/usb-to-serial-for-mac-os-x-snow-leopard/) - Mac OS X Prolific PL2303 driver project
Related posts
Updated 2011-06-01: Added links to Open Source driver for Prolific PL2303 under Mac OS X