USB Serial Converters

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Revision as of 18:18, 25 January 2019 by Mitja (talk | contribs) (→‎CH340)

Most microcontrollers use the serial protocol to communicate with other device and/or get flashed.

If you want to use a computer in order to communicate with a microcontroller, you will need a USB-Serial adapter. While these are often available on the board already (in case you use the development boards), you might have the need to use one of the specific USB-Serial Converters.

PL2303

ToolInfoBox

PL2303 USB Serial Converter

PL2303.jpg
Type: PL2303
Used with: computer, microcontroller
Location: E-Bench
Access Requirements: upon reading

The PL2303 is a cheap chip which is the base for many USB-Serial Converters. We have some available in the CoMakingSpace which you can use for temporary projects.

The ones we have are based on the PL-2303 XA/HXA chip. Unfortunately, the latest official drivers do not support Windows 10 anymore (see here).

However, somebody uploaded an old driver version to a wordpress blog, which makes the chips work on Windows 10. Of course, use this at your own risk.


CH340

ToolInfoBox

CH340 USB Serial Converter

Tool-default.png
Type: CH340
Used with: computer, microcontroller

Windows

The cheap USB serial module CH340 is not supported by default in Windows. You need to install the drivers manually.

Mac

brew cask install wch-ch34x-usb-serial-driver

Linux

Works out of the box.