Serial port
Revision as of 18:00, 21 November 2013 by Matthias Heidbrink (talk | contribs)
Serial Ports are a common way to communicate with devices. The most common serial ports, as used by devices like Metex/Voltcraft multimeters, are RS-232 interfaces.
RS232-USB Converters
To operate devices having RS-232 interfaces on computers that have only USB interfaces available, RS232 to USB converters are available. Many different chipsets exist that have slightly different properties, often supporting only a subset of what common UARTs like the 8250/16550A can do. Please note that a driver for the respective operating system is required (sometimes included in the OS already, e.g. mostly for Linux).
Some RS232 devices won't work on RS232-USB converters because they expect a higher signal voltage, e.g. to drive optocouplers.
Common chipsets are:
| Manufacturer | Type | OS | Data Bits | Non-standard baud rates | Max. baud rate | Homepage | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prolific | PL-2302x | 7,8 | 1 | ||||
| Prolific Fake | (PL-2302) | It seems that fakes of prolific chips with limited reliability exist.1 | |||||
| FTDI | |||||||
| MOSChip (Asix) | MCS7810 | 1 | 1 RS232 port | ||||
| MCS7820 | 1 | 2 RS232 ports | |||||
| MCS7840 | 5-8 | yes; broken on Mac | 1 | 4 RS232 ports |