Alright, so we have updated to Snow Leopard, now back to work. As a Solaris techie, I often need to access a servers serial console. Especially when troubleshooting a server I want to able to connect a serial cable from my laptop. Now as my laptop by default is a Mac, currently a Macbook Pro, this can become a challenge. As the last Apple laptop that was equipped with a serial port was one of the Wallstreet models, the way forward is to use a USB to Serial dongle. Alternatively one could use the Solaris tip command from one server to another, but I prefer having to plugin just one cable, instead of a dozen.
In this example I am assuming you have a cable similar as the one pictured above. Simply make sure the cable you have has a PL2303 chipset, which is the most commonly used chipset for these cables anyway. Cable prices may vary, but I recall buying my cable under $5. If you cannot find one get in touch with me. The driver for the cable can be downloaded from the Prolific website, however I have found an open source driver, which does the job and more over gives some better performance. I recommend you download the open source driver.
After you have installed the driver, connect your cable to any of your free USB ports. Mac OS X will automatically create a serial device, which can be found in /dev. Start a terminal session and list all available serial (or tty) devices available.
user@mac # ls -l /dev/tty*
Find the entry that is referring to your cable. Typically this should look similar to:
/dev/tty.PL2303-0002600D
Now that we have identified our new serial device, we can start connecting to a switch or server. Most people will use a Terminal Emulator, but as most of these programs were built pre-Leopard, you may find some difficulties running them on new(er) Mac hardware. I simply use the built-in screen program on Mac OS. So in the same terminal window, simply type:
user@mac # screen /dev/tty.PL2303-0002600D 9600
You can obviously change the baud rate or any other options to what you need to connect to your specific device. I mainly connect to Solaris servers, which work fine with a baud rate of 9600. I did notice that every time you connect and re-connect the cable’s tty device id changes.
Make a small donation if you feel this post has saved your day!!
Hi, do you know how to make it buffer? Like when you’re reading a cisco config so you can scroll back, it seems to only hold the amount of lines that your terminal session is set at. thanks.
The screen program has lots of useful commands accessible
via “Ctrl-A”. To see a menu, type “Ctrl-A ?” One of the most useful
“Ctrl-A [” which enters ‘copy mode’. This lets you select/copy…
but also lets you scroll around using the arrow/pg-up/pg-down keys.
Hit “ESC” to get back out of copy mode.
hi there
there are just 32 bit drivers available. do you have any idea where to find 64 bit compatible kext for the pl2303?
thanx alot
I’ve been using a PL2303 based lead under 10.5 for a while now, with the driver that you mention in your blog posting. One thing that irritates me somewhat is the apparent omission of the ability to send a break signal. I work with Cisco gear, so doing a password recovery on these means resorting to a Windows box. Don’t suppose this one has magically been solved in any way? Can’t see that it would’ve been, but you never know…
Cheers,
Gary Smith
@ Gary + John
There may be some other or smarter terminal emulators that may help you to send a break, such as Z-TERM. The integrated screen app is probably not the most fashionable way of logging on to equipment where you want to send a break or need some buffering of your session. Give Z-TERM a try or search for Terminal Emulator on GOOGLE. Once the driver has created the tty device, it should be usable for other terminal emulators as well. I recall using Z-TERM from my Macbook Pro last year, so it should work really.
@ Yosh
I am not sure if there is a 64-Bit driver out there already, but it should not stop you from using the cable. Why exactly do you want to run in 64-bit?
Once I have identified my serial device how do I connect to my printer in order to start printing files? I don’t understand what to do once I enter the “screen” part. I am not a techie if you haven’t noticed, but I managed to follow your steps up until actually getting my printer to print stuff. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Adam,
What type of printer are you trying to connect? Are you connecting an old serial printer? If so, check the following link http://webpages.charter.net/mbroughtn/serial_printing.html.
Cheers,
Davy
Davy,
Yes, thats exactly what I’m trying to do, but snow leopard is not allowing me to install the “serial print enabler” program provided in that tutorial. There are only versions for panther, tiger, and jaguar. It seems that whatever I was typing into the Screen command window, was printable, but when I tried to drag and drop a graphics file, all it printed was text. (desktop/car.jpg). Any other suggestions?
Thanks for your help,
Adam
Adam,
Play around with the baud rates as well. If you look at the bottom of the page, you can probably tell that there are many different settings. I put the 9600 in as I mainly use that for console access, but your printer may use a different setting. I thought serial printers died ages ago
…. I’d be interested to see this working, but I have no serial printer to simulate. You can always contact me with some screen dumps or errors. davy dot schmeits at gmail dot com.
I’m connecting an enfora GPRS modem to a mac mini, and the link to the open source driver was exactly what I needed. Works great, thanks!
I’m using a Belkin F5U409 which as best I can tell, has the PL2303 chipset.
I downloaded the source forge pkg and installed it. It said it installed ok. I have the /System/Library/Extensions/osx-pl2303.kext/ file in place.
However when I type [ls -l /dev/tty*] I don’t see the pl2303 device.
It seems it is not loading the ext.
Any suggestions? I have this working on my pc but would love to have it running on the mac. I’m running OS X 10.6.2.
Thanks,
Joe
Joe,
Try checking the chipset by checking from the console when you put the device into the Mac. Go to Applications > Utilities > Console. Once you plugin your device you should see some reference to the chipset. Let me know how you get on.
Davy
This is also happening to me.. I cannot load the Radio Shack PL2303 cable on the newest MBP. Worked on my old MBP
Hi Seth,
I am not sure if I can help you on this. As you can see my article is about two years old and things have progressed quickly.
One thing you may want to check if your Mac OS X installation is set to boot into 64-bit mode by default.
Cheers,
Davy
Pingback: NAS and Web-Server: Putting Together the Hardware « About My Days
I normally boot my MBP into 64-bit mode (because I can) under 10.6.2 (again, because I can), and have noticed a bit of a performance increase. That being said, I’m not seeing this device show up in dev under either /dev/cu.* or /dev/tty.PL2303*. I haven’t tried booting in 32-bit to see if that changes things or not. It *does* show up under system profiler though.
Thank you, though, for this post. Good stuff!
YOu may or may not be reading this, but how do I change options such as parity and flow control?
I found this page too because I don’t seem to be able to successfully generate a BREAK signal from my nexxtech PL2303-based USB-to-Serial cable (using the Prolific driver on my macbook running 10.6.2)
At 9600baud a proper BREAK signal should be very visible on a proper breakout box. Even a single character lasts long enough for me to see the change to red on my breakout box. I.e. I can see that it is not sending BREAK when it should.
I still don’t know if this is a driver issue, or an issue with the PL2303 itself, though I seem to remember checking the datasheet and seeing that the chip is in fact able to generate BREAK.
I think I’ll try looking at the old open source driver, though not having so much experience with OS X drivers, I’m not so sure I’ll have as much luck.
BTW, one reason to need to run 64bit is when one has more than 4GB of RAM, as I do on my desktop machine, for example.
I gave it another shot, booted into 32-bit mode, and it worked out of the box. Thanks again!
This was really useful. I’ve been using cu(1) with a prolific USB dongle, but after reinstalling with Snow Leopard, cu would only echo output, not take input. Using screen(1) is obvious in hindsight, and thank you for pointing it out. I can now party on
Pim from Zurich
Thanks, saved my arse while sitting in a colo trying to troubleshoot a Cisco device
I need to start adding a PayPal button in this post, as it gets read so much and helps out so many people
Using “screen -fn /dev/tty …… 9600″ etc
How do you set parity to Even? Most serial devices seem to use 8n1 format but I need a 8E1 format.
I can use minicom and talk to the serial ok but no success with “screen”.
Trying to connect Garmin etrex h GPS to Macbook Pro running MacOSX 10.6.4 Snow Leopard. I have downloaded Base Camp and a prolific USB to serial driver md PL230 Mac OSX 10.6 dmgv1.4.0.Zip
I cannot get the the computer to connect to the GPS
Where are the drivers located ? Any advice. I have successfully connected my GPS to a PC using a prolific driver. I am out of my comfort zone so please consider that you are dealing with a novice.
I am not familiar with the Basecamp software unfortunately. Is there any way the software wants you to point to the serial device? The devices are all created in the /dev directory on Mac OS. If you are familiar with the Terminal.app, simply launch it and run the following command:
ls /dev/This gives you a listing of the available devices, including the tty devices. You would be looking for a tty.PL**** (where the stars are the particulars for you device). Let me know if you still get stuck.Help.
Please take it easy on me – I’m fairly new to the mac – I’m probably missing something really simple…
I’m trying to connect a Homevision home automation computer to the Mac Mini.
It uses a Serial port interface only.
So I’ve bought a PL2303 based USB to serial port.
Tried the reccomended installers – all goes well with them – and I can see the PL2303 device in System Profiler.
Problem is – when I then run the MAC version of Homevision XL, and I try to select a serial port – for the location, I have no idea where to point it. There is a “Browse” button – it seems to point at the Hard drive – I can see the usual file structure and folders but where do I point it to to connect to the USB serial port?
Thanks in advance.
Mike.
The serial devices are all listed in the /dev directory. Perhaps it would be good to check the name of your specific tty address. You can do this by launching the terminal.app (It is under Application -> Utilities). Type the following command:
ls /devThis gives you a listing of the available devices, including the tty devices. You would be looking for a tty.PL**** (where the stars are the particulars for you device). Let me know if you still get stuck. I hope your software will be able to understand this.Hi Davy, I found your post after looking for one solution
using my USB-Serial cable. I’ve installed the open source driver
but seems that my mac doesn’t recognize the hardware. I can see the
following line in the logs when I plug in the cable: Nov 26
13:49:49 air pcscd[243]: Non-smartcard device launched pcscd
[Vendor: 0X403, Product: 0X6001] Do you know if I can change some
configuration to make it work?
[Vendor: 0X403, Product: 0X6001]
Vendor 0X403 means that you have an USB-Serial cable which has a FTDI chipset and therefore you need to install the FTDI drivers. The FTDI drivers can be downloaded from http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
Hi,
I did the following steps you said.
1. ls -l /dev/tty*
2. then i looked witch tty it was. this is what is saw:
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 2, 0 28 dec 13:43 /dev/tty
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 10, 2 28 dec 13:44 /dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 10, 4 28 dec 13:44 /dev/tty.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 10, 6 28 dec 14:20 /dev/tty.PL2303-0000203A
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 0 28 dec 13:43 /dev/ttyp0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 1 28 dec 13:43 /dev/ttyp1
3.then i used the command:
screen /dev/tty.PL2303-0000203A 9600
4. this was the answer i got back:
Could not open line ‘ dev/tty.PL2303-0000203A ” for R/W resource busy
sorry could not find a PTY
CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT I DO WRONG PLEASE :- (
Are you running OSX in 64 bit mode perhaps?
To me the error looks like as if the device is already in use by a different program. Have you tried rebooting and then plugging in the dongle.
Try this URL for some alternatives .. http://www.apple.com/search/?q=pl2303
Cheers,
Davy
Try on the terminal:
screen -X kill
That closes all the sessions.
how to send a break command for password resets for cisco devices using screen
1. connect using screen but use 1200 baud
screen /dev/tty.(your usb device) 1200
2. reset the device, and while the device is booting, press the space bar several times (about 10 seconds to be sure)… you will not be able to read the screen, but will be getting weird displays
3. disconnect screen ctrl a, ctrl \
4. reconnect using screen likt you normaly would “screen /dev/tty.(xxx)”
your cisco device should be at the recovery prompt!
Thanks, useful how to… I’m running Mac OS X on 64 bit and I using this driver : http://www.apple.com/search/?q=pl2303 and it’s Work. Thanks so Much…
dude, I LOVE YOU!
i’ve been blowing my brains out trying to make the cable work with Prolific’s driver which came on their cd and remote control my telescope from a macbook pro with no success.
installing the open source driver DID IT for me!
thanks!
Pingback: USB to Serial drivers « EdVoncken.NET
After installing the driver and plugging in the cable, I typed in the command ls -l /dev/tty* but I did not see anything similar to /dev/tty.PL2303-0000203A . What i saw was:
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 2, 0 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/tty
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 11, 2 Jul 5 17:36 /dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 11, 0 Jul 5 17:36 /dev/tty.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 0 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyp0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 1 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyp1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 2 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyp2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 3 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyp3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 4 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyp4
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 5 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyp5
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 6 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyp6
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 7 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyp7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 8 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyp8
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 9 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyp9
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 10 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttypa
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 11 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttypb
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 12 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttypc
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 13 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttypd
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 14 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttype
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 15 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttypf
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 16 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyq0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 17 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyq1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 18 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyq2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 19 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyq3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 20 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyq4
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 21 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyq5
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 22 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyq6
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 23 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyq7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 24 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyq8
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 25 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyq9
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 26 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyqa
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 27 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyqb
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 28 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyqc
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 29 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyqd
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 30 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyqe
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 31 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyqf
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 32 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyr0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 33 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyr1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 34 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyr2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 35 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyr3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 36 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyr4
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 37 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyr5
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 38 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyr6
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 39 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyr7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 40 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyr8
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 41 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyr9
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 42 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyra
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 43 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyrb
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 44 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyrc
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 45 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyrd
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 46 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyre
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 47 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyrf
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 48 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttys0
crw–w—- 1 kuki tty 16, 0 Jul 5 17:41 /dev/ttys000
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 49 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttys1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 50 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttys2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 51 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttys3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 52 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttys4
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 53 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttys5
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 54 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttys6
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 55 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttys7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 56 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttys8
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 57 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttys9
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 58 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttysa
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 59 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttysb
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 60 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttysc
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 61 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttysd
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 62 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyse
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 63 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttysf
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 64 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyt0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 65 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyt1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 66 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyt2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 67 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyt3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 68 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyt4
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 69 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyt5
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 70 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyt6
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 71 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyt7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 72 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyt8
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 73 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyt9
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 74 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyta
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 75 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttytb
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 76 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttytc
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 77 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttytd
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 78 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyte
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 79 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttytf
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 80 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyu0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 81 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyu1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 82 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyu2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 83 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyu3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 84 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyu4
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 85 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyu5
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 86 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyu6
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 87 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyu7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 88 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyu8
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 89 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyu9
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 90 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyua
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 91 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyub
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 92 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyuc
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 93 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyud
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 94 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyue
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 95 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyuf
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 96 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyv0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 97 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyv1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 98 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyv2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 99 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyv3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 100 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyv4
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 101 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyv5
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 102 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyv6
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 103 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyv7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 104 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyv8
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 105 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyv9
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 106 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyva
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 107 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyvb
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 108 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyvc
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 109 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyvd
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 110 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyve
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 111 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyvf
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 112 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyw0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 113 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyw1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 114 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyw2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 115 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyw3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 116 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyw4
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 117 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyw5
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 118 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyw6
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 119 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyw7
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 120 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyw8
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 121 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttyw9
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 122 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttywa
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 123 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttywb
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 124 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttywc
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 125 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttywd
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 126 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttywe
crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel 4, 127 Jul 5 17:35 /dev/ttywf
What should I do?
Are you sure your USB adapter contains the Prolific chip?
You could check it by plugging the USB-adapter to an USB-port of your Mac and opening the system-profiler. In the section “hardware” click on the entry “USB” and there should be shown all USB devices.
On the right side you should see the device tree. Depending on the adapter manufacturer there could be used different names, in my case the name of the adapter is “USB Serial Controller D”. If you have found your adapter in the device tree then click on it and in the area below the device tree there will be shown detailed information about the USB device.
Most important are the product ID (PID) and the vendor ID (VID) because a specific driver will only handle devices with specified VID/PID combinations. Devices which can be managed by the PL2303 driver should have:
Product-ID: 0×2303
Vendor-ID: 0x067b (Prolific Technology, Inc.)
If your USB adapter shows other Vendor-ID’s or Product-ID’s you need probably a different driver.
Just in case someone was looking for a 64bit driver that also work on Lion, go there :: http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?id=31
Direct download link :: http://www.prolific.com.tw/support/files//IO%20Cable/PL-2303/Drivers%20-%20Generic/MacOS/MacOS%2010.x/md_PL2303_MacOSX10.6_dmg_v1.4.0.zip
Pingback: NAS and Web-Server: Putting Together the Hardware | About My Days
That’s what I was looking for, I’m going right now to Amazon and buy one of these converters. I guess any of them including the PL2303 chip will do the job…
Late to the party I am, but this post was right on the money. Thanks.