26 Jun
2021
26 Jun
'21
10:15 a.m.
On Jun 26, 2021, at 11:31 AM, Tapley, Mark B. via
cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
At one point FTDI had a reasonably good reputation, and I own one of those devices based
on that reputation. I have used it with no obvious problems connecting a TRS Color
Computer 3 to an iMac G3 for a floppy-drive emulator (DriveWire on the iMac), but I think
only for that application so far.
Are there any particular pitfalls I should watch out for with the FTDI device, when/if I
can get back to working with it?
I once bought a USB serial port device with a DE-9 connector on it, Belkin I think. It
worked somewhat. Might have needed its own driver, which on a Mac is highly unusual. It
gave me enough trouble I set it aside.
Since then I've bought several different flavors of the FTDI USB serial device, one
RS-232, one 5 volt logic, one 3.3 volt logic (the latter two with 6-pin connectors to fit
onto pin headers such as are found on the BeagleBone Black). They have always worked
flawlessly (on my Mac), at a number of data rates: 4800, 9600, 19.2k, 115k. I'll
admit I haven't needed stranger cases like 5 or 6 bit data, or exotic slow speeds. As
I mentioned, if that need arises and FTDI isn't good enough I'll have the RPico to
do the job.
paul