[c-nsp] USB to serial converter

[Doug McIntyre]

On Sat, Feb 02, 2008 at 09:24:15PM -0800, Chris wrote:
> I bought a Prolific USB to serial controller
> (http://tinyurl.com/35ocwv [ebay.com]) to get access to my Cisco 2950
> switch through my laptop's USB port. I tried from OpenBSD 4.2 on
> /dev/ttyU0 and /dev/cuaU0 using cu, tip and minicom with baud rate
> 9600 and 8,N,1 with no luck. I also tried from Vista with Hypter
> Terminal on COM4 but it's not responding. The only thing I get from
> OpenBSD with /dev/ttyU0 is a lot of garbage characters at the
> beginning (nothing happens after the garbage) -


Did they fix the bug in the Prolific driver that blue screens windows
if you unplug it when the port is opened by an app yet? 

There's nothing special about any cisco hardware and serial
ports. I've used the Prolific device dozens of times on
Windows/MacOSX/FreeBSD/linux to access any number of networking gear
requiring a serial console. I use the Keyspan (TI Chipset) orders of
magnitude more often though, since again the Prolific driver on OSX
has (had?) a bug that couldn't send serial break at all.. 

It sounds like you are experiencing more issues with other factors
than any compatibility with Cisco. 

On Vista, did you make sure that this device is what is attached to
COM4? My windows boxes tend to pick higher up ports when USB->Serial
devices bind. I have to go to Device Manager to figure out what COM
port it really is. Typically it goes up on COM7 it seems.. 
Did you try out a better term program than Hyperterm (why download
that one? Vista doesn't come with it any longer?). I'd suggest
downloading a trial of SecureCRT. Its rock solid, even under Vista. 
You'd get 30 days to at least make sure that aspect isn't affecting you.

Can't help you on OpenBSD. FreeBSD's driver support works fine
though. Run up kermit to that port, works every single time with the
Prolific device.