SparkFun Forums

[sparky]

Hello Linux users,

Just wanted to let you know Silicon Labs has informed us that the driver source code for the CP2101 and CP2102 will be released at the end of March. It's horrible that they have taken this long to release the source, but I am very happy to hear they are willing.

-Nathan

Hello Nathan,

I wanted to update you on the latest information regarding our Linux
drivers. We will be releasing the source code for the Linux driver by
the end of March so that our customers can recompile the drivers for any
version of the Linux kernel. I will notify you when the source code is
available.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Best Regards,
Tabitha

[arccorbis]

Hurray!
That is the best news I've heard all day - only a week left for me to wait too. I'd purchased a SMiRF in anticipation of using it on a Powerbook with Linux 2.6 on it. Needless to say, the 2.4 x86 binary driver wasn't cutting it. Now I'll be able to put to rest my _extreme_ 10' Serial cable.

[godbyk]

Hello Linux users,
Just wanted to let you know Silicon Labs has informed us that the driver source code for the CP2101 and CP2102 will be released at the end of March. It's horrible that they have taken this long to release the source, but I am very happy to hear they are willing.

-Nathan

Nathan--

Are there any updates on the availability of the linux driver?

Thanks!

--Kevin

[sparky]

I'm pretty sure they are there on the FTP site.

Per a previous posting, the drivers (win, mac, and linux) are delivered via a windows program - who the heck does that? So we've installed the windows program, snagged the drivers and uploaded to our website : http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/USB-Drivers/

Shh - don't tell SiLabs. I'm pretty sure I'm violating all sorts of license agreements or something equally pointless....

-Nathan

[godbyk]

Nathan--

Since I'm using a 2.6.x kernel, the 2.4.x drivers won't work. I was hoping that they had released the source code for the drivers. (The drivers should be GPL'd since they're based on GPL code.)

Thanks!

--Kevin

[JamesC]

Is there any change in the status of this?

I'm interested in the new CP2102 breakout board, but if the Linux drivers are not open source, this won't work for me.

BTW, the FTDI USB<->Serial chips do have open source drivers, and in fact are compiled into most 2.4 & 2.6 kernels.

[sparky]

Google CP2101 linux driver search : http://www.linuxhq.com/kernel/v2.6/12-r ... sb/serial/

I haven't heard anything new. I can't say it's Linux ready until a Linux guru tells me so (we don't speak Linux).

James - I know the FTDI chips are Linux friendly. I really wish the CPs were as well. The CP2102s have so much more features built it, we decided to keep going with them in hopes the Silabs will get into gear.

-Nathan

[JamesC]

Nathan,

Thanks for the pointer. I had looked around a few days ago and found nothing encouraging, it now looks like a driver may be rolled into 2.6.12

I'll try to get some spare time when 2.6.12 is released to download and build it, and see if the driver is in there. If it looks workable, I'll order one of the adpators with my next order and try it out, let you know what happens.

BTW, I wasn't trying to give you any beef about not supporting Linux, but for the projects I'm working on right now, I'm eventually going to be hooking some things up to a Single Board Computer (probably a PC/104 ARM), and linux is cheap and effective way to go for that kind of platform. Running Windows XP on one of those things just isn't an option.

Thanks for the reply, and keep up the good work!

[sparky]

Thanks James! No problem with the Linux comments - we just don't use it.

Please come back and let us know if you do get a chance. I'd like to have somewhere to point my customers (to the forum).

-Nathan

[Philip Cobbin]

I finally found a source for the company's driver source release. Looks like something the CIA would put together to keep the russian GRU intel unit busy for a year trying to figure what all the 1's and o's meant. This company is hardly serious about linux support and is quoted on internet sources as being in violation of the GPL terms. I would suggest you re-design your board to use USB chip that is linux freindly. I also tried to complile their source under on a Fedora Core Three system with no luck.

I would really really really suggest you look at their source code and ask yourself the question: is this an outfit I'd want to become dependent on?

In the meantime I would appreciate it if you would at least have the curtesy of qualifying your website's references to linux so some other person doesn't get stick putting money down the drain to run into a communications glitch of a 1/4 inch....the distance from the USB connector on the board the GPS unit....grr...very frustrating... Their FTP download information doesn't seem to work either....figures...

[zilym]

Sorry to advertise a competing product, but I swear I'm not affiliated with FT or anyla.com. I ordered one of these USB to RS232 adapters from anyla.com for $7.80 ($13.69 after including shipping). This is a little more money than the bare CP2102 chip, but definitely cheaper than the CP2102 breakout board.

What I actually got is a long cable with a USB connector on one end and RS232 on the other, which doesn't match the pictured device, but looks like the same brand. I'm not sure if they just screwed up and substituted a nicer product for my order or if they just didn't bother putting the correct picture on their order page (it does say "cable" on the page). Anyway, inside my USB to RS232 cable, I found that the FT232BM chip is being used.

I know SparkFun claims that the CP2102 chip is better than the FT232, but I don't understand why. The FT232 seems to have better Linux support, although I haven't used it much in Linux myself.

Surfing around on FT's web site, I found that they have a direct access driver SDK called D2XX that allows you to put the chip into bit-bang I/O mode (there's also a similar third party SDK for Linux). This seems like a very nice feature for people like us.

I want a patch to the WinPic source code so that it can use the bit-bang I/O mode of this chip to drive my HOODMICRO PIC Programmer. Using this combination, it would be possible for people to build their own USB PIC Programmer from scratch. All existing USB PIC Programmer designs that I know of require you to have a microcontroller preprogrammed to make the circuit work (no way for a new user to bootstrap themselves). I made a proof of concept for this USB programming mode work once, but my code is too messy and buggy to submit as a patch so far (totally broke normal serial port support in the process).

This bit-bang I/O mode alone seems a good reason to choose the FT232BM over the CP2102. If the CP2102 has a big-bang I/O mode, I couldn't find anything mentioning it on Silicon Labs' website.

[sparky]

zilym -> nice link. We don't mind. It's a nice dongle - great for serial, bad for uC's.

We recognize the benefits of the FTDI chips and the pitfalls of the CP2101, CP2102, and CP2103s.

The usb install pdf should have been updated a few days ago. Let me know if the SiLabs FTP is still not working with the new login info:
http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/USB- ... nstall.pdf
Also note the other posting : http://www.sparkfun.com/cgi-bin/phpbb/v ... php?t=1223

As much as we've asked, we can't get a straight answer from any Linux user. Does the CP210x drivers work under *any* linux build? Admittedly the SiLabs drivers don't support the latest linux release, but what about v2.4 that they were developed for? (baby and the bath water question)

-Nathan

[tvelliott]

Yes,
It works (this is a CP2103 btw)

uname -a
Linux debian 2.6.12.3 #9 Sat Aug 6 13:22:21 PDT 2005 i686 GNU/Linux

dmsg output after plugging device in
usb 3-3: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3
CP2101 3-3:1.0: CP2101 converter detected
usb 3-3: reset full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3
usb 3-3: CP2101 converter now attached to ttyUSB0


In .config file in kernel source dir: in addition to the normal USB stuff you need these lines

CONFIG_USB_SERIAL=y
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_CP2101=y
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_GENERIC=y

As much as we've asked, we can't get a straight answer from any Linux user. Does the CP210x drivers work under *any* linux build? Admittedly the SiLabs drivers don't support the latest linux release, but what about v2.4 that they were developed for? (baby and the bath water question)

-Nathan