In many existing RS-232 designs, all that is required to update the design from RS-232 to USB is to replace the RS- 232 level-translator with the CP2102/9.ĭirect access driver support is available through the Silicon Laboratories USBXpress driver set. The CP2102/9 UART interface implements all RS-232 signals, including control and handshaking signals, so existing system firmware does not need to be modified. Royalty-free Virtual COM Port (VCP) device drivers provided by Silicon Laboratories allow a CP2102/9-based product to appear as a COM port to PC applications. The programmable ROM is programmed on-board via the USB, allowing the programming step to be easily integrated into the product manufacturing and testing process.

The on-chip programmable ROM may be used to customize the USB Vendor ID, Product ID, Product Description String, Power Descriptor, Device Release Number, and Device Serial Number as desired for OEM applications. No other external USB components are required. asynchronous serial data bus (UART) with full modem control signals in a compact 5 x 5 mm QFN-28 package.a USB 2.0 full-speed function controller.So the USB/Serial driver situation on macOS just went from terrible to apocalyptic.The CP2102/9 is a highly-integrated USB-to-UART Bridge Controller providing a simple solution for updating RS- 232 designs to USB using a minimum of components and PCB space. To make matters worse, because of SIP, these drivers can't be easily removed like poorly behaving third party drivers can be. I know Apple means well - and user space DriverKit drivers are a great idea - but their current implementation is severely broken and is causing a lot of headaches for users. Installing the kernel driver provided by Silicon Labs addresses the issue but causes two different serial port device nodes to be created under /dev, one that works and one that doesn't. If you're using one of the devices listed the Apple driver fails to send or receive any data and hangs. This driver binds to several other chip types - the CP2102N, CP2104, CP2108, and CP2109, but the driver only SUPPORTS the CP2102.

So far I've only tested the AppleUSBSLCOM drivers for Silicon Labs (SiLabs) CP2102 devices. With the final GM of Catalina I've noticed the bundled Apple DriverKit drivers for USB Serial devices fail to work with many devices. I'm posting this to share my experience and help others having the same issues.

Cp2102 to uart driver