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As it turns out, apparently it's easier to develop an exact protocol-level clone of an existing USB to serial chip which already has working drivers than it is

by makomk 5y ago

As it turns out, apparently it's easier to develop an exact protocol-level clone of an existing USB to serial chip which already has working drivers than it is to write reliable, high-quality serial drivers for a new chip. This may say something about the state of software these days.

dmatech 5y ago
It's presumably for the same reason that people make knock-offs of chips like the MPU-401 UART and the ELM327. There's a large installed base of applications for them. The drivers themselves can't possibly be that complex. But getting a USB-IF vendor ID as well as drivers in Windows is probably a bit harder. Not only does Linux have its own drivers, they can unbrick the damaged devices. https://www.mail-archive.com/linux-usb@vger.kernel.org/msg50762.html https://www.mail-archive.com/linux-usb@vger.kernel.org/msg50...
- bombcar 5y ago
  Also Windows isn’t the only system out there - I suspect that being able to be used in various embedded solutions is also important.
- mdip 5y ago
  > Not only does Linux have its own drivers, they can unbrick the damaged devices. Thanks for that. I haven't used my counterfeit FTDI cable in probably 2 years, but I was trying to figure out how I had not encountered any issues with it. I only happened to find out it was counterfeit due to the fact that I purchased it via a link in a forum recommended by "some user", and later, when I had this stupid looking cable and no idea where to plug the ends into my Pi, I revisited the forum, scrolled down a few replies, and found out that all of the "FTDI" products from the manufacturer of my cable were fakes. Once I read that, I had intended on replacing it, but decided to wire it up anyway to see if it would work. I run OpenSUSE Tumbleweed on my main computer, and I don't remember having to do anything unusual, or encountering any warnings/errors at the time trying to use it[0], I'm guessing that's why... [0] I was trying to connect into a headless RPi and that was the most convenient way sometimes.
mjg59 5y ago
Not just that - if customers are already asking for an existing part, it's easier to sell them something that pretends to be that part than it is to convince them to change to something else. They'll notice if you suddenly start shipping chips that need a different driver, if you're pin compatible and work with the existing builds there's a much better chance nobody will notice and you can pocket the difference in price.

by makomk 5y ago

dmatech 5y ago

It's presumably for the same reason that people make knock-offs of chips like the MPU-401 UART and the ELM327. There's a large installed base of applications for them. The drivers themselves can't possibly be that complex. But getting a USB-IF vendor ID as well as drivers in Windows is probably a bit harder. Not only does Linux have its own drivers, they can unbrick the damaged devices. https://www.mail-archive.com/linux-usb@vger.kernel.org/msg50762.html https://www.mail-archive.com/linux-usb@vger.kernel.org/msg50...

bombcar 5y ago
Also Windows isn’t the only system out there - I suspect that being able to be used in various embedded solutions is also important.
mdip 5y ago
> Not only does Linux have its own drivers, they can unbrick the damaged devices. Thanks for that. I haven't used my counterfeit FTDI cable in probably 2 years, but I was trying to figure out how I had not encountered any issues with it. I only happened to find out it was counterfeit due to the fact that I purchased it via a link in a forum recommended by "some user", and later, when I had this stupid looking cable and no idea where to plug the ends into my Pi, I revisited the forum, scrolled down a few replies, and found out that all of the "FTDI" products from the manufacturer of my cable were fakes. Once I read that, I had intended on replacing it, but decided to wire it up anyway to see if it would work. I run OpenSUSE Tumbleweed on my main computer, and I don't remember having to do anything unusual, or encountering any warnings/errors at the time trying to use it[0], I'm guessing that's why... [0] I was trying to connect into a headless RPi and that was the most convenient way sometimes.

mjg59 5y ago

Not just that - if customers are already asking for an existing part, it's easier to sell them something that pretends to be that part than it is to convince them to change to something else. They'll notice if you suddenly start shipping chips that need a different driver, if you're pin compatible and work with the existing builds there's a much better chance nobody will notice and you can pocket the difference in price.