wzab wrote:
> On 14 Maj, 14:08, David Brown <da...@westcontrol.removethisbit.com>
> wrote:
>> Wojciech Zabolotny wrote:
> [...]
>>> Is there any Open Source equivalent of the D2XX drivers?
>>> Has anybody succeeded to reverse engineer the USB protocol used by the D2XX
>>> drivers?
>> The FTDI web page says drivers are available for:
>>
>>        Windows Vista x64
> [...]
>>        Linux
>>        Mac OS X
> [...]
>> Third-party drivers are available for:
>>
>>        Linux, Free BSD,  Open BSD,  QNX,  Windows CE
>>
>> I haven't tried any of these, but I wonder what systems you are using if
>> that selection counts as "only a few platforms".  Their broad support of
>> systems is one of the reasons for FTDI's popularity.
> 
> E.g. Linux on the CRIS platform, or Linux on the ARM platform.
> 
> Further the README.dat provided for the Linux library states:
> "This library has been tested using kernel 2.4.25."
> It is definitely not the latest wversion of the kernel. What about the
> new 2.6.xx kernels?
> Maybe switching from 2.4 to 2.6 does not make a difference for FTDI
> library,
> but anyway why it is not tested with 2.6?
> 
>> As for open source drivers, modern Linux and *BSD kernels have drivers
>> for at least some FTDI parts as standard.
> 
> Hmmm, AFAIK they are only the VCP-like drivers with limited
> throughput.
> 
>> If you are wanting drivers for other systems, have you contacted FTDI
>> for information before trying to reverse engineer existing drivers?
> 
> Having the open source drivers is anyway desired - e.g. for easier
> debugging
> or for optimizing for particular needs.
>  Maybe it is a kind of "ideology" but I prefere to avoid closed source
> solution
> as far as possible.

I fully understand the preference for open source drivers, especially on 
a Linux system.  It's not ideology, it's practicality for better 
development and better products.

I did not realise that the Linux drivers from FTDI and in the kernel 
source code were limited like this - I thought they consisted of kernel 
code within the main Linux tree and some user space functionality that 
is independent of the kernel.  But then, I haven't look at it in detail 
(we've only needed Windows drivers so far).

>>> The FTDI chips are the simplest and cheap solution. However the VCP drivers
>>> do not provide sufficient throughput.
>> They don't?? What speeds are you running them at?
>>
> 
> I need to transfer a big amount of data from the device, which is not
> USB capable.
> The device is able to provide the datastream with rate 8Mb/s or even
> 10Mb/s, so the higher
> rate I can achieve, the better.
> Unfortunately the design is price sensitive, so that's why I tried to
> use the FTDI chip.

FTDI chips are only full speed so 8Mbps is about the best that you can 
expect to get.  If you need more throughput then you will need to use a 
high-speed device.

	Andrew

On 15 Maj, 01:37, Keith M <keit...@yanktheobvious.verizon.net> wrote:
> Wojciech Zabolotny wrote:
> > The FTDI chips are the simplest and cheap solution. However the VCP drivers
> > do not provide sufficient throughput.
>
> They don't?? What speeds are you running them at?
>

I need to transfer a big amount of data from the device, which is not
USB capable.
The device is able to provide the datastream with rate 8Mb/s or even
10Mb/s, so the higher
rate I can achieve, the better.
Unfortunately the design is price sensitive, so that's why I tried to
use the FTDI chip.
--
Wojtek

Wojciech Zabolotny wrote:

> The FTDI chips are the simplest and cheap solution. However the VCP drivers
> do not provide sufficient throughput.

They don't?? What speeds are you running them at?

I've used their FT232BM at a 2mbps datarate with decently high 
throughputs.......... on a 50mhz Parallax uC.

I've tested both the VCP and the D2XX with great results.... I 
eventually ended up using D2XX just because it supports DTR/DSR flow 
which was required given the implementation I was working with.

This was in JAVA with a JNI under Windows.

Keith

On 14 Maj, 14:08, David Brown <da...@westcontrol.removethisbit.com>
wrote:
> Wojciech Zabolotny wrote:
[...]
> > Is there any Open Source equivalent of the D2XX drivers?
> > Has anybody succeeded to reverse engineer the USB protocol used by the D2XX
> > drivers?
>
> The FTDI web page says drivers are available for:
>
>        Windows Vista x64
[...]
>        Linux
>        Mac OS X
[...]
>
> Third-party drivers are available for:
>
>        Linux, Free BSD,  Open BSD,  QNX,  Windows CE
>
> I haven't tried any of these, but I wonder what systems you are using if
> that selection counts as "only a few platforms".  Their broad support of
> systems is one of the reasons for FTDI's popularity.

E.g. Linux on the CRIS platform, or Linux on the ARM platform.

Further the README.dat provided for the Linux library states:
"This library has been tested using kernel 2.4.25."
It is definitely not the latest wversion of the kernel. What about the
new 2.6.xx kernels?
Maybe switching from 2.4 to 2.6 does not make a difference for FTDI
library,
but anyway why it is not tested with 2.6?

> As for open source drivers, modern Linux and *BSD kernels have drivers
> for at least some FTDI parts as standard.

Hmmm, AFAIK they are only the VCP-like drivers with limited
throughput.

> If you are wanting drivers for other systems, have you contacted FTDI
> for information before trying to reverse engineer existing drivers?

Having the open source drivers is anyway desired - e.g. for easier
debugging
or for optimizing for particular needs.
 Maybe it is a kind of "ideology" but I prefere to avoid closed source
solution
as far as possible.
--
Wojtek

On May 14, 2:58 am, wzab <wza...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Is there any Open Source equivalent of the D2XX drivers?
> > Has anybody succeeded to reverse engineer the USB protocol used by the D2XX
> > drivers?
>
> I have found myselfhttp://www.intra2net.com/de/produkte/opensource/ftdi/
> It is Open Source and GPLed, however it is unclear if it is able to
> provide functionality and throughput comparable with the D2XX
> drivers...
> Does anybody know it?
> --
> Regards,
> Wojtek

It looks like someone else has had as much "fun" with the FTDI
interface library as I have!

Thanks for the link,
G.

Wojciech Zabolotny <wzab@ise.pw.edu.pl> wrote:
> Hi All,

> I need to provide the USB connectivity for USB not capable microcontroller.
> The FTDI chips are the simplest and cheap solution. However the VCP drivers
> do not provide sufficient throughput. The D2XX do not, but they are not open
> source, so are usable only for a few platforms, for which FTDI has provided
> binaries of their library.
> Is there any Open Source equivalent of the D2XX drivers?
> Has anybody succeeded to reverse engineer the USB protocol used by the D2XX
> drivers?

Nearly all functionality of D2XX is also available with direct USB access
via e.g. libusb. Libusb is also available for windows.
-- 
Uwe Bonnes                bon@elektron.ikp.physik.tu-darmstadt.de

Institut fuer Kernphysik  Schlossgartenstrasse 9  64289 Darmstadt
--------- Tel. 06151 162516 -------- Fax. 06151 164321 ----------

Wojciech Zabolotny wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I need to provide the USB connectivity for USB not capable microcontroller.
> The FTDI chips are the simplest and cheap solution. However the VCP drivers
> do not provide sufficient throughput. The D2XX do not, but they are not open
> source, so are usable only for a few platforms, for which FTDI has provided
> binaries of their library.
> Is there any Open Source equivalent of the D2XX drivers?
> Has anybody succeeded to reverse engineer the USB protocol used by the D2XX
> drivers?

The FTDI web page says drivers are available for:

       Windows Vista x64
       Windows XP x64
       Windows Server 2003 x64
       Windows Vista
       Windows XP
       Windows Server 2003
       Windows 2000
       Windows ME
       Windows 98
       Linux
       Mac OS X
       Mac OS 9
       Mac OS 8
       Windows CE.NET (Version 4.2 and greater)

Third-party drivers are available for:

       Linux
       Free BSD
       Open BSD
       QNX
       Windows CE


I haven't tried any of these, but I wonder what systems you are using if 
that selection counts as "only a few platforms".  Their broad support of 
systems is one of the reasons for FTDI's popularity.

As for open source drivers, modern Linux and *BSD kernels have drivers 
for at least some FTDI parts as standard.

If you are wanting drivers for other systems, have you contacted FTDI 
for information before trying to reverse engineer existing drivers?

> Is there any Open Source equivalent of the D2XX drivers?
> Has anybody succeeded to reverse engineer the USB protocol used by the D2XX
> drivers?

I have found myself http://www.intra2net.com/de/produkte/opensource/ftdi/
It is Open Source and GPLed, however it is unclear if it is able to
provide functionality and throughput comparable with the D2XX
drivers...
Does anybody know it?
--
Regards,
Wojtek

Hi All,

I need to provide the USB connectivity for USB not capable microcontroller.
The FTDI chips are the simplest and cheap solution. However the VCP drivers
do not provide sufficient throughput. The D2XX do not, but they are not open
source, so are usable only for a few platforms, for which FTDI has provided
binaries of their library.
Is there any Open Source equivalent of the D2XX drivers?
Has anybody succeeded to reverse engineer the USB protocol used by the D2XX
drivers?
-- 
TIA & Regards,
Wojtek