macOS usb com port number??

Have you installed the drivers for the USB adaptor?

Guiyon said:

Have you installed the drivers for the USB adaptor?

Click to expand...

Yeah, unfortunately there are no standard drivers for these beasts unlike mass storage or HID.

I recommend the Keyspan adapters http://www.tripplite.com/cables/usb-adapters-/en/3914 for their great support software around the drivers. Expensive, but they work.

B

You need to figure out what controller chip the adapter is using and install the correct drivers for it. USB to serial adaptors will not work out of the box.

The most common ones are:
Prolific PL-2303
FTDI FT232R
Keyspan/Tripplite

Can you post a picture or any identifying marks from it?

B

Open up the System Profiler and see if the device actually shows up under the USB heading.

If it is actually working, it could be any number of devices:

/dev/usb/tts/0
/dev/tty.usbserial
/dev/tty.USBSERIAL
/dev/cu.BIGLONGDEVICENAME

The best way to check would just to unplug it, then plug it in and type in an already open terminal:

ls -alrt /dev/

If the device is actually working, then the relevant device or device folder will be towards the very bottom (and SHOULD have something to do with usb, tty or cu).

This is a somewhat roundabout way, but I've found it much easier to use VMware to run a Linux VM in which to use my USB to serial converters than trying to get them to work in Mac OS X. Minimal setup and hassle, and some of the Mac serial drivers have a tendency to cause nasty kernel panics. YMMV.

Open Apple System Profiler and checking the USB Product ID and Manufacturer ID's. Then you might be able to determine what chipset the adapter is and get a driver for that.

I have a Prolific USB to RS232 adapter (used in many older Nokia phone cables) that I use for my old Barcode Scanner.

Apple System Profiler gives me:

USB-Serial Controller:

Version: 3.00
Bus Power (mA): 500
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Prolific Technology Inc.
Product ID: 0x2303
Vendor ID: 0x067b

Installing the kext "osx-pl2303.kext" (installed by the Prolific driver) gives me

tty.PL2303-3B1

in /dev

another driver that works with this adapter is a different kext name and a different tty in dev.

[previous post redacted]

If you're using a USB programmer like an AVRISP mkII, all you need to do is say
but I don't think that works when using a USB-to-serial cable.