Hi, So i installed the driver for mac osx however when i look in the /dev directory i cannot find anything like cu.PL2303-0000211A. i have a cu.Bluetooth-Modem and a cu.Bluetooth-Sync but no cu.PL2303-0000211A (and i know those arnt right). Ive installed the driver a couple times and tried it with the kit attached, unattached, battery in, and battery out, in programming mode and not, ive pretty much have tried everything i could possibly think of. Idk whats going on... help! thanks -j

Hi hpywinitrains,

You should see the device in the /dev folder after you connect the cable to the computer. Make sure the black and red cables on coming out of the end of your programming cable are not touching each other, as this might cause a short that causes your USB Port to shut down.

On Macs, there are some issues with the cable being plugged into a USB hub, or to the keyboard/monitor USB Ports. Make sure your cable is plugged directly into the computer.

Let us know if any of this fixes the problem. We will do our best to get you up and running.

Humberto

Hi,
So ive checked in my /dev folder and i dont see it after i install the driver. Also im runnning a laptop and dont have a usb hub its plugged into the lap top directly. And the usb cord is all connected into the bread board (if thats right?)

It looks like the driver doesn't even install or not in the right place but that doesn't make sense. I'm severely confused. Also im running the newest mac os snow leopard is that makes a difference at all. Thanks! -J

Hi hpywinitrains,

We have had a few customers have a little trouble with the cables on Macs before, but all of the errors have happened when transmitting data, not while getting the cable to show up. Are there any errors that come up when you are installing the driver? Is there any sort of indication from OSX when you plug in the cable that you just plugged in something it does not recognize?

One thing to try: Try installing the latest version of the driver from sourceforge

If you still see no sign of your cable being recognized, it is possible your cable is damaged. Send us an email at support <at> nerdkits <dot> com and we will see if we can get that fixed up for you.

Humberto

I have this same problem. The driver installs without complaint, I've double-checked the USB connection to the board, and put the microcontroller in programming mode. Nothing like PL2303 shows up in my /dev directory.

I did check the sourceforge version to see if I have the current version of the driver--I do, it's 10.4

Hi Ponobill,

Couple of things to check. First try plugging something else into that USB Port make sure that is working as it should be. Next try disconnecting the cable from the breadboard, make sure the 4 wires are not touching each other, and then plug the USB-Ser cable into the computer and check /dev/. This will make sure that its not a wiring issue.

If all if this still doesn't work send us an email at support <at> nerdkits <dot> com.

Humberto

Hello,

I am having a similar issue. I have downloaded the driver several times and installed but can not seem to find it in my /dev directory. Also, when I plug in the USB it does not show up in devices but does show up in my Network window as a USB-Serial Controller. When I try to connect I receive an error telling me to check the connections. Connecting the kit to a MacBook Pro running Lion. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Brendan

therealnucleus, the USB cable has to be plugged in before it can be detected.

Once the USB cable is plugged in do a "ls /dev" in terminal (no quotes).

What shows up?

I get:

cu.Bluetooth-Modem          ptytc           ttyr0
cu.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync       ptytd           ttyr1
cu.PL2303-0000101D          ptyte           ttyr2

In OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) I know the naming syntax has changed in LION.

Ralph

Same problem here. I will get the cu.blutooth files but not the PL file. My USB ports are fine. I can program to my arduino fine, save to USB flash drives fine, etc. Running snow leopard. Installed latest drivers from source forge. No error mags. Using a MacBook pro.

Hi Stevenh, try re-installing the drivers.

If that does not work you might not want the "latest" driver that might be aimed at LION so you might have to back rev.

Try the driver from the Nerdkit's download.

Ralph

Hi Ralph, Thanks for your quick response. if you are part of Nerdkits, I want to say that I am impressed with the concept/group so far.

I reinstalled the Nerdkit download from the site and rebooted to no avail. According to my mac's system profiler, here is what the usb device tree on my mac looks like: it seems to see it (prolific tech?)

USB High-Speed Bus:

  Host Controller Location: Built-in USB
  Host Controller Driver:   AppleUSBEHCI
  PCI Device ID:    0x1c26 
  PCI Revision ID:  0x0005 
  PCI Vendor ID:    0x8086 
  Bus Number:   0xfd

Hub:

  Product ID:   0x2513
  Vendor ID:    0x0424  (SMSC)
  Version:   b.b3
  Speed:    Up to 480 Mb/sec
  Location ID:  0xfd100000 / 2
  Current Available (mA):   500
  Current Required (mA):    2

USB-Serial Controller:

  Product ID:   0x2303
  Vendor ID:    0x067b  (Prolific Technology, Inc.)
  Version:   3.00
  Speed:    Up to 12 Mb/sec
  Manufacturer: Prolific Technology Inc.
  Location ID:  0xfd120000 / 4
  Current Available (mA):   500
  Current Required (mA):    100

IR Receiver:

  Product ID:   0x8242
  Vendor ID:    0x05ac  (Apple Inc.)
  Version:   0.16
  Speed:    Up to 1.5 Mb/sec
  Manufacturer: Apple Computer, Inc.
  Location ID:  0xfd110000 / 3
  Current Available (mA):   500
  Current Required (mA):    100

OK, Ralph. This is what I tried. I discovered another thread on this site. "Support Forum » PL2303 USB-serial driver on Mac OS X 10.7 (aka Lion)"

I went to the Prolific Tech site as mentioned and installed their driver. rebooted. got the popup from my mac indicating a new connection.

ls /dev shows c.usbserial

seems like progress. I will continue using cu.usbserial and using the set up suggested in the other thread? and then post the results here. if it works I will add a link to the other thread if that's ok with you all.

Steven

profiler reads:

USB High-Speed Bus:

  Host Controller Location: Built-in USB
  Host Controller Driver:   AppleUSBEHCI
  PCI Device ID:    0x1c26 
  PCI Revision ID:  0x0005 
  PCI Vendor ID:    0x8086 
  Bus Number:   0xfd

Hub:

  Product ID:   0x2513
  Vendor ID:    0x0424  (SMSC)
  Version:   b.b3
  Speed:    Up to 480 Mb/sec
  Location ID:  0xfd100000 / 2
  Current Available (mA):   500
  Current Required (mA):    2

USB-Serial Controller:

  Product ID:   0x2303
  Vendor ID:    0x067b  (Prolific Technology, Inc.)
  Version:   3.00
  Speed:    Up to 12 Mb/sec
  Manufacturer: Prolific Technology Inc.
  Location ID:  0xfd120000 / 4
  Current Available (mA):   500
  Current Required (mA):    100

IR Receiver:

  Product ID:   0x8242
  Vendor ID:    0x05ac  (Apple Inc.)
  Version:   0.16
  Speed:    Up to 1.5 Mb/sec
  Manufacturer: Apple Computer, Inc.
  Location ID:  0xfd110000 / 3
  Current Available (mA):   500
  Current Required (mA):    100

Ok. I have communication via the cable. But when I try to transfer the initial program to the kit I get:

avrdude: safemode: Verify error - unable to read lfuse properly. Programmer may not be reliable.

avrdude: safemode: To protect your AVR the programming will be aborted

I have searched the site for this error, found two threads, neither one with a suggested remedy.

Sorry to be a pain. and Thanks.

Steven

Thanks Ralph! That seemed to have worked. One more question, I am now getting hung up on Step 10c. How do you "Use/ Open the command line"? Am I doing this in terminal or xcode?

Thanks again,

Brendan

Hi Steven and Brendan,

Brendan:

Step 10c – Compile and Install your first program
1. Now that you have seen the code, we need to use the command line to program the chip.
2. Open up the command line and navigate to the folder with the code in it. 
3. List the files in the directory and make sure there is a file called Makefile. 
4. Type “make” and press enter to run the “make” command. This
command will look for the Makefile and use it to compile all the code, and will then program the chip using the binary files. (If you want to learn more about Makefiles, go to http://www.eng.hawaii.edu/Tutor/Make/ .)
5. You should see an output on the command line telling you what the program is doing.
6. If all goes well, one of the last lines should read “avrdude: --- bytes of flash verified” where --- is some number. This means that avrdude has successfully written the program onto the chip, and read it back.

Yup, so open up Terminal cd to the Nerdkit/Code/Initialload folder.

You have to maintain the Code/Initialload folder structure as you need things in the Code/libnerdkit folder and if Initialload is not directly under Code libnerkit will not be found!!

Steven, what do you get for a ls /dev?

There should be a cu section please post it here and also post you initialload MakeFile.

Use the Indent Selection as Code Block.

I am just one of the members of the community, the community support is why I am here.

Ralph

Hi Ralph,

Almost there. Got to the directory but am getting the error below

AD-bgartland-MacbookPro:Initialload bgartland$ Make avrdude -c avr109 -p m168 -b 115200 -P /dev/cu.PL2303-000013FD -U flash:w:initialload.hex:a

Connecting to programmer: . Found programmer: Id = "Huh? Go"; type = ' Software Version = t. ; Hardware Version = '.S avrdude: error: buffered memory access not supported. Maybe it isn't a butterfly/AVR109 but a AVR910 device? Make: *** [initialload-upload] Error 1

Thanks!

Brendan

Hi Brendan,

The "Huh? Go" in your error tells me your driver and COM port are set up correctly, you are just not in programming mode. Make sure the programming switch is installed correctly and flipped to the right position, then reset power to the chip. You should see two black lines on the LCD when you are in programming mode.

Humberto

Ralph,

I have both tty.usbserial and cu.usbserial

my ls /dev is:

auditpipe ptyrf ptywc ttysa autofs ptys0 ptywd ttysb autofs_control ptys1 ptywe ttysc autofs_nowait ptys2 ptywf ttysd bpf0 ptys3 random ttyse bpf1 ptys4 rdisk0 ttysf bpf2 ptys5 rdisk0s1 ttyt0 bpf3 ptys6 rdisk0s2 ttyt1 console ptys7 rdisk0s3 ttyt2 cu.Bluetooth-Modem ptys8 sdt ttyt3 cu.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync ptys9 stderr ttyt4 cu.usbserial ptysa stdin ttyt5 disk0 ptysb stdout ttyt6 disk0s1 ptysc systrace ttyt7 disk0s2 ptysd tty ttyt8 disk0s3 ptyse tty.Bluetooth-Modem ttyt9 dtrace ptysf tty.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync ttyta dtracehelper ptyt0 tty.usbserial ttytb fbt ptyt1 ttyp0 ttytc fd ptyt2 ttyp1 ttytd fsevents ptyt3 ttyp2 ttyte io8log ptyt4 ttyp3 ttytf io8logmt ptyt5 ttyp4 ttyu0 klog ptyt6 ttyp5 ttyu1 lockstat ptyt7 ttyp6 ttyu2 machtrace ptyt8 ttyp7 ttyu3 null ptyt9 ttyp8 ttyu4 pmCPUClient ptyta ttyp9 ttyu5 profile ptytb ttypa ttyu6 ptmx ptytc ttypb ttyu7 ptyp0 ptytd ttypc ttyu8 ptyp1 ptyte ttypd ttyu9 ptyp2 ptytf ttype ttyua ptyp3 ptyu0 ttypf ttyub ptyp4 ptyu1 ttyq0 ttyuc ptyp5 ptyu2 ttyq1 ttyud ptyp6 ptyu3 ttyq2 ttyue ptyp7 ptyu4 ttyq3 ttyuf ptyp8 ptyu5 ttyq4 ttyv0 ptyp9 ptyu6 ttyq5 ttyv1 ptypa ptyu7 ttyq6 ttyv2 ptypb ptyu8 ttyq7 ttyv3 ptypc ptyu9 ttyq8 ttyv4 ptypd ptyua ttyq9 ttyv5 ptype ptyub ttyqa ttyv6 ptypf ptyuc ttyqb ttyv7 ptyq0 ptyud ttyqc ttyv8 ptyq1 ptyue ttyqd ttyv9 ptyq2 ptyuf ttyqe ttyva ptyq3 ptyv0 ttyqf ttyvb ptyq4 ptyv1 ttyr0 ttyvc ptyq5 ptyv2 ttyr1 ttyvd ptyq6 ptyv3 ttyr2 ttyve ptyq7 ptyv4 ttyr3 ttyvf ptyq8 ptyv5 ttyr4 ttyw0 ptyq9 ptyv6 ttyr5 ttyw1 ptyqa ptyv7 ttyr6 ttyw2 ptyqb ptyv8 ttyr7 ttyw3 ptyqc ptyv9 ttyr8 ttyw4 ptyqd ptyva ttyr9 ttyw5 ptyqe ptyvb ttyra ttyw6 ptyqf ptyvc ttyrb ttyw7 ptyr0 ptyvd ttyrc ttyw8 ptyr1 ptyve ttyrd ttyw9 ptyr2 ptyvf ttyre ttywa ptyr3 ptyw0 ttyrf ttywb ptyr4 ptyw1 ttys0 ttywc ptyr5 ptyw2 ttys000 ttywd ptyr6 ptyw3 ttys1 ttywe ptyr7 ptyw4 ttys2 ttywf ptyr8 ptyw5 ttys3 urandom ptyr9 ptyw6 ttys4 vn0 ptyra ptyw7 ttys5 vn1 ptyrb ptyw8 ttys6 vn2 ptyrc ptyw9 ttys7 vn3 ptyrd ptywa ttys8 zero ptyre ptywb ttys9

This seems to have a problem read the "lfuse" see below

avrdude -c avr109 -p m168 -b 115200 -P /dev/cu.usbserial -e

Connecting to programmer: . Found programmer: Id = "FDL v02"; type = S Software Version = 0.2; No Hardware Version given. Programmer supports auto addr increment. Programmer supports buffered memory access with buffersize=128 bytes.

Programmer supports the following devices: Device code: 0x35

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e9406 avrdude: safemode: Verify error - unable to read lfuse properly. Programmer may not be reliable. avrdude: safemode: To protect your AVR the programming will be aborted

avrdude done. Thank you.

make: *** [initialload-upload] Error 1

Hi Stevenh,

This problem is a slightly different one that you were seeing before. This issue is an issue that some of our Mac customers have that can be fixed by changing your makefile a little bit. The problem is discussed at length in this thread http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/68/. The solution basically boils down to splitting

This line

avrdude ${AVRDUDEFLAGS} -U flash:w:initialload.hex:a

into these lines

avrdude ${AVRDUDEFLAGS} -e
sleep 0.1
avrdude ${AVRDUDEFLAGS} -D -U flash:w:initialload.hex:a

Humberto

Ok, so since this change didn't work (I got the same error again), perhaps I should increase the sleep time to .2 or .3?

I tried your suggestion regarding sleep. I also increased the time all the way to 2.0. to no avail. same error about unable to read lfuse. Again, thanks for any help Steve here is the makefile

GCCFLAGS=-g -Os -Wall -mmcu=atmega168 LINKFLAGS=-Wl,-u,vfprintf -lprintf_flt -Wl,-u,vfscanf -lscanf_flt -lm AVRDUDEFLAGS=-c avr109 -p m168 -b 115200 -P /dev/cu.usbserial LINKOBJECTS=../libnerdkits/delay.o ../libnerdkits/lcd.o ../libnerdkits/uart.o

all: initialload-upload

initialload.hex: initialload.c make -C ../libnerdkits avr-gcc ${GCCFLAGS} ${LINKFLAGS} -o initialload.o initialload.c ${LINKOBJECTS} avr-objcopy -j .text -O ihex initialload.o initialload.hex

initialload.ass: initialload.hex avr-objdump -S -d initialload.o > initialload.ass

initialload-upload: initialload.hex avrdude ${AVRDUDEFLAGS} -e sleep 0.1 avrdude ${AVRDUDEFLAGS} -D -U flash:w:initialload.hex:a

Sorry I forgot to list as code block..... Steve H

 GCCFLAGS=-g -Os -Wall -mmcu=atmega168 
    LINKFLAGS=-Wl,-u,vfprintf -lprintf_flt -Wl,-u,vfscanf -lscanf_flt -lm
    AVRDUDEFLAGS=-c avr109 -p m168 -b 115200 -P /dev/cu.usbserial
    LINKOBJECTS=../libnerdkits/delay.o ../libnerdkits/lcd.o ../libnerdkits/uart.o

    all:    initialload-upload

    initialload.hex:    initialload.c
        make -C ../libnerdkits
        avr-gcc ${GCCFLAGS} ${LINKFLAGS} -o initialload.o initialload.c ${LINKOBJECTS}
        avr-objcopy -j .text -O ihex initialload.o initialload.hex

    initialload.ass:    initialload.hex
        avr-objdump -S -d initialload.o > initialload.ass

    initialload-upload: initialload.hex
        avrdude ${AVRDUDEFLAGS} -e
        sleep 0.1
        avrdude ${AVRDUDEFLAGS} -D  -U  flash:w:initialload.hex:a

Steve, do you have a Windows computer available?. If so you could use AVRstudio to see your fuse settings and change them.

Ralph

Thanks Ralph. I can get one up quickly from an old pc I built a while ago. But I know nothing about fuse settings let alone changing them. I don't mind working on a windows machine. Infact I dual boot my mac laptop. But getting the windows side in bootcamp to recognize the Mac ports and communicate via the usp to serial cable is a pain. and so far I haven't succeeded.

I set up on my win7 machine and it runs fine.

Still can't tell why it can't read the lfuse via my Mac which makes it quit.

Steve

when you connect the usb to the computer (mac) should something come up recognizing something has been plugged in?

because I have installed drivers and when i type ls/dev nothing happens, it cant find anything. but when i type /dev it say dev is a directory..help??

Hi konradwilkens,

It seems you posted about the same issue in this forum post. Lets keep the conversation going over there so all the info is in one place and we can get you up and running faster.

Humberto