[Elecraft] Fake FTDI chips

[John Marvin]

Joe, I think you read Ross's post differently than intended. I don't 
think Ross was suggesting that Elecraft do their own USB to RS232 
converter chip or provide a native USB interface with custom Elecraft 
drivers (although there would potentially be other advantages to a true 
USB interface, the driver challenge you mention would probably outweigh 
those advantages). He was suggesting that Elecraft use a standard (e.g. 
FTDI) converter chip inside the box (I'm not sure a retrofit would make 
sense, but this would be a change going forward). From the perspective 
of the computer, it would not see anything different from an external 
converter, and you would use the same drivers.

The supposed advantage is that by buying the converter chips directly 
Elecraft would be in a better position to ensure that the chips weren't 
counterfeit. However, since Elecraft is supplying converters to their 
customers and is buying them in bulk, it would seem to me that they may 
be able to get most of the way there by working with a reliable supplier 
and doing the necessary checking to make sure that the converters they 
are buying don't  contain counterfeit chips.

John
AC0ZG

On 4/14/2014 1:00 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
>
> Then _Elecraft_ would need to worry about continuously updated and
> *signed* drivers for Windows (including Windows 95, 98, 2000 and XP
> compatible drivers 15 year after the operating system is no longer
> supported), OS-9, OS-X, and 57 varieties of LINUX.
>
> Far better to stick with RS-232 and leave the _USER_ be responsible
> for his on computer interfacing.
>
> 73,
>
>    ... Joe, W4TV
>