07-17-2013 03:43 PM
Recently I bought a USB to RS232 adapter (GUC232A from iogear) for my Mac (10.8). I installed the latest driver. This adapter works "OK", not perfect. There is one issue, when I open "NI-VISA configuration", I can see not only the serial name "ASRL8:INSTR", but also USB name "USB0::0x557::0x2008::NI-VISA-487661568::RAW". I'm wondering why I get two device's names.
BTW, I tried different versions of drivers before I installed latest one, does this cause the problem? I also tried one adapter from Newport company. It only shows as "ASRL5:INSTR" and works fine.
07-17-2013 04:03 PM
I use IOGear adapters on Windows and have never seen what you describe. I suspect it must be the fact you are using a Mac and something within the Mac version of their drivers.
How does it show up in whatever is the Mac equivalent to the Windows control panel/device manager?
07-17-2013 04:17 PM
Hi RavensFan, here are two pictures. The adapter shows as "USB-Serial Controller D" in figure "System-Info", "ALRL8:INSTR" and "USB0::..." in figure "NI-VISA".
07-17-2013 08:09 PM
Do Macs ever call serial ports by Com1, Com2, .... Com8??
I wonder, if you open the serial port by the ASRL8 nomenclature, will it show "Busy" on the VISA configuration screen? And if it does, does the USB nomenclature also show that it is Busy?
07-17-2013 08:26 PM
07-18-2013 08:56 AM
When I open the serial port by the ASRL8, the USB nomenclature disappear. Only ASRL8 shows "BUSY". Maybe I should ignore it.
Thank you!
07-18-2013 09:21 AM
Maybe the Mac first identifies the adapter by the raw USB name, and then it fully identifies the device as an RS-232 port, but the listing of ports is kind of stale and still shows the initial identification. Opening the port causes the listing to refresh itself.
Just speculating.
07-18-2013 10:14 AM
I have not tried the IOGear device. Some devices which use the Prolific chips have had problems on the Mac in the past.
I have an EasySync device (FTDI Chip) with two RS-232 ports connected through one USB port. It shows in System Information with the EasySync model number. I do not get the USB RAW identification.
In LV the ASRL1 and 2 ports are always present. I think at least one of them is the Bluetooth device. When I connect the EasySync, ASRL3 and 4 show up in the VISA Resource control. When I try to Open ASRL2 I get a resource not accessible error. The other three open without errors.
Mac OS X 10.8.4.
Lynn