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LAUNCHXL-F28069M: Using USB COM without installing drivers

Jim MacArthur
Intellectual 315 points
Part Number: LAUNCHXL-F28069M


I recently ported a custom 28069-based instrument to the LaunchXL-F28069M, just as an experiment.   Development was easy, but my clients are complaining that they can't see the COM port unless they install CCS, which they'd prefer not to do.  (The instrument communicates to a PC over a VCP on the B side of the XDS100.)  I can talk to the COM port because I installed the drivers when I installed CCS, but I don't expect my clients to have to do that.  On the previous instrument, I used the FT230 USB interface, which installs automatically on modern Windows PCs.  So what I need is either some way to hack the .ept file of the FT2232 to make it look like a generic part that doesn't need TI software, or the simplest-possible path for my clients to install the necessary drivers.  Any thoughts?

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 32995 points
    Hi Jim,

    We do not have much expertise in this area. You may get some better answers from the Development Tools -> Code Composer Studio forum. I suggest posting there as well.

    Based on my experience with Windows 8 and Windows 10 operating systems, I am not sure it would be very easy to recognize, connect and communicate with the device without a proper USB driver. Windows 8 and Windows 10 is very particular about the type of driver being installed (signing them, etc.). Have you had success previously with these operating systems?

    Depending on the above, your best option may be to distribute the USB driver to be installed by the host PC.

    Regards,
    sal
  • 0 in reply to Sal Pezzino
    Intellectual 315 points

    The solution turned out to be pretty simple: disable the Launchpad's EEPROM.  Once you've done that, the F2232 becomes a generic dual COM port, whose drivers can easily be found automatically by Windows.  You can disable the hardware lots of ways (e.g. lifting R31).  Alternatively, you can use FTDI's FT_Prog utility to erase the EEPROM.  Just remember to save the EEPROM data so that you can reprogram the part.

    Keep in mind that this procedure disables the JTAG interface, which in my case is a good thing -- I don't want my end-users screwing around with the JTAG port.  However, it also means that you should open the JTAG reset switch if it's closed.

  • 0 in reply to Jim MacArthur
    TI__Mastermind 32995 points
    Jim,

    Glad you found a solution.

    Thank you for posting your solution to the forum.

    sal