Can I make any unused UART ports of the CP2108 disappear on Windows?
Answer
Currently, neither the CP2108 device nor the VCP driver support this.
No option can be programmed to disable any interfaces of CP2108 device. All 4 ports on CP2108 are discovered and shown to Windows by Microsoft's USB Generic Parent Driver (Usbccgp.sys) when plugging the CP2108 into the USB port of a PC.
During the final steps of the enumeration process, the VCP driver attaches to each of these interfaces. The driver also cannot make any ports disappear from Device Manager.
Could you briefly explain what are the benefits of the CP2110 compared to a CP210x?
Answer
The CP210x devices use a proprietary Virtual COM Port (VCP) driver. The VCP driver looks like a regular COM port in Windows, similar to if you had the physical DB9 COM port connector, and you access it exactly the same way as you would for the standard COM port. This is useful if you have an existing application that uses the COM port and you don't want to change it. It is also useful since many laptops no longer have serial ports. You put the CP210x on your board, and now you communicate to the PC using USB (VCP), and the other side is now the serial interface. The drivers are royalty free, and there is no USB, host application, or device firmware development knowledge required when using these devices. Because the drivers are proprietary, there is a user installation step for the drivers to get them loaded to the PC. You can also customize and certify the drivers for your own company.
The CP2110 devices use the Human Interface Device (HID) class to communicate with the host. HID is used for things like mice and keyboards originally. The driver is already part of most operating systems, so there is no driver installation requirment needed by the end user. You just plug it in and it works. However, a host application must be developed to use the HID devices, though we provide libraries and APIs to simplify the implementation. There is still no USB experience required with the CP2110. Since the drivers are already part of the operating system, there is no certification required.
Note: CP210x devices can generally provide a higher throughput than the CP2110. The CP2110 is limited to 1 x 64 byte packet per 1 millisecond, while the CP210x will generally have multiple 64 byte packets per 1 millisecond.
Can a CP210x work with an MCU device rather than a PC? In other words, can I connect the CP210x USB to an MCU?
Answer
Yes, as long as the MCU can can operate as a USB host and is running software that implements the CP210x protocol. Refer to AN571for more details on the CP210x interface specification to communicate with the device.
Interface Knowledge Base
如何检测CP210x的校验位
一个串口鼠标不能在CP2105的标准端口工作
USB数据线上电阻
CP2114 连续 SCK
CP2114 MCLK 停止
CP2108 RS485 模式
Can I make any unused UART ports of the CP2108 disappear on Windows?
CP2110 vs CP210x
Question
Could you briefly explain what are the benefits of the CP2110 compared to a CP210x?
Answer
The CP210x devices use a proprietary Virtual COM Port (VCP) driver. The VCP driver looks like a regular COM port in Windows, similar to if you had the physical DB9 COM port connector, and you access it exactly the same way as you would for the standard COM port. This is useful if you have an existing application that uses the COM port and you don't want to change it. It is also useful since many laptops no longer have serial ports. You put the CP210x on your board, and now you communicate to the PC using USB (VCP), and the other side is now the serial interface. The drivers are royalty free, and there is no USB, host application, or device firmware development knowledge required when using these devices. Because the drivers are proprietary, there is a user installation step for the drivers to get them loaded to the PC. You can also customize and certify the drivers for your own company.
The CP2110 devices use the Human Interface Device (HID) class to communicate with the host. HID is used for things like mice and keyboards originally. The driver is already part of most operating systems, so there is no driver installation requirment needed by the end user. You just plug it in and it works. However, a host application must be developed to use the HID devices, though we provide libraries and APIs to simplify the implementation. There is still no USB experience required with the CP2110. Since the drivers are already part of the operating system, there is no certification required.
Note: CP210x devices can generally provide a higher throughput than the CP2110. The CP2110 is limited to 1 x 64 byte packet per 1 millisecond, while the CP210x will generally have multiple 64 byte packets per 1 millisecond.
Connecting CP210x USB to an MCU
Mac OS X系统上VCP 驱动的位置
问题
Mac OS X 10.12 系统版本上VCP 驱动安装的位置在哪里？
答案
VCP 驱动安装之后位于以下目录：
/Library/Extensions/SilabsUSBDriver.kext
对于早期的macOS/OSX系统，VCP驱动可能位于以下目录：
/System/Library/Extensions/SilabsUSBDriver.kext
/System/Library/Extensions/SilabsUSBDriver64.kext
这些信息也可以在驱动移除脚本uninstall.sh中找到。