I now have access to a Rock64-4GB (Rock64_V2.0 board); I hope to put FreeBSD on it someday

[Mark Millard]

[Based on Ian's observation report, I decided
to try the FT232R: It seems to be working great.
Thanks Ian.]

On 2018-Jan-6, at 1:23 PM, Mark Millard <markmi at dsl-only.net> wrote:

> On 2018-Jan-6, at 8:45 AM, Emmanuel Vadot <manu at bidouilliste.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 2018-01-06 17:43, Emmanuel Vadot wrote:
>>> On 2018-01-05 15:45, Mark Linimon wrote:
>>>> On Fri, Jan 05, 2018 at 06:27:41AM -0800, Mark Millard wrote:
>>>>> the early boot baudrate for the console is apparently 1.5Mbit/s
>>>> I've had to use minicom.  That's the only thing that I'm sure supports it.
>>>> mcl
>>> Works fine with tip(1) here using an FDTI usb<->serial, using a
>>> PL2303XA doesn't work (but should based on the datasheet), and my
>>> CP2108 should work but I haven't tested yet.
>> 
>> Also my PL2303XA adapter works on linux using minicom but only for RX, that might be a driver issue.
> 
> I've been using Serial on an old MacOS X laptop.
> I've done more experiments. Here is what I've
> observed. . .
> 
> For a CH340G, Serial did not allow 1500000
> (built-in driver for USB ID 1a86:7523:0254)
> but Serial is being updated to allow it. (I
> have a preliminary release now, so I have
> 1500000 support now.)
> 
> However, there was extensive dropped text from
> sustained output in my limited testing of this
> combination.
> 
> [The CH340G is from the type of serial console
> for the ROCK64 that is sold at pine64.org .]
> 
> I got access to a CP2102 and tried it with Serial
> (again a built-in driver, but for USB ID
> 10c4:ea60:0100). There is far less dropped text,
> although it does happen on occasion for sustained
> serial output.
> 
> I've not tried a FT232R with Serial (AppleUSBFTDI
> driver for USB ID 0403:6001:0600) but could have
> access to do so.

I've gotten access to a FT232R for use with
Serial against the ROCK64. It seems a highly
reliable combination.

For example, I've yet to see a 70-line top
display that was corrupted.

[Of course this also introduced Apple's
driver, instead of a built-in one for
Serial.]

> I've not tried a LP2303X/HX/TA with Serial
> (built-in driver for USB ID 067b:2303:0300) but
> could have access to do so.
> 
> (The device identifications are as reported by
> Serial, both USB ID and "Chip" name.)
> 
> 
> 
> As stands for ubuntu 16.04's top on the ROCK64,
> running via a 70 line window in Serial, I've
> yet to see a screen update that looked completely
> good.
> 
> But most lines for the CP2102 and Serial
> combination look good for each update so far.
> 
> By contrast, the CH340G with Serial had text
> all over the place with few lines ever looking
> good. The bad lines were hard to interpret.


===
Mark Millard
markmi at dsl-only.net