# USB to 9 pin serial adapter connects PowerBook to server console



## mpw6 (Apr 22, 2005)

*Configure USB to 9 pin Serial adapter for connecting Apple Powerbook running OS X to a rack mounted server serial port console via minicom*

I bought a DB-9 Serial Adapter High Speed 230K USB SERIAL RS-232 from http://www.usbgear.com/U232-P9.html for $16.95.  I then downloaded the drivers for the Prolific chipset it uses: http://www.usbgear.com/md_pl2303_v106.zip

I found this post of which I'm going to quote the relevant portions here in case the link doesn't work in the future: http://www.osxhax.com/archives/000006.html



> The chip inside the device is made by Prolific Technology. It's their PL-2303 USB serial controller. They also have an OS X driver for the chip. This driver works, but needs one little tweak:
> 
> After installing the package, go to /System/Library/Extensions/ProlificUsbSerial.kext. Edit the Contents/Info.plist file. Change the idProduct and idVendor numbers to match those you get from the Apple System Profiler (for mine, the Product is 8200 and the Vendor is 1367).
> 
> Having done all that, you can now kextload ProlificUsbSerial.kext and see /dev/tty.usbserial show up whenever the dongle is plugged in. Enjoy!


It was somewhat helpful, but I didn't need to modify .plist files because it already matched my system profiler, nor did I need to run kextload as the system took care of it.  All I had to do was plugin the adapter to the USB port, and an 'ls' of /dev showed me /dev/tty.usbserial0.

Next I needed minicom.  I already had fink installed (http://fink.sourceforge.net/) so all I had to do was go to a command line and type 'fink install minicom'.  The next part was a bit tricky because for me, as 'minicom -s' didn't seem to work, so I had to edit my own default minicom config file /sw/etc/minirc.dfl which I'm including here:

# Machine-generated file - use "minicom -s" to change parameters.
pr port             /dev/tty.usbserial0
pu baudrate         115200
pu backspace        DEL
pu rtscts           No​Then it wouldn't let me run minicom as anyone but root.  However, after su'ing to root, I had no more problems.  I plugged my serial adapter into the device, typed '/sw/bin/minicom' and there was my login prompt waiting for me as I had hoped.

(Oh, I think I might have also had to use 'ctrl-a-z' to ensure all the settings were correct.  You'll obviously have to get the baud, parity, stop bits, and flow control correct for your device.  Sorry that I can't help you there, but it is well beyond the scope of this document.)

Good luck!  It's a real joy once you get it to work!


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