What it is
This page is all about how to use the iConcepts USB to serial adapter on an Apple Macintosh computer running OS X. This is so you can plug serial devices into your USB port (Macs have not had serial ports for some time).
The drivers I discuss here can be used, according to some, on a handful of other devices and adapters sold under various names that happen to use the same chipset. This even includes some gadgets that plug right into the USB port but incorporate USB - serial conversion internally, such as some GPS units.
Here is (or was — it seems to be out of order now) a page with an extensive discussion of these drivers and devices that use them.
Where to get it
The company that sold the adapter used to make drivers available at tech.prolific.com.tw, but that website appears to be defunct. You can get the v. 1.0.8 driver, which I have not tried, from IOGear. They also have versons for Mac OS 8.6, 9.x, and Windows.
When the driver seemed not to be available anywhere else I provided a copy here, and I'll keep it here as long as I can: download. You might have to tell your browser to download rather than display. This should get you a file called "2303.pax" in your default download location.
You can also get v. 1.0.6, which I have also not tried out myself, here.
Installing and Using
If you download a package from one of the sites referenced above then just double-click it in the Finder. If you download the pax archive from here, then cd to your download directory in a Terminal window, become root, and type pax -pe -ruvf 2303.pax. You can execute this with root permissions by typing sudo pax -pe -ruvf 2303.pax and giving your password. Restart.
If the driver loaded on reboot then, when you insert the adapter, you should see two new files in /dev: /dev/cu.usbserial and /dev/tty.usbserial, or something close to that.
If you look at your system network panel you will notice that "usbserial" is now available as a network port; I guess this means you can, say, use an external serial modem with your machine using this adapter.
Syncing with a Palm
If you are reading this, you probably have already acquired the free Palm Desktop for OSX from palm. Restart with the iConcepts device plugged into the
There should be a new connection option under the "Connection Settings" tab called "usbserial-port". Check this and uncheck the others. I've only tried this with my old Palm IIIx, which I set to connect at that device's highest speed (115,200 bps) with flow control on. Connect the cradle to the adapter, pop the Palm into the cradle, and hit the button. Either the hotsync will begin right away or nothing will happen. In the latter case, try rebooting your machine again, leaving the adapter plugged in. You might try plugging it into a different port if that doesn't work.
Uninstalling
To uninstall just type (as root)
rm -r /System/Library/Extensions/ProlificUSBSerial.kext
which removes the directory ProlificUSBSerial.kext and everything in it. Be very careful. You might want to use rm -ri instead, which will prompt you for every file before removing it.
How Did It Go?
Please hit the comments link to let me know what happened, whether it worked or not. Tell me which version of OSX you are running, and anything else that might be helpful to other readers.
Comments
Comments are handled through email. Please send mail to _info_palm_60446.html_comment@lee-phillips.org if you would like me to include it here. I will never expose your email address. Let me know if you want me to hide your name, as well.
From: Mark Henry
Date: Thu, 31 May 2007
I want to thank you [...]. After installing the 2303.pax from iConcepts my OS X 10.4.9 G4 Powerbook fired right up and immediately found my Dynex DX-UBDB9 "USB to Serial adapter" (www.dynexproducts.com) from Best Buy. The device does use the Prolific Technology, Inc. 2303H controller, which is probably why it works so well.
An important note: Dynex links their newest Mac driver on their Web stie, and this device is listed as "Discontinued," so it may be wise to grab their newest driver (PL2303_1.1.0b1.dmg) for your own archive before Prolific drops it.
Here's a link to the new 1.1.0 driver: //www.dynexproducts.com/skins/skin_1/Topics/Drivers/macDriver.rar
Thanks again for supporting the Mac!
From: Bob and Sumi
Help. I can't get the darned thing to work. I went to the sakar help site and downloaded the driver there, but it doesn't work. Do you have any advice for a complete computer bone head that is using 10.3.1? I got a killer deal on an old Palm and it is looking less like a deal every minute. Is there another adaptor that works better? I have a few days in which I can return the iconcepts adaptor.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Sumi
I've only used this driver on OSX 10.2.4 (and possibly earlier versions - I don't remember).
From: Scott Hegenbart
Thank you for posting information about the latest OS X drivers for the iConcepts USB adapter driver.
Unfortunately, the site you link to does not seem to have the drivers available anymore--either through the browser, or using the terminal.
See the new internal link at the top.
4/30/04 - No more internal link, brand new unified page!
From: Scott Hegenbart
I'm running system 10.2.8.
I was able to do the commands in Terminal just fine. (Although it took me a while to figure out how to tell it where the file is.. thank goodness for drag-and-drop!) Unfortunately, after restarting, it still isn't working for me.
I still have the receipt for the device (which was recently purchased) and I think I'll just spring for the Keyspan one--at least that company still is in business.
Sorry it didn't seem to work. I've only used this driver on OSX 10.2.4 (and possibly earlier versions - I don't remember).
From: Doug Goodwin
Subject: iConcepts — Psion 7 over JPL Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004
Thanks for keeping this driver alive!
Thought I would let you know about another successful install. Here's my setup:
OSX 10.3 (ie: Panther)
G5
iConcepts USB to Serial adapter
Psion 7
Java-Psion Link 2.0
+reboot
FYI: JPL doesn't like the plain "usb serial" connection, but
/dev/tty.usbserial works fine. Like this:
[screenshot]
And Abiword is doing a fine job of editing Psion Word docs. I'm thrilled to have use of my Psion again.
Thanks, thanks, thanks!
-Doug Goodwin
Thanks for your message! It's great to hear that this works with Panther, which I haven't had time to install yet, and that you could use it with the Psion and what I guess is a java program for syncing.
From: Christie DeYoung
Subject: IOconcepts USB to serial device driver link Date: 05 Jul 2004
The link you provided seemed to have dead download links so I stepped back to get new ones. However I am not sure if they truly will drive the IOconcepts device.
I don't have an IOconcepts device but am in the market for a serial to USB converter that is Mac OSX compat, That was how I landed on your page after a quick google search for "USB to Serial Adapter OSX"
Thank you for your research. The new link you found has a download for v. 1.0.8 of the OS X driver, which is a higher version number than any other that I've seen. They say it supports OS X up to 10.3.x, but don't mention 10.4; nevertheless, it seems that this driver is still getting updated now and then.
I've updated this page, incorporating your corrections.
I think if you find one of these devices for sale you would have a good chance of it working with OS X using one of these driver versions, but there's no guarantee. There are other brands as well.
From: Guy Hemmings
Subject: 2303 adapter driver Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004
Your page is no longer available...
>Not Found
> The requested URL /info/palm/2303.pax was not found on this server.
[....]
I downloaded the 1.0.6 driver from the link to ram electronics, but got the error from Installer Utility: 'bill of materials could not be found' and 'the archive for this package was not found'
Sorry about that - I don't know what happened to that file! But I put it back, so if you try again you should be able to download. Thanks for the notice.
From: Madi
Subject: USB cable success Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004
Mike West