[chirp_users] RT Systems Cables on Mac OS X (was Re: New Install with OSX Lion)

[Robert Terzi]

On 11/13/2011 10:33 AM, Dan Smith wrote:
> I think it's *feasible* to get your RT Systems cable working,
> but it may be more trouble than you're looking for.

I'm not a mac user, so I can't really help much.  The first
quick google hit is an FTDI manual that says to change the
VID/PID in the FTDI driver on OS X, you need the Xcode dev
environment.   Failing that it says to contact FTDI to get
a custom version of the driver.

     http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Documents/InstallGuides/Mac_OS_X_Installation_Guide.pdf

There are some interesting bits on this page:

     http://staton.us/electronics/python/OSX_FTDI_USB.html

First there's a Python module for talking to the FTDI D2xx
driver on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X,

     http://pypi.python.org/pypi/ftd2xx/bzr12

There's a python script for changing the Product ID which
could possibly be used for changing the RT System's VID/PID
back to the default FTDI VID/PID.  Looks like that script only
changes the PID, though it looks straightforward to add a function
that also changes the VID.

This got me curious enough so I tried FTDI's programming utility
under MS Windows.

** FTDI's FT_PROG Utility (Windows) **

http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Utilities.htm

It looks like it should be straightforward to reprogram the FTDI
chip in the RT Systems cable on a windows box using their FT_PROG
utility.  I ran it on my system, and read the EEPROM from both
my RT Systems cable and a "generic" FTDI USB cable.   the changes
that I think are necessary:

1. Under "FT EEPROM -> USB Device Description", change "Custom VID/PID"
from "custom" to "FTDI Default".

2. Under "RT EEPROM -> Hardware Specific", uncheck "Load D2XX Driver".

You probably don't need to change the text device strings and can leave
the descriptions as "RT Systems", etc.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

- I did not try this.  You could make your cable completely unusable
   by doing this.  I won't be trying it on mine because I occasionally
   still use the RT Systems software.

- Changing these parameters will mean you can't use the cable with
   RT System's software without changing them back.

- It does look like you can use "Save as a Template" to make a backup
   of the cable.

Hope This Helps,
--Rob