<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:lucida console, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div>OT for anyone who is interested…</div><div><br></div><div>there is no drm, per-se.. it's simply a few extra ways that genuine pl2303 chips respond differently compared to the copies.</div><div>It's been known for some time, plus a simple decompilation and trace through the driver code shows what is causing the issue…</div><div><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'lucida console', sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">Here is a few year old blog post that explains some of the differences ;)</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'lucida console', sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><a
href="http://dreamlayers.blogspot.com/2011/10/pl-2303-code-10-error.html">http://dreamlayers.blogspot.com/2011/10/pl-2303-code-10-error.html</a><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'lucida console', sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'lucida console', sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">If it weren't for the fact that the workaround is so simple (use older version) with no appreciable loss of features, someone might be inclined to package a modified driver ;)</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'lucida console', sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'lucida console', sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">Actually I'm quite surprised the
counterfeiters havent modified the chips to react the same as genuine chips. Probably a combination of factors (mainly that old drivers work fine ;)</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'lucida console', sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'lucida console', sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">-J</div><div><br></div> <div style="font-family: 'lucida console', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <hr size="1"> <font size="2" face="Arial"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> "Nigel Johnson, MIEEE" <nw.johnson@ieee.org><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Discussion of CHIRP <chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com> <br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Monday, February 10, 2014 7:49 AM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [chirp_users] Windows 8<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container"><br>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----<br clear="none">Hash: SHA1<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Or you could use linux, Mike. The day that prolific publishes the source code for its DRM function is the day that the counterfeiters will change their design to get around it!<br clear="none"><br clear="none">73 de Nigel ve3id<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none">On 02/10/2014 08:42 AM, Michael Walker wrote:<br clear="none">> I also believe that the current FTDI chipset will remember its com port<br clear="none">> number even if you plug it into a different USB port which is nice and you<br clear="none">> aren't plugging the cable in only to tell you it is Com54. :) Hence the<br clear="none">>
reason you might want to clean up your old ports with what I sent earlier.<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> It is hard to solve if you only get the USB to radio programming cable and<br clear="none">> you have no choice but to back rev their driver.<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> If you go for the RS232 to radio programming cable, then you do have the<br clear="none">> option of using a USB certified RS232 port. Going back to the RS232 (DB9<br clear="none">> connector) is my failsafe that always works.<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> Mike va3mw<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 6:06 AM, Jim Unroe <<a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:rock.unroe@gmail.com" href="mailto:rock.unroe@gmail.com">rock.unroe@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">>> On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 12:00 AM, kc6iih <<a shape="rect"
ymailto="mailto:kc6iih@aol.com" href="mailto:kc6iih@aol.com">kc6iih@aol.com</a>> wrote:<br clear="none">>><br clear="none">>>> The exclamation mark means you have a conflict. Fix your port settings.<br clear="none">>>><br clear="none">>>><br clear="none">>>> Jock KC6IIH<br clear="none">>>><br clear="none">>>> Jock,<br clear="none">>><br clear="none">>> You are partially correct.<br clear="none">>><br clear="none">>> The exclamation mark is because there is a conflict with the driver and<br clear="none">>> the chip in the programming cable.<br clear="none">>><br clear="none">>> Most inexpensive programming cables have an unauthorized copy of<br clear="none">>> Prolific's USB-to-Serial chip in them. These copied chips use the same<br clear="none">>> Prolific driver that the genuine Prolific chips require. Prolific<br
clear="none">>> eventually changed their drivers after v3.3.2.105 to not function (hence<br clear="none">>> the error) with the unauthorized copies.<br clear="none">>><br clear="none">>> Windows Vista and newer (ie: 7, 8 & 8.1), will automatically install the<br clear="none">>> latest driver when a USB cable with a Prolific type chip is plugged into a<br clear="none">>> USB port that doesn't already have a driver configured. If the cable has an<br clear="none">>> unauthorized chip, the driver installation is guaranteed to fail.<br clear="none">>><br clear="none">>> The only fix that will eliminate the conflict with an unauthorized<br clear="none">>> Prolific chip is to downgrade the driver to at least v3.3.2.105. Some of<br clear="none">>> the Chinese programming software have a conflict with the v3.3.2.102 or<br clear="none">>> v3.3.2.105 Prolific driver versions (CHIRP has no
such issues and runs<br clear="none">>> fine) so the general recommendation is to downgrade to the v3.2.0.0 driver.<br clear="none">>><br clear="none">>> Windows XP does not automatically install the latest driver, but is<br clear="none">>> recommended that v2.0.2.1 is the driver version to install to avoid a<br clear="none">>> conflict with an unauthorized copy of the Prolific chip.<br clear="none">>><br clear="none">>> Other solutions would be to purchase and use a programming cable with<br clear="none">>> genuine Prolific chip or a programming cable with another brand of chip<br clear="none">>> (FTDI for example).<br clear="none">>><br clear="none">>> Jim KC9HI<br clear="none">>><br clear="none">>> _______________________________________________<br clear="none">>> chirp_users mailing list<br clear="none">>> <a shape="rect"
ymailto="mailto:chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com" href="mailto:chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com">chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com</a><br clear="none">>> <a shape="rect" href="http://intrepid.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/chirp_users" target="_blank">http://intrepid.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/chirp_users</a><br clear="none">>><br clear="none">>><br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> _______________________________________________<br clear="none">> chirp_users mailing list<br clear="none">> <a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com" href="mailto:chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com">chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com</a><br clear="none">> <a shape="rect" href="http://intrepid.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/chirp_users" target="_blank">http://intrepid.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/chirp_users</a><br clear="none">> <br clear="none"><br
clear="none"> <br clear="none"><br clear="none">- -- <br clear="none">Nigel Johnson<br clear="none">MSc., MIEEE<br clear="none">VE3ID/G4AJQ/VA3MCU<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Amateur Radio, the origin of the open-source concept!<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://nigel.homelinux.net/" target="_blank">http://nigel.homelinux.net</a><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://va3mcu.ham-radio-op.net/" target="_blank">http://va3mcu.ham-radio-op.net</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">You can reach me by voice on Skype: TILBURY2591<br clear="none"><br clear="none">If time travel ever will be possible, it already is. Ask me again yesterday<br clear="none"><br clear="none">This e-mail is not and cannot, by its nature, be confidential. En route from me to you, it will pass across the public Internet, easily readable by any number of system administrators along the way.<br clear="none"> Nigel Johnson <<a
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