dty? cu?

[Andrew Ball]

Hello Derick,

    DC> In general, these kind of adaptors allow older devices to
      > appear as though they were usb devices.  The attached device
      > shows up, if the connections are done correctly, as one usb
      > device among other usb devices. You didn't explain which device
      > you are discussing connecting on the rs232 end.

That sounds horribly complex.  It shouldn't matter what device I
connect to the RS-232 end of the adaptor cable any more than it would
if I were plugging things into an RS-232 port bolted onto the chassis.
For the record though I'm likely to connect other computers, a modem,
a mobile phone (pretending to be a modem), a TNC, microcontrollers, a
GPS receiver, a PBX, an HVAC controller, terminals, printers and other
random pieces of equipment that sport serial ports. These won't all be
connected at the same time though.

    DC> Keep in mind that the rs232 device will be exclusively
      > accessible through the usb port and any Linux distribution --
      > including YDL -- will therefore use available usb utilities or
      > protocols to access and control this device, as a usb device.

That sounds perverse. Happily the adaptor appears as just another tty,
so I should be able to treat it normally without resorting to USB-
specific software.  I just wondered why I didn't have a corresponding
outbound dty device and where "cu" was kept.

- Andy Ball.