FTDI Community

General Category => Discussion - Drivers => Topic started by: Bryant on February 23, 2023, 09:00:57 AM

Title: FT260 MACOS Lib
Post by: Bryant on February 23, 2023, 09:00:57 AM

Hi,

I am new to FT260.
Can anyone share the library of the macos version of FT260, so that I can use the uart read-write function of FT260 and control i2c slave devices more easily on Mac mini?


Best regards,
Bryant

Title: Re: FT260 MACOS Lib
Post by: Bryant on March 02, 2023, 04:30:08 PM

Hi,

Can anyone help? Any useful suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,
Bryant

Title: Re: FT260 MACOS Lib
Post by: FTDI Community on March 03, 2023, 03:55:33 PM

Hello,

LibFT260 library is only available for Windows.

If you want to control FT260 on Macos or Linux then you will need to use raw HID class commands.

See AN_394 User Guide for FT260 (https://ftdichip.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AN_394_User_Guide_for_FT260.pdf) which includes software examples.

Best Regards,
FTDI Community

Title: Re: FT260 MACOS Lib
Post by: Bryant on March 10, 2023, 02:21:18 AM

Hi,

The following is the description I retrieved from the search engine：

FTDI provides two different communication modes for FT260: HID and USB driver mode. In both modes, the FT260 chip can provide UART, GPIO and I2C functions.
In HID mode, the FT260 chip is recognized as an HID device and needs to be controlled by the relevant API provided by FTDI.
In the USB driver mode, the FT260 chip is recognized as a virtual serial port device (VCP), which can be controlled by conventional serial communication, or the functions provided by the FT260 chip can be accessed by using the D2XX driver library or VCP driver library.
HID protocol has some special advantages, such as easy implementation, no need to install drivers and so on. But at the same time, there are some shortcomings, such as it can only transmit a small amount of data, and it needs to be controlled by a special API, so it is relatively troublesome to develop.
In a word, the choice of communication method depends on your specific needs and development environment. If you need high-speed data transmission, large amount of data operation or want to control the functions provided by FT260 chip more flexibly, you can try to use USB driver mode and use D2XX driver library or VCP driver library for development. However, if you need to be simple and easy to use, and do not need to install drivers, then the HID protocol may be more suitable for your needs.


Would you please help me to confirm whether the information is correct? If it is correct, can I download D2XX driver package from this website "https://ftdichip.com/drivers/d2xx-drivers/" and develop it based on the interface provided by driver package? If so, it would be very useful.


Best regards,
Bryant

Title: Re: FT260 MACOS Lib
Post by: FTDI Community on March 10, 2023, 04:21:22 PM

Hello,

This information is incorrect.

FT260 can only be accessed via HID class drivers.

FT260 can't be used with VCP or D2xx drivers which are USB Vendor Class drivers. Other FTDI ICs can use these drivers.

If you are looking for I2C Master and UART interfaces then you can consider the other alternative USB Vendor Class devices which means that they use standard FTDI VCP / D2xx drivers.

FT2232HQ / FT2232HL / FT2232H-56Q
These are dual channel USB ICs which means one channel can be used for UART (VCP or D2xx) and one channel can be used as I2C master (D2xx only).

Quad channel IC also available which would give an additional two channels which can be used for GPIO/I2C Master/UART: FT4232H-56Q / FT4232HQ / FT4232HL

You can find these ICs and associated development modules on our website.

Best Regards,
FTDI Community