How to identify and find drivers for unsupported hardware
Sep 06, '07 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: MirandaSoft
Sep 06, '07 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: MirandaSoft
Whenever I get new hardware, either for my iBook G4 or for my PC laptop or my sister-in-law's desktop PC, I use USB Prober (installed with the Developer Tools, and found in /Developer » Applications » Utilities) on my Mac to properly identify it. Open up USB Prober. Plug in the hardware device.
The line I look for in USB Prober is under the High/Low Spped Device of the USB device in question, which is usually on the last line of the tree. I open up Device Descriptor and see another list. The line that I use is called "Device VendorID/ProductID." To me that is the most important line, as it's required to find drivers.
For example, an AirLink 101 USB to Serial converter, which is intended for the PC -- and AirLink has no Mac drivers. When I looked this up with USB Prober, the Device VendorID line read:
The line I look for in USB Prober is under the High/Low Spped Device of the USB device in question, which is usually on the last line of the tree. I open up Device Descriptor and see another list. The line that I use is called "Device VendorID/ProductID." To me that is the most important line, as it's required to find drivers.
For example, an AirLink 101 USB to Serial converter, which is intended for the PC -- and AirLink has no Mac drivers. When I looked this up with USB Prober, the Device VendorID line read:
0x067B/0x2303 (Prolific Technology, Inc.)
So then I googled for Prolific 2303 "Mac OS X" driver. Google will then show you any drivers it might know about for Mac OS X. You can do the same for Windows and Linux.
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