UCYCOM(4)

📦 version 12.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 UCYCOM — the Cypress USB-to-RS232 bridge driver, explained bestie-style 💖

okay so this is a page from the Kernel Interfaces Manual (section 4, the driver zone 🚗✨) and it's all about ucycom — the device driver for the Cypress CY7C63743 and CY7C64013 USB to RS232 bridges. sit down, grab a strawberry 🍓, we're doing this.

✨ NAME ✨

ucycom — device driver for Cypress CY7C63743 and CY7C64013 USB to RS232 bridges

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

so like, there's two ways to get this driver living in your system, and it's giving choose your own adventure.

Option one, the main character route — bake it straight into the kernel by putting these lines in your kernel configuration file:

device usb
device ucom
device ucycom

Option two, the lowkey flexible route — load it as a module at boot time instead, by putting this line in loader.conf(5):

ucycom_load="YES"

both are valid, no cap. pick your vibe. 🦋

👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

The ucycom driver provides support for the Cypress CY7C63743 and CY7C64013 bridge chips. those chips were literally designed to give existing RS232 devices a cheap little glow-up into USB land — like a low-cost transition path, as the nerds say — and honestly? their capabilities are pretty limited. not a hater, just being fr fr. 🙈

The way that ucycom behaves? it behaves like a tty(4). that's it, that's the tea. ☕💅

💀 HARDWARE 💀

right now, the ucycom driver supports these devices that have Cypress USB to RS232 bridge chips inside them:

  • DeLorme Earthmate USB GPS receiver

that's the whole list bestie, it's a short one and it ate. ⭐

🎀 FILES 🎀

here's where the devices show up in your filesystem, and yes you need to know both flavors:

  • /dev/ttyU* — for callin ports
  • /dev/ttyU*.init
  • /dev/ttyU*.lock — the corresponding callin initial-state and lock-state devices
  • /dev/cuaU* — for callout ports
  • /dev/cuaU*.init
  • /dev/cuaU*.lock — the corresponding callout initial-state and lock-state devices

like, callin and callout, init and lock — they come in little matching sets. iconic behavior honestly. 🧚

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go read these too, they're the friend group:

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

The ucycom driver first appeared in FreeBSD 5.3. a legend was born, periodt. 🔥

💜 AUTHORS 💜

The ucycom driver and this manual page were written by Dag-Erling Smørgrav <des@FreeBSD.org>. writing the driver AND the docs? main character energy, we love to see it. 👑

okay that's literally everything, every flag-free byte of it. go forth and bridge your RS232 devices, bestie 🫶

this page came to you via Debian, dated April 26, 2017, and it's the UCYCOM(4) page from the Kernel Interfaces Manual. mwah, bye!! 💖✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from