UPLCOM(4)

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

💖 UPLCOM(4) 💖 — the kernel interfaces manual, section 4, bestie

okay so welcome to uplcom(4), the part of the manual where the kernel talks to your little USB-to-serial dongle and it's giving main character energy the whole time. grab a snack, we're doing this. 🍓

✨ NAME ✨

uplcom — USB support for Prolific PL-2303/2303X/2303HX serial adapters driver

like. that's the whole name. it does one thing and it does it beautifully. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

so if you wanna bake this driver into your kernel (iconic, committed, no take-backs), you drop these lines into your kernel configuration file:

device usb
device ucom
device uplcom

or, if you're more of a load-it-at-boot-time girlie, you put this one single line in loader.conf(5):

uplcom_load="YES"

and that's it. that's the vibe check passed. ✨

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The uplcom driver provides support for various serial adapters based on the Prolific PL-2303, PL-2303X and PL-2303HX USB-to-RS232 Bridge chips. no cap, that's the whole family reunion. 👑

You get at the device through the ucom(4) driver, which makes it behave like a tty(4). so it thinks it's a terminal, you treat it like a terminal, everyone's happy, everyone's fed. 🫶

🎀 HARDWARE 🎀

bestie. sit down. the uplcom driver supports the following devices and adapters, and this list is long, so hydrate first:

  • ADLINK ND-6530 USB-Serial Adapter
  • Alcatel One Touch 535/735 Phone
  • Alcor AU9720 USB-RS232 Serial Adapter
  • AlDiga AL-11U Modem
  • Alltronix ACM003U00 Modem
  • Anchor Serial adapter
  • ATEN UC-232A
  • BAFO BF-800 and BF-810
  • Belkin F5U257
  • BenQ S81 Phone
  • Corega CG-USBRS232R Serial Adapter
  • Cressi Edy (Seiko) Diving Computer
  • ELECOM UC-SGT Serial Adapter
  • HAL Corporation Crossam2+USB IR commander
  • Hama USB RS-232 Serial Adapter
  • Hamlet exaggerate XURS232
  • HP LD220 Point-Of-Sale (POS) Display
  • IOGEAR UC-232A
  • I/O DATA USB-RSAQ, USB-RSAQ2, USB-RSAQ3 and USB-RSAQ5
  • iTegno WM1080A GSM/GFPRS Modem
  • iTegno WM2080A CDMA Modem
  • Leadtek 9531 GPS
  • Micromax 610U Modem
  • Microsoft Palm 700WX
  • Mobile Action MA-620 Infrared Adapter
  • Motorola Cables
  • Nokia CA-42 Cable
  • OTI DKU-5 cable
  • Panasonic TY-TP50P6-S flat screen
  • PLX CA-42 Phone Cable
  • PLANEX USB-RS232 URS-03
  • Prolific Generic USB-Serial Adapters
  • Prolific Pharos USB-Serial Adapter
  • RATOC REX-USB60
  • Radio Shack USB Serial Cable
  • Sagem USB-Serial Adapter
  • Samsung I330 Phone Cradle
  • Sandberg USB to Serial Link (model number 133-08)
  • Sanwa KB-USB2 Multimeter cable
  • Siemens/BenQ EF81, SX1, X65 and X75 Mobile Phones
  • Sitecom USB-Serial Adapter
  • SMART Technologies USB-Serial Adapter
  • Sony QN3 Phone Cable
  • Sony Ericsson Datapilot
  • Sony Ericsson DCU-10 and DCU-11 (Susteen) USB Cables
  • SOURCENEXT KeikaiDenwa 8 (with and without charger)
  • Speed Dragon USB-Serial Cable
  • Syntech CPT-8001C Barcode Scanner
  • TDK UHA6400 and UPA9664 USB-PHS Adapters
  • TRENDnet USB to Serial Converter (TU-S9)
  • Tripp-Lite U209-000-R USB-Serial Adapter
  • UIC HCR331 Magnetic Stripe Card Reader
  • UIC MSR206 Magnetic Stripe Card Reader
  • Willcom W-SIM DD PHS terminal.(WS002IN)
  • YC-Cable USB-Serial Adapter
  • Zeagle N2iTion3 Diving Computer

diving computers?? a POS display?? a barcode scanner?? one driver, fifty vibes. we love range. 🌈

💜 SYSCTL VARIABLES 💜

The following variables are available as both sysctl(8) variables and loader(8) tunables:

  • hw.usb.uplcom.debug — Debug output level, where 0 is debugging disabled and larger values increase debug message verbosity. Default is 0.

so like, 0 means shhh 🤫 and bigger numbers mean the driver starts yapping. love that for us.

💀 FILES 💀

/dev/ttyU*       for callin ports
/dev/ttyU*.init
/dev/ttyU*.lock  corresponding callin initial-state and lock-state
                 devices

/dev/cuaU*       for callout ports
/dev/cuaU*.init
/dev/cuaU*.lock  corresponding callout initial-state and lock-state
                 devices

callin ports, callout ports, and their little .init and .lock besties tagging along. it's giving squad goals. 👯

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

tty(4), ucom(4), usb(4)

go read those too, they're literally the supporting cast and they ate. 🔥

📜 HISTORY 📜

The uplcom driver appeared in NetBSD 1.6. This manual page was adopted from NetBSD by Tom Rhodes <trhodes@FreeBSD.org> in April 2002. a legend, fr fr. 🫡

just a lil reminder bestie: keep the facts, keep the flags, keep the paths — the vibe is free, the accuracy is mandatory. 💖

mwah 💋 that's a wrap. this page came from the Debian manual, dated April 24, 2018, and yeah — it's still UPLCOM(4) at the bottom, always and forever. 🌸✨

📦 where this page comes from