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Does Propeller Tool run on WIndows8/8.1? — Parallax Forums

Does Propeller Tool run on WIndows8/8.1?

agsags Posts: 386
edited 2013-12-07 18:18 in Propeller 1
The information I found directly from Parallax states support for Windows through Windows7. Has anyone been successful in running Propeller tool on Windows8 or 8.1?

Thanks.

Comments

  • Mike CookMike Cook Posts: 829
    edited 2013-12-04 09:59
    v1.3.2 runs fine on 8
  • agsags Posts: 386
    edited 2013-12-04 10:16
    Thanks. I will take a (small) chance and assume it also runs on 8.1
  • RickInTexasRickInTexas Posts: 124
    edited 2013-12-04 11:38
    Mike Cook wrote: »
    v1.3.2 runs fine on 8

    Here too.
  • KyeKye Posts: 2,200
    edited 2013-12-04 16:20
    Runs fine on 8.1.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2013-12-04 16:30
    While the Propeller Tool software does run on Windows 8.1 it might be interesting to note that FTDI lists a completely separate driver for Windows 8.1 versus all previous versions* supported by the existing driver. I'm not sure why this is the case, but if you have one of our USB development tools and are running Windows 8.1 you may want to have a visit to the following link for the correct drivers. The second link is a direct download link for the installer.

    http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

    setup executable

    *includes the following versions of the Windows operating system: Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 8.
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
    edited 2013-12-05 17:41
    I noticed even under windows XP that the last batch of Quickstarts I received would not communicate until I updated the FTDI driver, which on my main non-internet box required downloading it from the FTDI website and installing from a thumb drive. But now the new hardware works.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-12-05 22:38
    Why is it required to have a new FTDI driver for every version of Windows?
    It's a USB device and USB, I have heard, is some kind of standard.
    It implements a serial port. also a standard "device" interface over USB.
    What am I missing here?
  • potatoheadpotatohead Posts: 10,261
    edited 2013-12-05 22:55
    You are missing how each version of Windows alters the HAL, and depreciates older API's, and includes new DRM. I'm dead serious. If it were not for the latter... fewer things would change.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-12-05 23:56
    I still don't get it.

    There is the USB standard, there is the "serial port over USB" standard. This stuff is built into operating systems.
    The OS should not even have to know it is a FTDI chip on the other end of the cable.
    Windows may well have a different HAL to drive the USB host chips on the mother board.
    It may well have different internal API's.

    So what?

    What is special about the FTDI chip that it is not a generic serial over USB device?
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2013-12-06 13:20
    Heater,

    Each manufacturer has certain things that are unique about their hardware. In the case of the FTDI hardware one of those things are unique serial numbers for each chip. This is why each new device you connect gets its own COM port instead of just dynamically assigning them in order based on the number of devices connected. A second difference is specific settings for a given device. Compare an FTDI USB to 232 adapter with say one from ioGear or Belkin. The settings available in the device properties are described in the driver and the default settings for that device are there. Changing them prior to installation also invalidates the signature if the drivers are signed (which FTDI usually are). When I put two side-by-side one device had a FIFO buffer check box while the FTDI had a Latency Timer and Buffer Size, but no check box to enable/disable them.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-12-06 15:12
    Thanks Chris, that starts to make sense.

    Sounds the USB standard is deficient. It does not allow to uniquely identify bits hardware on the end of the line. And the serial device specification is not so standard.
  • CircuitsoftCircuitsoft Posts: 1,166
    edited 2013-12-06 15:51
    Heater. wrote: »
    ... there is the "serial port over USB" standard...
    That is not as standardized as you would think. The way that baud rates and other sideband info are transferred vary from device to device. In FTDI's case, each 64-byte URB has a 2-byte command and up to 62 bytes of serial data. Most other devices dedicate endpoints for send/receive and more for sideband data.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-12-06 16:09
    Circuitsoft,

    So I see. That "universal serial bus" is not so universal now is it?
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,173
    edited 2013-12-06 17:10
    Heater. wrote: »
    Why is it required to have a new FTDI driver for every version of Windows?
    It's a USB device and USB, I have heard, is some kind of standard.
    It implements a serial port. also a standard "device" interface over USB.
    What am I missing here?

    I'd guess the detail is in the WHQL Certified for Win 8.1 bit.
    Certainly, if the silicon on the end is the same, and the USB HAL calls are the same, it should work - but the Certified bit is between Microsoft and FTDI, and that may be where it changes.

    Are there any measurable user changes, between FTDI+8.1, vs FTDI+8.0 ?
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
    edited 2013-12-07 18:18
    To clarify, the new FTDI driver wasn't about the new Windows. This kicked me on a 11 year old Windows XP box which is only very occasionally connected to the Internet, and mostly faces our totally sandboxed corporate network. FTDI made some change in the chip which broke compatibility with older versions of its Windows driver. This might have been done for some reason related to the new Windows but it affected even users who were on the very old Windows.
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