Reddit reviews NooElec PL2303 USB to Serial (TTL) Module/Adapter with Female and Male Wiring Harnesses & Test Jumper. Compatible with Windows 98 Through Windows 7; Mac OS 8 Through OS X, Linux and Android!

Apologies for not being specific enough. The device is a smart feeder for pets. They seem to be sold under the gempet, wopet and petwant labels but appear to all be the same. I searched around and didn't find anyone trying to dig into them but I could be mistaken.

I believe the serial adapter I have is TTL only, very similar to this one.

Thanks for the info on experimenting. I asked this to the other poster, but do you think it's worthwhile perusing this connection or would it be better to take it apart to try and get more information about the chip being used? Would it be better in any way to use a serial connection, if there is on, going from the module with the chip to the main board? I hope that is clear enough.

Thanks again for all the help!

AH Ok, that's why we're not seeing a ttyUSB0 (difficult to troubleshoot over Reddit) My article assumes that you're using something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Adapter-Harnesses-Jumper-Compatible/dp/B009GXEF8A


You're just using a plain old USB cable If that's the case, you MUST connect your CHIP to the USB cable, give the CHIP a minute to boot up, then:

$ ls /dev/tty

If you're connected to CHIPs USB port with a micro cable, what you're hoping to see is a device called ttyACM0.

If you see this, you can connect to he device using screen like so:

$ sudo screen /dev/ttyACM0 115200

If you /dev/ttyACM0 does not appear after a minute or so of plugging in your CHIP, then it's likely that you got one of the bum boards, and need to reflash it.

If you need to reflash it, start your vagrant up again by changing dir into where you installed CHIP-SDK

$ vagrant up
$ vagrant ssh

Once authenticated to the CHIP VM, Connect a jumper (piece of thin wire on your CHIP from the GND GPIO to the one labelled FEL. Do not plug your CHIP in to the computer yet!

(you should be in your vagrant version of the CHIP SDK environment you downloaded!!)

$ cd CHIP-tools
$ ./chip_update_firmware.sh


The console should say :

waiting for fel. . . . . . .

Plug your CHIP into the USB port now. That jumper must be in place BEFORE applying power to CHIP. If for any reason this process gets messed up, just do it over... plug in the CHIP after the computer says "waiting for fel . . . "

It should automatically detect the CHIP, and start the flashing process. It will download an image, and apply it to your CHIP.

Let the process go, until it returns you to the command prompt.

When it's done, remove the jumper wire, unplug CHIP from the USB connection. Plug it back in to the USB connection and repeat the first steps in this message (you're still in your vagrant client) :

$ ls /dev/tty

look for ttyACM0. if it's there...

$ sudo screen /dev/ttyACM0 115200

You should be prompted to log in... IF for any reason you can't find ttyACM0, it's likely because the CHIP has not been flashed (it will only appear as a device like that after it has successfully booted up.

Let me know how this goes!