This tag is used for software related questions about using USB-to-serial Bridges and Adapters. Hardware adapters attach a peripheral with a DB-9 or DB-25 connector to a USB connector on a PC or other host. Software or virtual adapters are drivers in the host which create a COM port interface to a USB connection allowing software to open the virtual COM port to a device attached to the USB connector.
USB-to-serial bridges/adapters were originally developed as a way to connect a USB device to a PC or host without USB ports. These adapters were an alternative to the legacy DB-9, RS-232 COM ports (usually referred to as simply a COM port), which were standard on older PCs when USB was first becoming available.
More recently, the COM port interface is being phased out of the PC industry in favor of USB. These adapters allow a user to connect a device requiring the legacy COM port to a desktop computer or laptop via one of its USB ports.
When connected the adapter appears on the computer as a Communications Device Class (CDC) USB device, more commonly known as a virtual COM port.
Some software applications designed to communicate with devices through a COM port may require a software virtual COM port driver to allow use with a USB connected device. In some cases such drivers must be installed and in some cases the operating system already has the drivers and when the device is connected, a virtual COM port will automatically be created.
An example of such an application is the Arduino IDE which is used to create a sketch for an Arduino or ESP32 microcontroller. The microcontroller is attached to the host with a USB cable which provides power to the device as well as a communications path. The user selects the virtual COM port created when the device is physically connected in order to download a program.
Generally speaking, a USB-to-serial bridge more specifically refers to the embedded technology, or microchip, within the hardware adapter that performs the actual logic and protocol translations between USB and generic asynchronous serial communication (UART or SCI).
