User manual

DLP-USB245M User Manual

DRIVER SOFTWARE

FTDI’s VCP (Virtual COM Port) driver executable les are provided royalty-free on the condition that they are only

used with designs incorporating an FTDI device (ie the FT245BM and DLP-USB245M). The latest version of the

drivers can be downloaded from dlpdesign.com or ftdichip.com.

The VCP driver download le is a combined set of drivers for Windows ‘98, Windows ME and Windows 2000/XP.

Unzip the le to a blank oppy disk or folder on your PC. The drivers can co-exist on the same oppy disk or folder

since the INF les determine which set of drivers to load for each operating system version. Once loaded, the VCP

drivers allow your application software, running on the host PC, to communicate with the DLP-USB245M as though it

were connected to a COM (RS-232) port.

In addition to VCP drivers, FTDI’s “D2XX Direct Drivers” for Windows offer an alternative solution to the VCP drivers

that allows application software to interface with the FT245BM device using a DLL instead of a Virtual Com Port. The

architecture of the D2XX drivers consists of a Windows WDM driver that communicates with the FT245BM device via

the Windows USB Stack and a DLL that interfaces the Application Software (written in VC++, C++ Builder, Delphi,

VB etc...) to the WDM driver. An INF installation le, uninstaller program and D2XX programmers guide complete the

package

The D2XX Direct Drivers add support for simultaneous access and control of multiple FT245BM devices. The

Extended Open function (FT_OpenEx ) allows the device to be opened either by it’s Product Description or by Serial

Number, both of which can be programmed to be unique. The List Devices function (FT-ListDevices) allows the

application software to determine which devices are currently available for use, again by product description or by

serial number.

Several new features have been recently added to the D2XX drivers. Functions are provided to program the

EEPROM (FT_EE_Program), and read the EEPROM (FT_EE_Read). Unused space in the EEPROM is called the

User Area (EEUA), and functions are provided to access the EEUA. FT_EE_UASize gets its size, FT_EE_UAWrite

writes data into it, and FT_EE_UARead is used to read its contents.

Download FTDI Application Notes AN232-03, AN232-05, AN232-06, and AN232-07 for detailed instructions on how to

install and remove the drivers.