Author Topic: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6  (Read 2411 times)

mfed

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Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« on: January 12, 2021, 09:37:22 AM »
Dear fellow WeatherCat users,

I note that Silabs has now released a version of its VCP driver which is supposed to be compatible with Mac OS Big Sur.  This from their release note:

CP210x Macintosh OS VCP Driver 6.0 - December 18, 2020
Adds VID/PID for NECYD NLTAIR cp2105
Supports macOS Big Sur with implementation of DriverKit extension

Has anyone tried using this driver?  Can anyone confirm that upgrading to Mac OS Big Sir with this driver and weatherCat 3.1.1 works OK?

Currently I am running WeatherCat 3.1.1 on Catalina and Silabs Driver Version 5.3.5 and this seems to be very stable.

Thanks for your help.

wx-watch

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2021, 01:09:29 PM »
Working for me!

mfed

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2021, 01:34:47 PM »
Hi wx-watch, Thanks for your reply.  Sounds very encouraging!  Cheers, mfed

ColdnFrosty

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2021, 05:37:32 PM »
Been using it for several weeks with Big Sur 11.1.

Dear fellow WeatherCat users,

I note that Silabs has now released a version of its VCP driver which is supposed to be compatible with Mac OS Big Sur.  This from their release note:

CP210x Macintosh OS VCP Driver 6.0 - December 18, 2020
Adds VID/PID for NECYD NLTAIR cp2105
Supports macOS Big Sur with implementation of DriverKit extension

Has anyone tried using this driver?  Can anyone confirm that upgrading to Mac OS Big Sir with this driver and weatherCat 3.1.1 works OK?

Currently I am running WeatherCat 3.1.1 on Catalina and Silabs Driver Version 5.3.5 and this seems to be very stable.

Thanks for your help.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2021, 05:51:54 PM by Steve »

mfed

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2021, 09:59:21 PM »
Hi ColdnFrosty,  Thank you!  This is starting to look very positive.  That's great!

Cheers, mfed

Mog51

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2021, 11:26:28 AM »
I have downloaded the Silabs Mac OSVCP Driver v6, but when I try to install, it says it will install v5.3.5!

I need help!

What am I doing wrong?

Steve

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #6 on: January 13, 2021, 04:12:44 PM »
I have downloaded the Silabs Mac OSVCP Driver v6, but when I try to install, it says it will install v5.3.5!

I did the same a couple of weeks ago based on the previous thread on this new version. IT seems that it only installs version 6 if you've updated to MacOS 11 Big Sur. After I updated, the SiLab version 6 driver installed just fine.


And, welcome to the WeatherCat forum, @mfed !
Steve - Avon, Ohio, USA


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ColdnFrosty

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #7 on: January 13, 2021, 05:04:39 PM »
How are you getting your WeatherCar Banner generated?

I have downloaded the Silabs Mac OSVCP Driver v6, but when I try to install, it says it will install v5.3.5!

I did the same a couple of weeks ago based on the previous thread on this new version. IT seems that it only installs version 6 if you've updated to MacOS 11 Big Sur. After I updated, the SiLab version 6 driver installed just fine.


And, welcome to the WeatherCat forum, @mfed !

Steve

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #8 on: January 13, 2021, 05:38:07 PM »
How are you getting your WeatherCar Banner generated?

It is the last banner image that was in my upload folder before updating to Big Sur. So, it is not a current image. This forum is the only place that it is displayed, so not too critical to me at this time.

Steve - Avon, Ohio, USA


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mfed

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #9 on: January 14, 2021, 09:00:51 AM »
Hi Mog51,

What version of Mac OS are you trying to instal the Silab v6.0 Driver on to?  Anything prior to Big Sur (Mac OS 11.0) uses a system called a kext (Kernel Extension) to implement device drivers.   So Mac OS Catalina (10.15.x) and prior versions of Mac OS all use this kext system. Silab v 5.3.5 is a kext.

For reasons of security, Big Sur does not allow kexts and instead Apple developed a system called Driver Extensions to implement Drivers such as Silab.  Device driver providers have had to rewrite their software to work with this new system.  That is what Silab v 6 is.  So, likely,  v 6 will only work with Big Sur and newer - for anything earlier use v 5.3.5.   This is also why Catalina used to issue a warning dialogue box letting you know that the version of the Silab kext that you are running would not be compatible with future versions of Mac OS.

I hope this helps.  Cheers mfed

Thank you all for your responses!

Mog51

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #10 on: January 14, 2021, 09:18:36 AM »
Thank you

I was trying to install the v6 driver on a MacBook Pro running Catalina 10.15.7. Your explanation seems to fit.

However, when I try to load the v6 driver on my iMac with Big Sur 11.1, I get an error message - install operation failed  at /Users/host/jenkins/workspace/Host_Software_MacOS_Build_VCP_Driver_6.x_Build/host/driver/silabser/osx/installer2/Install CP210x VCP Driver/Install CP210x VCP Driver/AppDelegate.m:1237

Any ideas?

wx-watch

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #11 on: January 14, 2021, 10:20:47 AM »
I found I had to uninstall the old driver first - there is an uninstall script in the packages that I ran from a terminal with sudo

Mog51

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #12 on: January 14, 2021, 11:51:06 AM »
My iMac does not have any version of the driver installed!

mfed

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #13 on: January 14, 2021, 01:52:58 PM »
Hi Mog51,

I just tried installing Silab v6 on my Powerbook Pro running Big Sur (11.2 Public Beta 1).  I used their installer app: Install CP210x VCP Driver.app

The first time around it crashed and asked me to relaunch, which I did.  The second time around it seemed to work OK but got stuck because the Security and Privacy System Preference blocked it (as it should).  The installer detected this and asked me to go to the System Prefs, Authenticate and click the button to allow the installation to proceed.  This I did and all went smoothly from there.  It staler reported a successful installation.

I can't decipher your error message and so unfortunately can't really help.

All I can suggest is that you try again with nothing connected to your Mac and having just done a fresh restart.  Obviously you need to log in with an Admin Account (but you're probably doing that anyway).

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers mfed

mfed

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Re: Silabs Mac OS VCP Driver v6
« Reply #14 on: January 14, 2021, 02:10:30 PM »
Hi again Mog51,

I just had a nose around Silabs Support Forum and someone else there is reporting the exact same problem as you.  Have a look at:

https://www.silabs.com/community/interface/forum.topic.html/new_cp210x_vcp_driveronbigsur-5icm

In one of the replies there is a link to a new version of the driver (v6.0.1) which might work for you.  Obviously this version of the driver is not a public release as yet as Silabs have not been able to reproduce the problem as reported.  Still, worth a try...

Gook luck and let us know how you get on.

Cheers. fed