How does the Arduino do serial communication with a PC?

Question

I am trying to develop a program such that I am able to communicate over USB to a PC. I have developed a usart library that I can use for such a purpose, but the problem in-lies with the conversion to the usb protocol.

I searched around on the net a bit and found a very useful USART to USB converter bridge but I am having issues getting it setup, but that is something for another question.

How exactly does the Arduino convert USART to USB and interface with a PC?

You want to know the schematic and components arduino uses? Or just the script? — Handoko, May 26 '14 at 17:44
Turns out it uses an FTDI device with drivers on the PC side. This is simple enough. I have a different type of converter IC I am trying to interface with. — sherrellbc, May 26 '14 at 18:04

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 26 '14 at 17:18

You should look for an FTDI USB to UART IC. You also have prefab PCB's with an FTDI chip embedded. It's really easy: You connect the FTDI with a USB connector to the PC, the PC will install driver. Now you can talk with the PC by sending data over the UART of your arduino and vice versa by using a com terminal program like Putty.

Example: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-install-ftdi-drivers/all

You should not worry about conversion and such things. It's really easy. the PC will install the drivers and u just can receive UART data and send UART data to your Arduino. All the conversion is done in the FTDI chip and it's just transparent.

How does the Arduino do serial communication with a PC?

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