I am trying to build my own Arduino board. But for connecting it with a PC a USB to UART bridge was required. Even though I can buy it from sparkfun, I wanted to build my own bridge using some sample ICs. I have a couple of MAX232 IC and have ordered some TUSB3410 IC from Texas Instruments.
So my question is, Can I build a USB to UART bridge using either of these ICs. I am willing to buy some basic electrical components locally.
If this is possible I would be very helpful if you could provide me with some detailed schematics and guide me on this one.
Thanks in advance.
Best Answer
You only need the TUSB3410. As mentioned by @Wouter van Oijen, it does require externally provided firmware to operate in the desired mode. Whereas it can either get this firmware from a local EEPROM over I2C or via the USB Host. TI provides this with http://www.ti.com/product/tusb3410 near the bottom "TI WDF USBUART Single Driver (Rev. A) ".
With this you can wire it up to the AVR or Arduino Pro, directly without the RS232 level converters. Just ensure you line up 3.3 and 5.0 volt IO correctly.
Pay attention to the UNO's cap on the DTR for pulsing the reset.
And read all the data sheets and application notes on the TUSB.