Arduino Clone is not talking to my Mac

Question

When I plugin my Osepp Uno (off-brand of Arduino Uno), the LED flickers a bunch, then the RX and TX lights do the same. But when I

ls /dev/ | grep -i usb

I get nothing. When I startup the arduino IDE, and go to Tools -> Serial Port, All I get is:

/dev/tty.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync
/dev/cu.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync
/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem (<- this one is the default)
/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Modem

I tried to upload to all of the four above serial port connections, and the first two fail with avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding and the latter two respond with Serial port ... is already in use. Try quitting any programs... They are obviously not the arduino port.

I don't think that the OS is instantiating communication correctly, because there is not /dev/tty.usbserial or /dev/tty.usbmodem or /dev/ttyUSB0 (this is what my board is on linux systems). It works in Linux, when I select Uno. I can upload to it and watch the serial port and everything one would expect in Linux.

• charmoniumQ: it may be related to arduino.cc/forum/index.php?topic=127943.0, but it works in Linux, when I select Uno. I can upload to it and watch the serial port and everything one would expect in Linux.
• Passerby: what version OX are you on, and specifically what model Osepp board are you using?
• angelatlarge: What does dmesg tell you after you plug it in?

Answer 1

OSEPP has (purposely) mislabeled their boards/products. It is not an Uno. It has a FTDI chip which requires drivers from FTDI. Additionally they usually have the Duemilanove bootloader installed instead of the Uno bootloader, requiring you to select Duemilanove in the board menu.

You can download the FTDI drivers from here: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

Answer 2

Solved.

I was treating my board as if it were a real Arduino Uno, and I started looking at arduino.cc for instructions for my board. Off-brand boards can really be quite different from genuine arduino boards. I looked here (which should have been the first place I checked), and downloaded the drivers. All is well.

• Passerby: To be fair, the instructions did have that you needed the drivers at the top, a real Arduino with the ftdi usb/serial would also need the same drivers, and a clone of a open-source device is just as good as the original, unless they change parts.
• charmoniumQ: "If you're using an Arduino Uno or Mega 2560, you don't have any drivers to install." I saw that and abandoned the search for drivers.
• Connor Wolf: If it's an arduino with a FTDI chip, they really should have called it a Arduino Duemilanove, as that was the last standard-profile arduino that used a FTDI chip. Personally, I really prefer the FTDI version over the ATmega16U2 version, as I have found the FTDI devices to be much more robust.
• Anindo Ghosh: I'm not sure it makes sense to rant at off-brand boards, when the issue was your not having read the documentation and followed it. To my experience clone 'duinos are often priced at half or less than the official boards, and in certain cases have actually modified the reference design to resolve bugs in the original, or improve device features.
• Connor Wolf: @AnindoGhosh - I generally agree with you about this. However, in this specific case, the people who make this board have intentionally mislabeled their device. They are branding a board that is basically an Arduino Duemilanove as an Uno.