What do Linux (and Mac?) people call a "Virtual COM Port" ?

[Andrew Neil]

So a bit off-topic, but arose in the context of STM32 Nucleo boards:

https://community.st.com/t5/stm32-mcus-products/communication-between-nucleo-f411re-and-raspberry-pi-using-st/m-p/721571

 

"Virtual COM Port" is a Windows-centric term - referring to the COMx: device names that Windows assigns to Async Serial interfaces.

Linux doesn't have COMx: devices  - instead, it has /dev/ttyXXX 

I know nothing about Mac.

So what do Linux people call a "Virtual COM Port" ?

Do they just say "Virtual COM Port" - ignoring the Windows connotation, and knowing that it really means a /dev/tty device?

Or do they have another recognised name for the concept?

[Pavel A.]

/dev/ttyACM, /dev/ttyUSB ... and so on. On Mac OS: /dev/tty.usb... something like this.

On Windows the COMx names are deprecated. Serial port devices are recognized by having specific interface class ID. TL;DR there is API that lists all devices of this class and returns the "file name"  to open.

 

[Andrew Neil]

Yes, but when speaking about it, what word(s) do they use?

 

The ST documentation uses "Virtual COM Port" pretty much exclusively, I think - so Windows-centric:

But what would a die-hard Linux person write there?

 

[Tesla DeLorean]

Not a die-hard, I mostly describe using /dev/tty , but CDC or ACM is also quite common

ACM is a generic USB class driver for a modem, so ttyACMx

CDC is USB communications device class

As Pavel points out ttyUSBx also high up there in what will enumerate

Depends on the specific equipment and how it presents itself, seen GPS/GNSS USB G-Mouse/Mice com up as ttyACM and ttyUSB

[mƎALLEm]

I think it's called Virtual Serial Port.