Quote from: novak@gekkoscience on November 20, 2014, 08:27:56 PM

Quote from: TheRealSteve on November 18, 2014, 07:38:00 PM

Quote from: praeluceo on November 18, 2014, 07:28:26 PM

or has anyone tried using a regular USB to UART adapter?

One user modified an old Block Erupter USB (those small things that plug straight into a USB port) to work with a Block Erupter Prisma;
[DIY] Tube/Prisma USB Adapter from USB Blockerupter

He notes:

Quote from: novak@gekkoscience on November 14, 2014, 01:43:35 AM

You should theoretically be able to use any CP2102 USB-UART witha 1K pullup resistor from 3.3V to RXD in this fashion.

YMMV

Probably worth pointing out that someone else followed those steps and got a generic CP2102 adapter working. Looking at tubes the reason the 1K resistor is needed is that the controller on the tube board connects to the UART via a 7407, which is an open drain buffer.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=865503

Thanks for the link! That's a good explanation too, the resistor is good to know about. Now I have a project for the weekend! Gotta rummage through my parts bins to see if I even have the CP2102 adapter.