3.1.1.1 Overview

The debugger implements a complex USB device that includes a standard Communications Device Class (CDC) interface, which appears on the Host as a virtual COM port.

CDC can be used to stream arbitrary data in both directions between the Host and the target. Characters sent from the Host will appear in the UART form on the CDC TX pin, and UART characters sent into the CDC RX pin will be sent back to the Host.

On Windows machines, the CDC will enumerate as the Curiosity virtual COM port and appear in the ports section of the device manager. The COM port number is usually displayed.

Note:
  • On the older version of Windows, a USB driver is required for CDC. This driver is included in the MPLAB X IDE installations.
  • On Linux machines, the CDC will enumerate and appear as /dev/ttyACM#.
  • On Mac machines, the CDC will enumerate and appear as /dev/tty.usbmodem#.
Depending on which terminal program is used, it will appear in the available list of modems as usbmodem#.