hello guys this is my first post so bear with me. I order a usb to serial adaptor for $1.78 from ebay and wanted to try and make it work. since there is no information from the seller exept that is based on the PL2303. Since we have no info and no drivers I decided to google and I found a driver that might work it comes from prolific http://www.prolific.com.tw/UserFiles/files/PL2303_Prolific_DriverInstaller_v1_8_0.zip.

Step 1: Drivers Installation

we download the driver and we unzip the files. then we run the driver installation program. I am not going to post pictures and step by step instructions because all you have to do is click "ok" and "install".

Step 2: Connecting the Adapter

now that the software is done installing just hit "Finish" and connect the adapter to you computers usb port. the hardware wizard pops up and it automaticly installs the driver for you. We can check our installation by going in to the device manager and ports.

Step 3: Verify the Installation

we now have to verify the installation, we see in the device manager that it has installed right and the it is set as COM5. the driver comes with a utility that verifies the chip version just go to the driver folder that was unzip earlier and run checkchipversion.exe we set it to COM5 and we click on "check" it will give you the chip you have since there are a lot of versions of the PL2303.

Step 4: Testing Our Adapter

we can test our adapter using the arduino IDE. we change the port to COM5 and we put a jumper on the adapters pin TXD and RXD.

Step 5: "Hello World"

We open the the serial monitor and we type "hello world"....and we are done.. that's all folks. I am working on some projects to test the capabilities of the PL2303 will post the later. that's all for today and this was my first instructable ever so bear with me.