To communicate with an FTDI device via USB using Python, you'll typically follow these steps:

1. Install FTDI Drivers:

• Your operating system needs the appropriate drivers to recognize and communicate with the FTDI device.
• FTDI provides Virtual COM Port (VCP) drivers and direct (D2XX) drivers for various operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android).
• You can usually download these drivers from the FTDI website.
• On some systems, the VCP drivers might install automatically when the device is plugged in (if connected to the internet).

2. Choose a Python FTDI Library:

Several Python libraries facilitate communication with FTDI devices. The two most popular are:

• pylibftdi: This library provides a Pythonic interface to FTDI devices using the libftdi library. It offers a file-like interface for serial communication and supports bit-bang mode for parallel I/O. You can install it using pip: Bash

  pip install pylibftdi

• pyftdi: This is another pure Python FTDI driver that supports various FTDI chip families and protocols like serial (UART), SPI, I2C, and GPIO (bit-bang). Install it with: Bash

  pip install pyftdi

• ftd2xx: This library is a wrapper around FTDI's D2XX drivers using ctypes. It offers more direct access to the FTDI device's functionalities. You can install it via pip: Bash

  pip install ftd2xx

3. Identify Your FTDI Device:

• You'll need to know how your FTDI device is identified by your system.
• For VCP drivers, it will appear as a serial port (e.g., COM3 on Windows, /dev/ttyUSB0 or /dev/ttyACM0 on Linux, /dev/cu.usbserial-* on macOS). You can usually find this in your operating system's device manager or a similar tool.
• For D2XX and some functionalities in pylibftdi and pyftdi, you might identify the device by its serial number, vendor ID (VID), and product ID (PID). You can often find this information using system tools or the library's functions.

4. Write Python Code to Communicate:

The specific code will depend on the library you choose and the communication protocol your FTDI device uses (e.g., serial, SPI, I2C, bit-bang). Here are basic examples using pylibftdi:

https://gist.github.com/viadean/87380d8d1c1c2fe61f8a5a6e3b84f367

Explanation:

• URL Format: The ftdi:// URL specifies the vendor, product, and interface of the FTDI device.