TermDriver 2 USB-to-serial adapter with built-in IPS display now available on Adafruit store

If you are an engineer, hobbyist, or professional working in the embedded industry, a USB to serial converter just becomes one of your best friends when it comes to debugging and logging data. But there come situations where simply plugging in the USB to your computer is not possible because of a high voltage, and if you are working with tools like Putty, you need to configure that thing every time you disconnect and reconnect your USB - so annoying.

To solve this issue and make life much easier, Excamera Labs has introduced a USB-to-serial adapter with a built-in 240×240 color IPS display. The device is built around a Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU, and it cleverly uses its dual-core architecture, where one ARM Cortex-M0+ core handles the USB-to-serial communication, and the second core handles the rendering for the high-contrast, 230-PPI display. This design allows high baud rates of up to 2 Mbps without losing data packets.

The TermDriver 2 also features full ANSI terminal emulation, so it can recreate full-color and layout support on that tiny screen, which is useful for monitoring boot sequences or menu-driven console interfaces. Additionally, the display provides control signal indicators like RTS and DTR to identify major connection issues at a glance - A normal USB-to-serial adapter with Putty cannot even come close to it.

The device runs CircuitPython firmware and can work without a host, as a permanent console for Raspberry Pi or an Arduino project. It also works with Windows, macOS, and Linux without a driver.

TermDriver 2 initially launched as a fully open-sourced crowdfunding project on Crowd Supply, and it is now available for purchase from the Adafruit store for $24.00.