--- Quote Start ---
I am no expert on USB in any way but does the FTDI stuff not talk about COM ports?
Does this mean that the Blasters are treated as virtual com ports? I don't think this is correct as they don't appear in the ports list.
--- Quote End ---
The USB-Blasters are implemented using FTDI FT245 devices. The FTDI driver (or perhaps the .inf file) is modified by Altera so that they look like an Altera specific device. I don't think that Altera has really changed much in the driver, since it has the same quirks as plugging in multiple FTDI devices that act as USB COM ports.
The Virtual COM Port (VCP) driver option is not available for a USB-Blaster, as Altera has likely disabled that feature. You can however access the USB-Blaster's directly using the FTDI D2XX DLLs.
The links to the FTDI application notes should apply equally well to the USB-Blasters. If each USB-Blaster has a unique serial number, then as FvM points out, you can likely get each USB device to show up with the same name each time. The 'unique device naming by serial number' is the same USB feature you would use to get your camera to show up as MyNikon rather than a USB drive (in Linux it can be setup as a udev rule, in windows, you use the registry).
Cheers,
Dave
Honored Contributor
