I get FTDI writing drivers to detect and then refuse to work with fake chips. Notifying the user of the issue so they can contact the vendor of their device (or vendor of their chips if they are device maker themselves) would have been ok. Disabling the fake chip, thus rendering the device inoperative, in the manner that FTDI did is going to blow up in their faces PR-wise. (One could argue that it already is becoming a PR nightmare.)
Right? Unbelievable stunt... and it has blown up in their face.
Imagine the internal dialog they are now having??
Manufacturers who use FTDI chips are not going to be happy. Rather than identifying and processing a recall in an orderly matter, they are now forced to deal with it now, regardless of manufacturer's inventory or cashflow.
Hey Jim, the M3 usb IO dongle uses an FTDI chip. As a hardware manufacturer, does this kind of stunt give you cause to reconsider parts suppliers, or is FTDI pretty much the only game in town when it comes to USB-to-serial conversion? (excluding counterfeit chips, of course)
"Their only offense seems to be purchasing a product that was presumed to be legitimate in the first place. Even the experts could be fooled, as telling the difference between a real FT232 and a fake version requires a microscopic exam in most cases.I applaud FTDI for having the balls to do this.
https://www.ftdichipblog.com/?p=1053
Fair points above in the previous two points.
I am not sure. Counterfeit FTDI chips do not accidentally find their way into supply chains. It is not a "commodity" chip like a SN7401. If you are buying from an authorized distributor (digikey, Avnet, Arrow, Mouser etc) you are getting the real thing. From what I understand many of the affected units were very cheaply priced cloned products sold on eBay and the like from China.
No respectable manufacturer buys components from Alibaba.
Also this is not a new issue, there were driver compatibility issues with suspected fakes reported as early as this Feb.
https://hackaday.com/2014/02/19/ft232rl-real-or-fake/
But I am sympathetic to the argument that FTDI should not punish the users of the counterfeit products.
About that idea, the first problem with it is that the part has to actually be available from such sources:Amen! Buy your parts from an ECIA authorized distributor (see eciaauthorized.com) and you don't have to worry about it.
Specifically about that at 17 minutes 7 seconds into the above video:Amen! Buy your parts from an ECIA authorized distributor (see eciaauthorized.com) and you don't have to worry about it.
Even if FTDI had only popped up persistent, nagging error messages, end users would've bitched. It doesn't matter what FTDI did, if an end user was affected by it, they'd bitch and FTDI would be "wrong".
The problem is that we, as consumers, have been led to believe that we're entitled to everything we want at dirt cheap prices.
Do some reading sometime about the problems companies are having due to cheap chargers of various types. The flagrant counterfitting is rampant across the entire spectrum of electronics.
-Kevin
So here's a question that's relevant. What devices in rocketry use these chips? Any altimeters or GPS locators? Other devices?
Granted FTDI really shouldn't be releasing customer info without prior consent,
MissileWorks, Featherweight and MARSA all use them.
-Kevin
MissileWorks, Featherweight and MARSA all use them.
-Kevin
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