Not specifically Linux-related, but a frustration nonetheless..

This is documented elsewhere, but is often buried in other posts/articles/opinions..

Connecting a UART/USB cable/adapter to a SOC should be relatively simple, except that certain vendors now insist on a default speed of 1500000 instead of the traditional 115200..

I have been testing one of the ‘new’ RK3588-based systems, and had trouble with ‘garbage’ on the serial/UART link, despite having the correct speed etc. (and having the tx/rx pins connected correctly..).

It turned out that I had been using the ‘wrong’ chipset in my UART/USB cable.. The Prolific Technology PL2303-based cable does not work for that particular system, but the documentation I had was completely vague about all this..
The solution is to use a FTDI FT232-based cable, which works correctly..     Both types look very similar externally, so some judicious labelling might be in order..

Robert Gadsdon.   July 14th 2023.