There is not a USB-to-serial class driver available in any of the various operating systems. Class drivers are what allow peripherals like mice, keyboards, & USB flash sticks to work with any PC without the need to install software. Since there is no class driver available for the TUSB3410, each silicon vendor must provide a proprietary solution for their device. The TI solution is the USB Windows Virtual COM Port, or TUSBWINVCP which includes both the PC-side driver and the device-level firmware. This solution is intended as a turn-key solution that is adequate for most customers without requiring software development. In addition to the included RS-232 firmware, TI also offers RS-485 and IrDA firmware builds. A key document to review is the VCP Implementation guide that can be downloaded at the link shown. The Linux version of this software is native to kernel 2.6.11 if enabled at compile time, but support for older kernel versions can be found at Brimson.com. MAC versions are available as well by contacting TI at usb@ti.com. The Header generator utility is used to “customize” the VCP software without doing any software development and enables modification of the USB Descriptor Information associated with the TUSB3410 and TUSBWINVCP to appear to be their own. The EEPROM burner enables programming of a blank EEPROM – with either a full EEPROM image of both header and firmware or just the header info over the USB cable.