Installing USB-to-Serial Drivers for Proton AI Core

To program Proton AI Core over USB-C, your computer needs the correct USB driver installed. Without it, your operating system won’t recognize the board as a serial device and it won’t appear as an available port in Arduino IDE or PlatformIO.

Proton AI Core uses either a CP210x (Silicon Labs) or CH340/CH341 (WCH) USB-to-serial chip depending on the board revision. Check the chip markings on your board, then follow the matching driver section below.

Installation

Windows
macOS
Linux

Check Device Manager firstPlug Proton AI Core into your computer using a USB-C data cable, then open Device Manager (press Win + X and select Device Manager). Expand the Ports (COM & LPT) section.

If you see a named COM port (e.g., Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge (COM4) or USB-SERIAL CH340 (COM3)), the driver is already installed and you’re ready to go.
If you see Unknown Device under “Other devices”, you need to install the driver manually.

Download and install the appropriate driver:

CP210x (Silicon Labs): Download from silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers. Run the installer and follow the prompts.
CH340/CH341 (WCH): Download from wch-ic.com/downloads/CH341SER_EXE.html. Run CH341SER.EXE and click Install.

After installation, unplug and re-plug the board. It should now appear in Device Manager as COM3, COM4, or similar under Ports (COM & LPT).

Check if the driver is already presentPlug Proton AI Core into your computer using a USB-C data cable, then open Terminal and run:

ls /dev/cu.*

If you see /dev/cu.usbmodem... or /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART, the driver is already active and you’re ready to go.Driver installation by chip:

CH340/CH341: Modern macOS (10.14 Mojave and later) includes a built-in CH340 driver for most boards. No additional installation is needed.
CP210x (Silicon Labs): Download the macOS VCP driver from silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers. Open the .dmg file and run the installer package.

After installation, re-plug the board. It should appear as /dev/cu.usbmodem... or /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART in Terminal.If macOS blocks the driver:Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Allow next to the message about the blocked system software. You may need to restart your Mac for the change to take effect.

Check if the driver is already loadedMost Linux distributions include kernel drivers for both CH340 (ch341) and CP210x (cp210x) out of the box. Plug in the board and run:

dmesg | tail -20

Look for a line like usb 1-1: ch341-uart converter now attached to ttyUSB0 or cp210x converter now attached to ttyUSB0. If you see it, the driver loaded successfully.The board appears as /dev/ttyUSB0 or /dev/ttyACM0 depending on the chip.Add yourself to the dialout groupBy default, serial ports are only accessible to the root user and members of the dialout group. Run the following command to add your user account:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

Log out and back in for the group change to take effect. You can verify it worked by running groups and confirming dialout appears in the output.

Troubleshooting

If you’re still having trouble after following the steps above, try the solutions below. Board not detected at all Try a different USB-C cable. Many cables are charge-only and have no data lines — they will power the board but your computer will never see it as a USB device. Use a cable you know supports data transfer. Driver installed but port missing Unplug the board, wait 5 seconds, and plug it back in. Also try a different USB port on your computer. Some USB hubs can cause enumeration issues; connecting directly to a port on your machine is more reliable. Permission denied on Linux Make sure you completed the dialout group step above and have fully logged out and back in (or rebooted). You can confirm your group membership with:

groups $USER

If dialout does not appear, re-run the usermod command and log out again.

​Installation

​Troubleshooting

Installation

Troubleshooting