Note:​ You only need to install the drivers once on each laptop you use to connect to an X8

machine.

Connecting your Windows laptop to an X8 node

1. Download and install PuTTY from
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html
2. Download the USB driver from
https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-d
rivers
1. Right-click the installer and choose Run as administrator and follow the install
prompts.
3. Plug the USB-A cable into your laptop.
4. On the back of the server, plug the other end of the USB-B cable into the node you're
working on.
5. In your Start menu, search for Device Manager.
1. Double-click to open Device Manager.
2. expand the Ports (COM & LPT) section.
3. Look for a device named Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge (COM#)
and NOTE the COM number, this will be used in step 6a.
6. Open PuTTY and select the Serial button.
1. Enter the COM# in the Host Name field.
2. In the Speed field, enter 115200.
3. Click Open to open a terminal window.
7. In the terminal window, press Enter.

Note:​ If the server is not powered on, it will appear to connect to your laptop, but nothing will
appear to be there.

Connecting your MAC/OSX laptop to an X8 node

1. Download the USB driver from
https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-d
rivers#mac
1. Click Mac OS > Download VCP (832 KB) to download the file.
2. Open the folder. Double-click on the SiLabsUSBDriverDisk.dmg file to mount
the drive. A new folder opens.
3. Double-click the Silicon Labs VCP Driver.pkg file to open an installer, which
guides you through installation.
2. Plug the USB-A cable into your laptop.
3. On the back of the server, plug the other end of the USB-B cable into the node you're
working on.
4. Open a terminal screen
1. Launch Spotlight by pressing Cmd + Space.
2. Type terminal
3. Select the Terminal app.
 4. In the Terminal window, enter the command: screen
/dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART 115200n8
5. A blank window opens, if nothing happens, hit enter a few times.

Note:​ If the server is not powered on, it will appear to connect to your laptop, but nothing will
appear to be there.
Note:​ You can only connect your laptop to one node at a time. If you get a message like
"Sorry, could not find a PTY," you probably have too many screen sessions running. To
verify this, run: screen -ls. Close the other screen sessions and try again.

Connecting your Linux laptop to an X8 node

1. Download and install the USB driver from
https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-d
rivers
2. Plug the USB-A cable into your laptop.
3. On the back of the server, plug the other end of the USB-B cable into the node you're
working on.
4. To access the console, enter either command:
5. minicom -b 115200 -D /dev/ttyUSB0
6. screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

Note:​ If the server is not powered on, it will appear to connect to your laptop, but nothing will
appear to be there.