The pinout of this board matches the FTDI cable to work with official Arduino and cloned 3.3V Arduino boards. It can also be used for general serial applications. There are pros and cons to the FTDI Cable vs the FTDI Basic.
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We now use an SMD 6-pin header on the bottom, which makes it smaller and more compact. There are pros and cons to the FTDI Cable vs the FTDI Basic. This board has TX and RX LEDs that allow you to actually see serial traffic on the LEDs to verify if the board is working, but this board requires a Mini-B cable.
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The Serial Basic uses the CH340C IC to quickly and easily convert serial signals to USB.
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