You're correct on the first device.
The second device might be using a vendor-provided driver.
To find out what driver a device is using, in Device Manager, click Driver > Driver Details.
The driver defines how you access the device. If it's a vendor-provided driver, you likely will use a vendor-defined API.
I appreciate the response!
However, I'm pretty sure I don't know what an API is exactly. I know it means App Programming Interface but I'm not sure what it is exactly. I'm guessing it's NOT just some Windows app you use to run, say, my RF Synthesizer. If that were the case both of these devices do have such software but it doesn't explain why they show up differently in the Device Manager.
However, more to the heart of my issue. In the past, I've been able to connect up to "virtual COM" port devices (such as this RF Synth) using VB.net. Your book in fact goes over this quite well (thanks for that!). However, I'm not sure I know how to connect up to this other device that does NOT show up as a COM port. Would you do it the same way somehow? The reason I've asked is that I've tried to detect this device using a standard COM port Windows app and it will NOT show up. So there is something different about it that I don't understand. An answer to this would lead me to find out how I can build my own app that CAN detect this device.
Thanks for any info that can shed some light on this for me.
jom
EDIT: I forgot to ask about the drivers. If the 2nd device is using some sort of Vendor-provided driver can I assume then the driver used by the 1st device is a standard Windows driver such as usbsys or something like that? I'm only guessing here....