It is the Prolific chipset and the drivers appear to work, having created /dev/cu.usbserial. I'm sad to report that this is helpful, but I'm still at a point where things don't work. The beginner's guide perhaps assumes that the radio is already set up to be cloned? I've tried cloning with the radio off, on, in clone mode, and in clone mode ready to TX. All of these results fail. The VX-6R is a pretty common radio, so I can't be the first user to have tried this and run into issues. I'm looking for further suggestions, and I'd be happy to update the beginner's guide to be more comprehensive for new users.
Well, first off, the beginner's guide comes from a time where CHIRP only supported Icom radios. Unlike Yaesu radios, Icom radios require no special incantation to get them to initiate their clone, so the procedure is purely software. It definitely needs some updating.
The procedure you need to follow is this:
1. Turn on the radio in clone mode 2. In chirp, go to "download from radio", choose your serial port, and hit okay. Wait for the box with the yet-to-be-filled progress bar to appear 3. Hit the button on your VX-6 that puts it into TX mode. 4. Beer (hopefully)
The trick is to make sure that the receiving side is "ready" before you start the transmitter. When programming back to the radio, reverse the steps and make sure that the radio is in RX mode before you hit okay on the chirp window to start the procedure.
Unfortunately, Yaesus are quite intolerant of deviations in the procedure and don't provide either side with an indication of the state of the other. Makes it kinda clunky.
Let me know how you make out!