Cost as as well as manufacturing complexity. And cost for postage - I had planned to send the adapter glued to a postcard but an adapter with active components would be so expensive that I would feel uncomfortable about the risk losing a few and having to send replacements out.
I could make a version that you have to populate with a FT232r, a smd mini-usb plug , a 1.8v source and two capacitors.
-blkhawk
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