On Wed 16 Jan 2013 22:46:52 NZDT +1300, Derek Smithies wrote: > The device recognition stuff on Ubuntu works a treat and they show > up as /dev/ttyUSB0 ... /dev/ttyUSB1....
The device recognition stuff on every other distro works just fine too. I don't understand why people have to make this sort of thing distro specific all the time... Where you need to intervene manually is to hack udev into shape to give you constant symlinks for each FtDI chip you have, and they're on a lot of electronic boards like Arduinos too. Say you have two adapter cables that are the same, you can label them A and B, and create yourself symlinks /dev/ttyUSB_A and /dev/ttyUSB_B, and you always know which one to use regardless of how you plug them into the computer. The mechanism isn't so well documented (like everything udev), plus it changed some years back and if you google old instructions then best case you get a syntax error, worst case your efforts will be quietly ignored. I've put my config file here: http://volker.top.geek.nz/linux/tech/ > Some linux software is really good - the old favourite was minicom > with all the dial strings removed. I find cu (part of uucp, which you don't have a use for any more) and screen by far easier to use, like screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200 minicom always is a royal PITA because of its insistence on handling the historic and no longer present modem in between (even if you remove all the modem strings) and its stupid config file handling (also originating from modems). What you want is a simple program that handles the serial port only and doesn't waste your time on modems. Unfortuanately there isn't a good one of those for *nix, cu and screen only give basic port control (requiring stty for the rest, still easier than minicom and could be scripted), and cu works very well inside konsole. > cutecom is a great gui adaptor for showing you the text you type > that goes out the port, and the response back. I find an X terminal running a program of choice (like konsole, cu) much better, especially as that doesn't move the input field to somewhere else on the screen. > The Dick Smith ones work fine - they do not have driver disks, which > is a strong implication they are cross platform. They were always cross-platform, and they used to have driver disks before DSE decided to sell them for exorbitant prices and drop the disk because now even billyware has the driver included. Go nicegear for a fraction of the price. Nick, usual problem with identifying chipsets... take your lappie into the shop, plug the USB thing in and run lsusb. If it says prolific keep looking. Volker -- Volker Kuhlmann http://volker.dnsalias.net/ Please do not CC list postings to me. _______________________________________________ Linux-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.canterbury.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
