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usb => serial port converter

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  usb => serial port converter Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-07-08 00:10 +0200
    Re: usb => serial port converter fxkl47BF@protonmail.com - 2024-07-08 00:20 +0200
    Re: usb => serial port converter gene heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2024-07-08 00:20 +0200
    Re: usb => serial port converter Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2024-07-08 00:40 +0200
      Re: usb => serial port converter Jeffrey Walton <noloader@gmail.com> - 2024-07-08 19:30 +0200
      Re: usb => serial port converter Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-07-08 17:50 +0200
        Re: usb => serial port converter Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> - 2024-07-09 03:50 +0200
    Re: usb => serial port converter Paul Duncan <paul.d@soi-team.org> - 2024-07-08 20:30 +0200
    Re: usb => serial port converter <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2024-07-08 06:50 +0200

#270908 — usb => serial port converter

What's everybody using for a usb => serial port converter?

I got a new network switch and .. OhNoes!! how to I talk to the darn thing???

I went looking thru cabinets and came up with a keyspan usb -> serial
dongle; a quick search found the site with driver downloads, but they
all were for Windows or MacOS.  I tried plugging the dongle into my
debian laptop but it didn't recognize it :(

So... what are people using to talk to serial devices now that PCs
don't come with serial ports anymore?

And what program are you using to talk to something over the serial
link?  pterm or something else?

I still have a Windows machine, so install the drivers, configure
putty to talk to COM4 & I'm good to go.  But I'm trying to get *away*
from Windows.  How do I talk to my switch over the serial port?

Thanks,
Lee

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#270909

On Sun, 7 Jul 2024, Lee wrote:

> What's everybody using for a usb => serial port converter?
>
> I got a new network switch and .. OhNoes!! how to I talk to the darn thing???
>
> I went looking thru cabinets and came up with a keyspan usb -> serial
> dongle; a quick search found the site with driver downloads, but they
> all were for Windows or MacOS.  I tried plugging the dongle into my
> debian laptop but it didn't recognize it :(
>
> So... what are people using to talk to serial devices now that PCs
> don't come with serial ports anymore?
>
> And what program are you using to talk to something over the serial
> link?  pterm or something else?
>
> I still have a Windows machine, so install the drivers, configure
> putty to talk to COM4 & I'm good to go.  But I'm trying to get *away*
> from Windows.  How do I talk to my switch over the serial port?
>
> Thanks,
> Lee
>

i've used this for many years

Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT232 Serial (UART) IC
Device Descriptor:
   bLength                18
   bDescriptorType         1
   bcdUSB               2.00
   bDeviceClass            0
   bDeviceSubClass         0
   bDeviceProtocol         0
   bMaxPacketSize0         8
   idVendor           0x0403 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd
   idProduct          0x6001 FT232 Serial (UART) IC
   bcdDevice            6.00
   iManufacturer           1 FTDI
   iProduct                2 UC232R
   iSerial                 3 FTF588Y9

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#270910

On 7/7/24 18:02, Lee wrote:
> What's everybody using for a usb => serial port converter?
> 
> I got a new network switch and .. OhNoes!! how to I talk to the darn thing???
> 
> I went looking thru cabinets and came up with a keyspan usb -> serial
> dongle; a quick search found the site with driver downloads, but they
> all were for Windows or MacOS.  I tried plugging the dongle into my
> debian laptop but it didn't recognize it :(
> 
> So... what are people using to talk to serial devices now that PCs
> don't come with serial ports anymore?
> 
> And what program are you using to talk to something over the serial
> link?  pterm or something else?
> 
> I still have a Windows machine, so install the drivers, configure
> putty to talk to COM4 & I'm good to go.  But I'm trying to get *away*
> from Windows.  How do I talk to my switch over the serial port?
See if you can find a usb-232 from FDTI. And keep looking if you see a 
Prolific, its not very good.
> 
> Thanks,
> Lee
> 
> .

Cheers, Gene Heskett, CET.
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
  soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author, 1940)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
  - Louis D. Brandeis

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#270911

Hi,

On Sun, Jul 07, 2024 at 06:02:18PM -0400, Lee wrote:
> I tried plugging the dongle into my debian laptop but it didn't
> recognize it :(

In my experience USB serial gadgets on Linux tend to just work or
will never work. The default Debian kernels do have USB serial
converter support enabled and all the drivers as modules. You'll
probably find it a better use of your time to just buy one that is
known to work, as they are quite cheap.

> So... what are people using to talk to serial devices now that PCs
> don't come with serial ports anymore?

Here are some notes from FreeBSD, which is a bit pickier than Linux
on this, so should be conservative advice:

https://wiki.freebsd.org/USB/Peripherals/Serial

> And what program are you using to talk to something over the serial
> link?  pterm or something else?

I use either minicom or GNU Screen. You'll need to know the baud
rate that the device expects, though you can just try a few common
ones and see what works. e.g.

# screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

Thanks,
Andy

-- 
https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting

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#270934

On Mon, Jul 8, 2024 at 11:56 AM Lee <ler762@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Sun, Jul 7, 2024 at 8:51 PM Andy Smith wrote:
> >
> > On Sun, Jul 07, 2024 at 06:02:18PM -0400, Lee wrote:
> > > I tried plugging the dongle into my debian laptop but it didn't
> > > recognize it :(
> >
> > In my experience USB serial gadgets on Linux tend to just work or
> > will never work.
>
> It worked this time!
> Other than plugging it into a windows machine that had the proper
> drivers first, I don't know what changed.
>
> > > And what program are you using to talk to something over the serial
> > > link?  pterm or something else?
> >
> > I use either minicom or GNU Screen. You'll need to know the baud
> > rate that the device expects, though you can just try a few common
> > ones and see what works. e.g.
> >
> > # screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200
>
> Great!  I had to add myself to the dialout group to be able to talk to
> the device, but
> screen /dev/ttyUSB0 38400
> works.

You should also add TIOCEXCL on the file descriptor to ensure
exclusive access to the device. Otherwise, other programs will try to
open the modem and probe it by sending commands to it. It will screw
up your reads on the fd.

    /* NetworkManager and ModemManager will try to open our device */
    /* on occasion. Set TIOCEXCL to ensure we get exclusive access */
    if (ioctl(fd, TIOCEXCL, NULL) == -1) {
        log_warn("Failed to set TIOCEXCL on device: %s\n", strerror(errno));
    }

Jeff

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#270948

On Sun, Jul 7, 2024 at 8:51 PM Andy Smith wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> On Sun, Jul 07, 2024 at 06:02:18PM -0400, Lee wrote:
> > I tried plugging the dongle into my debian laptop but it didn't
> > recognize it :(
>
> In my experience USB serial gadgets on Linux tend to just work or
> will never work.

It worked this time!
Other than plugging it into a windows machine that had the proper
drivers first, I don't know what changed.

> > And what program are you using to talk to something over the serial
> > link?  pterm or something else?
>
> I use either minicom or GNU Screen. You'll need to know the baud
> rate that the device expects, though you can just try a few common
> ones and see what works. e.g.
>
> # screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

Great!  I had to add myself to the dialout group to be able to talk to
the device, but
screen /dev/ttyUSB0 38400
works.

Thanks
Lee

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#270956

On 08/07/2024 22:46, Lee wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 7, 2024 at 8:51 PM Andy Smith wrote:
>> In my experience USB serial gadgets on Linux tend to just work or
>> will never work.
> 
> It worked this time!
> Other than plugging it into a windows machine that had the proper
> drivers first, I don't know what changed.

Some devices may advertise them as mass storage drives at first to 
autorun windows drivers installer. I would not expect it from a cheap 
serial port adapter though. See the usb-modeswitch package to change 
exposed USB interface from command line.

> Great!  I had to add myself to the dialout group to be able to talk to
> the device, but
> screen /dev/ttyUSB0 38400
> works.

systemd-logind may grant access to the currently active user. Search for 
"uaccess" in /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/

<https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/4288>
"Document the uaccess mechanism / dynamic device permissions"

<https://enotty.pipebreaker.pl/2012/05/23/linux-automatic-user-acl-management>
Tomasz Torcz. Linux automatic user ACL management

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#270938

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

Hi Lee,

Its very much "horses for courses".

If all you want to do is talk to network switch console ports, there are
cheap cables from Amazon that will do that.

If you *only* want a general purpose RS-232 StarTech and TrendNet should
just work.

If you want to be able to do other things like RS-422 and RS-485, I would
recommend a Moxa uPort 1150. Be aware that you will have to install the
Moxa driver to use this - its not generally included with the kernel.

Cheers,

Paul.

On Sun, 7 Jul 2024 at 22:02, Lee <ler762@gmail.com> wrote:

> What's everybody using for a usb => serial port converter?
>
> I got a new network switch and .. OhNoes!! how to I talk to the darn
> thing???
>
> I went looking thru cabinets and came up with a keyspan usb -> serial
> dongle; a quick search found the site with driver downloads, but they
> all were for Windows or MacOS.  I tried plugging the dongle into my
> debian laptop but it didn't recognize it :(
>
> So... what are people using to talk to serial devices now that PCs
> don't come with serial ports anymore?
>
> And what program are you using to talk to something over the serial
> link?  pterm or something else?
>
> I still have a Windows machine, so install the drivers, configure
> putty to talk to COM4 & I'm good to go.  But I'm trying to get *away*
> from Windows.  How do I talk to my switch over the serial port?
>
> Thanks,
> Lee
>
>

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#270939

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Sun, Jul 07, 2024 at 06:02:18PM -0400, Lee wrote:
> What's everybody using for a usb => serial port converter?
> 
> I got a new network switch and .. OhNoes!! how to I talk to the darn thing???

Most of them work with Linux anyway (some of them with some
limitations). Stick it in and look at the logs.

Usually there is a device /dev/ttyUSBxxx. That one is your
friend.

> I went looking thru cabinets and came up with a keyspan usb -> serial
> dongle; a quick search found the site with driver downloads, but they
> all were for Windows or MacOS.

Ah, the privileges of proprietary software :-) You not only get
to pay, but you get to put more dubious software into your box.

> I tried plugging the dongle into my
> debian laptop but it didn't recognize it :(

What does "lsusb" say? What does "dmesg | tail" say shortly after you
inserted your dongle?

Cheers
-- 
t

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