INTRODUCTION
The USB serial driver currently supports a number of different USB to
serial converter products, as well as some devices that use a serial
interface from userspace to talk to the device.
See the individual product section below for specific information about
the different devices.
CONFIGURATION
Currently the driver can handle up to 256 different serial interfaces at
one time.
The major number that the driver uses is 188 so to use the driver,
create the following nodes:
mknod /dev/ttyUSB0 c 188 0
mknod /dev/ttyUSB1 c 188 1
mknod /dev/ttyUSB2 c 188 2
mknod /dev/ttyUSB3 c 188 3
.
.
.
mknod /dev/ttyUSB254 c 188 254
mknod /dev/ttyUSB255 c 188 255
When the device is connected and recognized by the driver, the driver
will print to the system log, which node(s) the device has been bound
to.
SPECIFIC DEVICES SUPPORTED
ConnectTech WhiteHEAT 4 port converter
ConnectTech has been very forthcoming with information about their
device, including providing a unit to test with.
The driver is officially supported by Connect Tech Inc.
http://www.connecttech.com
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact
Connect Tech's Support Department at support@connecttech.com
HandSpring Visor, Palm USB, and Clié USB driver
This driver works with all HandSpring USB, Palm USB, and Sony Clié USB
devices.
Only when the device tries to connect to the host, will the device show
up to the host as a valid USB device. When this happens, the device is
properly enumerated, assigned a port, and then communication _should_ be
possible. The driver cleans up properly when the device is removed, or
the connection is canceled on the device.
NOTE:
This means that in order to talk to the device, the sync button must be
pressed BEFORE trying to get any program to communicate to the device.
This goes against the current documentation for pilot-xfer and other
packages, but is the only way that it will work due to the hardware
in the device.
When the device is connected, try talking to it on the second port
(this is usually /dev/ttyUSB1 if you do not have any other usb-serial
devices in the system.) The system log should tell you which port is
the port to use for the HotSync transfer. The "Generic" port can be used
for other device communication, such as a PPP link.
For some Sony Clié devices, /dev/ttyUSB0 must be used to talk to the
device. This is true for all OS version 3.5 devices, and most devices
that have had a flash upgrade to a newer version of the OS. See the
kernel system log for information on which is the correct port to use.
If after pressing the sync button, nothing shows up in the system log,
try resetting the device, first a hot reset, and then a cold reset if
necessary. Some devices need this before they can talk to the USB port
properly.
Devices that are not compiled into the kernel can be specified with module
parameters. e.g. modprobe visor vendor=0x54c product=0x66
There is a webpage and mailing lists for this portion of the driver at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/usbvisor/
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact Greg
Kroah-Hartman at greg@kroah.com
PocketPC PDA Driver
This driver can be used to connect to Compaq iPAQ, HP Jornada, Casio EM500
and other PDAs running Windows CE 3.0 or PocketPC 2002 using a USB
cable/cradle.
Most devices supported by ActiveSync are supported out of the box.
For others, please use module parameters to specify the product and vendor
id. e.g. modprobe ipaq vendor=0x3f0 product=0x1125
The driver presents a serial interface (usually on /dev/ttyUSB0) over
which one may run ppp and establish a TCP/IP link to the PDA. Once this
is done, you can transfer files, backup, download email etc. The most
significant advantage of using USB is speed - I can get 73 to 113
kbytes/sec for download/upload to my iPAQ.
This driver is only one of a set of components required to utilize
the USB connection. Please visit http://synce.sourceforge.net which
contains the necessary packages and a simple step-by-step howto.
Once connected, you can use Win CE programs like ftpView, Pocket Outlook
from the PDA and xcerdisp, synce utilities from the Linux side.
To use Pocket IE, follow the instructions given at
http://www.tekguru.co.uk/EM500/usbtonet.htm to achieve the same thing
on Win98. Omit the proxy server part; Linux is quite capable of forwarding
packets unlike Win98. Another modification is required at least for the
iPAQ - disable autosync by going to the Start/Settings/Connections menu
and unchecking the "Automatically synchronize ..." box. Go to
Start/Programs/Connections, connect the cable and select "usbdial" (or
whatever you named your new USB connection). You should finally wind
up with a "Connected to usbdial" window with status shown as connected.
Now start up PIE and browse away.
If it doesn't work for some reason, load both the usbserial and ipaq module
with the module parameter "debug" set to 1 and examine the system log.
You can also try soft-resetting your PDA before attempting a connection.
Other functionality may be possible depending on your PDA. According to
Wes Cilldhaire <billybobjoehenrybob@hotmail.com>, with the Toshiba E570,
...if you boot into the bootloader (hold down the power when hitting the
reset button, continuing to hold onto the power until the bootloader screen
is displayed), then put it in the cradle with the ipaq driver loaded, open
a terminal on /dev/ttyUSB0, it gives you a "USB Reflash" terminal, which can
be used to flash the ROM, as well as the microP code.. so much for needing
Toshiba's $350 serial cable for flashing!! :D
NOTE: This has NOT been tested. Use at your own risk.
For any questions or problems with the driver, please contact Ganesh
Varadarajan <ganesh@veritas.com>
Keyspan PDA Serial Adapter
Single port DB-9 serial adapter, pushed as a PDA adapter for iMacs (mostly
sold in Macintosh catalogs, comes in a translucent white/green dongle).
Fairly simple device. Firmware is homebrew.
This driver also works for the Xircom/Entrega single port serial adapter.
Current status:
Things that work:
basic input/output (tested with 'cu')
blocking write when serial line can't keep up
changing baud rates (up to 115200)
getting/setting modem control pins (TIOCM{GET,SET,BIS,BIC})
sending break (although duration looks suspect)
Things that don't:
device strings (as logged by kernel) have trailing binary garbage
device ID isn't right, might collide with other Keyspan products
changing baud rates ought to flush tx/rx to avoid mangled half characters
Big Things on the todo list:
parity, 7 vs 8 bits per char, 1 or 2 stop bits
HW flow control
not all of the standard USB descriptors are handled: Get_Status, Set_Feature
O_NONBLOCK, select()
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact Brian
Warner at warner@lothar.com
Keyspan USA-series Serial Adapters
Single, Dual and Quad port adapters - driver uses Keyspan supplied
firmware and is being developed with their support.
Current status:
The USA-18X, USA-28X, USA-19, USA-19W and USA-49W are supported and
have been pretty thoroughly tested at various baud rates with 8-N-1
character settings. Other character lengths and parity setups are
presently untested.
The USA-28 isn't yet supported though doing so should be pretty
straightforward. Contact the maintainer if you require this
functionality.
More information is available at:
http://www.carnationsoftware.com/carnation/Keyspan.html
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact Hugh
Blemings at hugh@misc.nu
FTDI Single Port Serial Driver
This is a single port DB-25 serial adapter.
Devices supported include:
-TripNav TN-200 USB GPS
-Navis Engineering Bureau CH-4711 USB GPS
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact Bill Ryder.
ZyXEL omni.net lcd plus ISDN TA
This is an ISDN TA. Please report both successes and troubles to
azummo@towertech.it
Cypress M8 CY4601 Family Serial Driver
This driver was in most part developed by Neil "koyama" Whelchel. It
has been improved since that previous form to support dynamic serial
line settings and improved line handling. The driver is for the most
part stable and has been tested on an smp machine. (dual p2)
Chipsets supported under CY4601 family:
CY7C63723, CY7C63742, CY7C63743, CY7C64013
Devices supported:
-DeLorme's USB Earthmate GPS (SiRF Star II lp arch)
-Cypress HID->COM RS232 adapter
Note: Cypress Semiconductor claims no affiliation with the
hid->com device.
Most devices using chipsets under the CY4601 family should
work with the driver. As long as they stay true to the CY4601
usbserial specification.
Technical notes:
The Earthmate starts out at 4800 8N1 by default... the driver will
upon start init to this setting. usbserial core provides the rest
of the termios settings, along with some custom termios so that the
output is in proper format and parsable.
The device can be put into sirf mode by issuing NMEA command:
$PSRF100,<protocol>,<baud>,<databits>,<stopbits>,<parity>*CHECKSUM
$PSRF100,0,9600,8,1,0*0C
It should then be sufficient to change the port termios to match this
to begin communicating.
As far as I can tell it supports pretty much every sirf command as
documented online available with firmware 2.31, with some unknown
message ids.
The hid->com adapter can run at a maximum baud of 115200bps. Please note
that the device has trouble or is incapable of raising line voltage properly.
It will be fine with null modem links, as long as you do not try to link two
together without hacking the adapter to set the line high.
The driver is smp safe. Performance with the driver is rather low when using
it for transferring files. This is being worked on, but I would be willing to
accept patches. An urb queue or packet buffer would likely fit the bill here.
If you have any questions, problems, patches, feature requests, etc. you can
contact me here via email:
dignome@gmail.com
(your problems/patches can alternately be submitted to usb-devel)
Digi AccelePort Driver
This driver supports the Digi AccelePort USB 2 and 4 devices, 2 port
(plus a parallel port) and 4 port USB serial converters. The driver
does NOT yet support the Digi AccelePort USB 8.
This driver works under SMP with the usb-uhci driver. It does not
work under SMP with the uhci driver.
The driver is generally working, though we still have a few more ioctls
to implement and final testing and debugging to do. The parallel port
on the USB 2 is supported as a serial to parallel converter; in other
words, it appears as another USB serial port on Linux, even though
physically it is really a parallel port. The Digi Acceleport USB 8
is not yet supported.
Please contact Peter Berger (pberger@brimson.com) or Al Borchers
(alborchers@steinerpoint.com) for questions or problems with this
driver.
Belkin USB Serial Adapter F5U103
Single port DB-9/PS-2 serial adapter from Belkin with firmware by eTEK Labs.
The Peracom single port serial adapter also works with this driver, as
well as the GoHubs adapter.
Current status:
The following have been tested and work:
Baud rate 300-230400
Data bits 5-8
Stop bits 1-2
Parity N,E,O,M,S
Handshake None, Software (XON/XOFF), Hardware (CTSRTS,CTSDTR)*
Break Set and clear
Line control Input/Output query and control **
* Hardware input flow control is only enabled for firmware
levels above 2.06. Read source code comments describing Belkin
firmware errata. Hardware output flow control is working for all
firmware versions.
** Queries of inputs (CTS,DSR,CD,RI) show the last
reported state. Queries of outputs (DTR,RTS) show the last
requested state and may not reflect current state as set by
automatic hardware flow control.
TO DO List:
-- Add true modem control line query capability. Currently tracks the
states reported by the interrupt and the states requested.
-- Add error reporting back to application for UART error conditions.
-- Add support for flush ioctls.
-- Add everything else that is missing :)
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact William
Greathouse at wgreathouse@smva.com
Empeg empeg-car Mark I/II Driver
This is an experimental driver to provide connectivity support for the
client synchronization tools for an Empeg empeg-car mp3 player.
Tips:
* Don't forget to create the device nodes for ttyUSB{0,1,2,...}
* modprobe empeg (modprobe is your friend)
* emptool --usb /dev/ttyUSB0 (or whatever you named your device node)
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact Gary
Brubaker at xavyer@ix.netcom.com
MCT USB Single Port Serial Adapter U232
This driver is for the MCT USB-RS232 Converter (25 pin, Model No.
U232-P25) from Magic Control Technology Corp. (there is also a 9 pin
Model No. U232-P9). More information about this device can be found at
the manufacturer's web-site: http://www.mct.com.tw.
The driver is generally working, though it still needs some more testing.
It is derived from the Belkin USB Serial Adapter F5U103 driver and its
TODO list is valid for this driver as well.
This driver has also been found to work for other products, which have
the same Vendor ID but different Product IDs. Sitecom's U232-P25 serial
converter uses Product ID 0x230 and Vendor ID 0x711 and works with this
driver. Also, D-Link's DU-H3SP USB BAY also works with this driver.
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact Wolfgang
Grandegger at wolfgang@ces.ch
Inside Out Networks Edgeport Driver
This driver supports all devices made by Inside Out Networks, specifically
the following models:
Edgeport/4
Rapidport/4
Edgeport/4t
Edgeport/2
Edgeport/4i
Edgeport/2i
Edgeport/421
Edgeport/21
Edgeport/8
Edgeport/8 Dual
Edgeport/2D8
Edgeport/4D8
Edgeport/8i
Edgeport/2 DIN
Edgeport/4 DIN
Edgeport/16 Dual
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact Greg
Kroah-Hartman at greg@kroah.com
REINER SCT cyberJack pinpad/e-com USB chipcard reader
Interface to ISO 7816 compatible contactbased chipcards, e.g. GSM SIMs.
Current status:
This is the kernel part of the driver for this USB card reader.
There is also a user part for a CT-API driver available. A site
for downloading is TBA. For now, you can request it from the
maintainer (linux-usb@sii.li).
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact
linux-usb@sii.li
Prolific PL2303 Driver
This driver supports any device that has the PL2303 chip from Prolific
in it. This includes a number of single port USB to serial converters,
more than 70% of USB GPS devices (in 2010), and some USB UPSes. Devices
from Aten (the UC-232) and IO-Data work with this driver, as does
the DCU-11 mobile-phone cable.
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact Greg
Kroah-Hartman at greg@kroah.com
KL5KUSB105 chipset / PalmConnect USB single-port adapter
Current status:
The driver was put together by looking at the usb bus transactions
done by Palm's driver under Windows, so a lot of functionality is
still missing. Notably, serial ioctls are sometimes faked or not yet
implemented. Support for finding out about DSR and CTS line status is
however implemented (though not nicely), so your favorite autopilot(1)
and pilot-manager -daemon calls will work. Baud rates up to 115200
are supported, but handshaking (software or hardware) is not, which is
why it is wise to cut down on the rate used is wise for large
transfers until this is settled.
Options supported:
If this driver is compiled as a module you can pass the following
options to it:
debug - extra verbose debugging info
(default: 0; nonzero enables)
use_lowlatency - use low_latency flag to speed up tty layer
when reading from the device.
(default: 0; nonzero enables)
See http://www.uuhaus.de/linux/palmconnect.html for up-to-date
information on this driver.
Winchiphead CH341 Driver
This driver is for the Winchiphead CH341 USB-RS232 Converter. This chip
also implements an IEEE 1284 parallel port, I2C and SPI, but that is not
supported by the driver. The protocol was analyzed from the behaviour
of the Windows driver, no datasheet is available at present.
The manufacturer's website: http://www.winchiphead.com/.
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact
frank@kingswood-consulting.co.uk.
Moschip MCS7720, MCS7715 driver
These chips are present in devices sold by various manufacturers, such as Syba
and Cables Unlimited. There may be others. The 7720 provides two serial
ports, and the 7715 provides one serial and one standard PC parallel port.
Support for the 7715's parallel port is enabled by a separate option, which
will not appear unless parallel port support is first enabled at the top-level
of the Device Drivers config menu. Currently only compatibility mode is
supported on the parallel port (no ECP/EPP).
TODO:
- Implement ECP/EPP modes for the parallel port.
- Baud rates higher than 115200 are currently broken.
- Devices with a single serial port based on the Moschip MCS7703 may work
with this driver with a simple addition to the usb_device_id table. I
don't have one of these devices, so I can't say for sure.
Generic Serial driver
If your device is not one of the above listed devices, compatible with
the above models, you can try out the "generic" interface. This
interface does not provide any type of control messages sent to the
device, and does not support any kind of device flow control. All that
is required of your device is that it has at least one bulk in endpoint,
or one bulk out endpoint.
To enable the generic driver to recognize your device, provide
echo <vid> <pid> >/sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/generic/new_id
where the <vid> and <pid> is replaced with the hex representation of your
device's vendor id and product id.
If the driver is compiled as a module you can also provide one id when
loading the module
insmod usbserial vendor=0x#### product=0x####
This driver has been successfully used to connect to the NetChip USB
development board, providing a way to develop USB firmware without
having to write a custom driver.
For any questions or problems with this driver, please contact Greg
Kroah-Hartman at greg@kroah.com
CONTACT:
If anyone has any problems using these drivers, with any of the above
specified products, please contact the specific driver's author listed
above, or join the Linux-USB mailing list (information on joining the
mailing list, as well as a link to its searchable archive is at
http://www.linux-usb.org/ )
Greg Kroah-Hartman
greg@kroah.com