Getting a FTDI USB-to-Serial converter to work on Ubuntu 9.10
I bought a USB-to-Serial converter from ETTeam.com and test it with Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic kernel 2.6.31-18-generic.) I’ve found that it doesn’t show as /dev/ttyUSB0 as other generic USB-to-Serial converter do.
I’ve been googling for the solution for a while and found this bug report: ftdi serial driver broken in linux-image-2.6.31-14-generic (2.6.31-14.48)
It said that the fix is released with linux-kernel 2.6.32-13.18.
So I download a new 2.6.32 kernel package (.deb) from Ubuntu’s kernel-ppa. I installed these package with a command:
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
Now, I can load a ftdi_sio (FTDI Serial Input/Output) driver with a modprobe command. But it doesn’t recognize my device yet. I ran a lsusb command and found that my converter has a different Product ID. (It might be customized by ETTeam.com)
$ lsusb Bus 005 Device 005: ID 0403:e2e6 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd
(0403 = vendor ID, e2e6 = product ID)
To get it work, I have to run the following command:
$ sudo modprobe ftdi_sio vendor=0x0403 product=0xe2e6
Then I replug the converter and it is shown as /dev/ttyUSB0 now!
ว้าว สำเร็จ เท่
[Reply]
Does it work for You? J have similar device, and it’s shown as /dev/ttyUSB0, but it doesn’t work with Sanguino/Arduino software.
lsusb says it is:
Bus 007 Device 008: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT232 USB-Serial (UART) IC
[Reply]
nattster Reply:
September 22nd, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Currently, I use Ubuntu 10.04, and think that the bug that I mentioned
in the blog has been fixed.
I think that your device is a “multi-state” USB devices that need some
command from the OS to change its state and start working.
I faced the same problem you’ve said (with my 3G USB modem). But after I
installed the package “usb-modeswitch”, the problems were gone.
sudo apt-get install usb-modeswitch
I don’t know if this is the right fix but please see:
http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lucid/man1/usb_modeswitch.1.html for
more info.
[Reply]
Maciek Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:57 am
I will check it, but it can be something different. I have EvB 4.3 board (AVR) with built-in USB-Serial converter with FTDI chip. Many people have problem with FTDI on Linux and say, that its driver is broken. I tried Arduino to program this board, but it doesn’t work. Today I run it on Windows (with Arduino), and have the same problem
Works only with default loader on Windows…
PS
I don’t speak Thai language, but it must be good blog (I love Linux and programming). I’m student too. Do You recommend visit Thailand?
[Reply]
nattster Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:01 am
Sure! Thai food is great! You’ll love it.