Help finding driver for a USB-to-RS232 dongle

neok · 2012-07-02 14:32:42

Hi,

I just received a USB-to-RS232 dongle to connect my ham radio rig (Yaesu FT-857) with my computer, for computer control. Unfortunately as usual only Windoze drivers are supplied and I can't get it to work in Arch Linux.

lsusb -v gives the following:

Bus 008 Device 002: ID 2100:9e56  
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0         8
  idVendor           0x2100 
  idProduct          0x9e56 
  bcdDevice            6.00
  iManufacturer           1 
  iProduct                2 
  iSerial                 3 
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           32
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower               90mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass    255 Vendor Specific Subclass
      bInterfaceProtocol    255 Vendor Specific Protocol
      iInterface              2 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0

From the driver CD it looks like the chipset is FTDI and I already have a different dongle that works with my Elecraft K3 rig. But it seems that the new dongle is not compatible or it may be that the manufacturer mangled the interface somehow to restrict use.
Its made by www.rtsystemsinc.com but so far no response to my email.

My thanks in advance.

Last edited by neok (2012-07-02 18:53:49)

pigiron · 2012-07-02 16:33:44

Bus 008 Device 002: ID 2100:9e56

That line is the key. The "2100" is the VendorID and the "9e56" is the ProductID of the chip. The Linux kernel (and most other kernels) use that pair of numbers to determine which devices are installed on the box... and which drivers to use.

The bad news is that numerical combination is unknown to Linux. Heck, even the chip VendorID (Intel, Samsung, Broadcom, etc) isn't known to Linux.

The good news is that a fellow ham operator seems to have possibly found a solution:

http://www.trinityos.com/HAM/CentosDigi … entos.html

Search on that web page for "9e56" for his udev rule.

But... he seems to symbolically link to something called ft857_prog. I don't know what that is, or where it can be found, or why it's needed. That rule also calls a /usr/local/sbin/RTSystems-addports.sh script which isn't included on that web page unfortunately. Perhaps you can write to him, or "connect the dots" yourself.

Anyway, perhaps that may (or may not) help.

Good luck.

Last edited by pigiron (2012-07-02 17:37:09)

Inxsible · 2012-07-02 16:51:25

neok, please edit your post and add [ code ] tags around your snippet. Makes it easier to read.

neok · 2012-07-02 19:10:09

pigiron wrote:

Bus 008 Device 002: ID 2100:9e56
The good news is that a fellow ham operator seems to have possibly found a solution:
http://www.trinityos.com/HAM/CentosDigi … entos.html
Search on that web page for "9e56" for his udev rule.

Thank you very much for this. Its a little late here now to try to make it work but I will try tomorrow and once I get it going, I will rub it into the vendor's face - because I was right: The guy above also confirms that the use of unknown ID's is deliberate, to force people to buy their control software! Mine are open source and they will include code to use their dongle ;-)

neok · 2012-07-03 18:47:49

neok wrote:

pigiron wrote:
Bus 008 Device 002: ID 2100:9e56
The good news is that a fellow ham operator seems to have possibly found a solution:
http://www.trinityos.com/HAM/CentosDigi … entos.html
Search on that web page for "9e56" for his udev rule.
Thank you very much for this. Its a little late here now to try to make it work but I will try tomorrow and once I get it going, I will rub it into the vendor's face - because I was right: The guy above also confirms that the use of unknown ID's is deliberate, to force people to buy their control software! Mine are open source and they will include code to use their dongle ;-)

OK, I got it to work eventually by using:

modprobe ftdi_sio vendor=0x2100 product=0x9e56

And I surely did let them know also! ;-)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-07-02 14:32:42

Help finding driver for a USB-to-RS232 dongle

#2 2012-07-02 16:33:44

Re: Help finding driver for a USB-to-RS232 dongle

#3 2012-07-02 16:51:25

Re: Help finding driver for a USB-to-RS232 dongle

#4 2012-07-02 19:10:09

Re: Help finding driver for a USB-to-RS232 dongle

#5 2012-07-03 18:47:49

Re: Help finding driver for a USB-to-RS232 dongle

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