IRTrans FTDI USB to Serial Broken in 9.10

[Beezleblub]

Hiya,

I upgraded my Myth Server to 9.10 over the weekend.
All seems to work well, Except My IR Trans module.

IRTrans is using a FTDI USB/ Serial conversion.
It correctly installs the device as TTYUSB0.
But IRServer fails to connect.


This was working fine in my 9.04 installation.
IR Trans moduel works ok on my windows pc, so harware is ok too.

Have found few complaints online, but no fix this far
Anyone knows how to work-around to fix FTDI support in Karmic ?

Thanks !

[Beezleblub]

Some more detail on this issue:
Running IR Server :
sudo /usr/local/irtrans/irserver -codedump -debug_code -loglevel 4 /dev/ttyUSB0
[sudo] password for dirk:
Init Server Socket done
Init Events done
Opening Device: /dev/ttyUSB0
IRTRans Send status: 0 - 0 SEQ:121 TO:250
IRTRans Send status: 0 - 0 SEQ:121 TO:250
IRTRans Send status: 0 - 0 SEQ:121 TO:250
IRTRans Send status: 0 - 0 SEQ:121 TO:250
IRTRans Send Done: 4
IRTRans Send status: 0 - 0 SEQ:122 TO:250
IRTRans Send status: 0 - 0 SEQ:122 TO:250
IRTRans Send status: 0 - 0 SEQ:122 TO:250
IRTRans Send status: 0 - 0 SEQ:122 TO:250
IRTRans Send Done: 4
Init communication ...
Error opening COM/USB Port / LAN Device


lsusb output :
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0403:fc60 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 004: ID 046d:c714 Logitech, Inc.
Bus 005 Device 003: ID 046d:c713 Logitech, Inc.
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 046d:0b04 Logitech, Inc.
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 051c:0003 Shuttle, Inc.
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

... and dmesg |grep usb :
dmesg |grep usb
[ 0.202377] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[ 0.202377] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[ 0.202377] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[ 0.908135] usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 0.908509] usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 0.908788] usb usb3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 0.909086] usb usb4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 0.909371] usb usb5: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1.652068] usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[ 1.841709] usb 2-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 2.088020] usb 4-2: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[ 2.274334] usb 4-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 2.284159] usbcore: registered new interface driver hiddev
[ 2.302495] input: Shuttle Inc VFD Module as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.2/usb4/4-2/4-2:1.0/input/input3
[ 2.302584] generic-usb 0003:051C:0003.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Shuttle Inc VFD Module] on usb-0000:00:1d.2-2/input0
[ 2.302598] usbhid 4-2:1.1: couldn't find an input interrupt endpoint
[ 2.321297] input: Shuttle Inc VFD Module as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.2/usb4/4-2/4-2:1.2/input/input4
[ 2.321373] generic-usb 0003:051C:0003.0002: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.11 Device [Shuttle Inc VFD Module] on usb-0000:00:1d.2-2/input2
[ 2.321395] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[ 2.321399] usbhid: v2.6:USB HID core driver
[ 2.516025] usb 5-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[ 2.697680] usb 5-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 2.981616] usb 5-2.2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
[ 3.153761] usb 5-2.2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 3.165959] input: Logitech Logitech BT Mini-Receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.3/usb5/5-2/5-2.2/5-2.2:1.0/input/input5
[ 3.166048] generic-usb 0003:046D:C713.0003: input,hidraw2: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Logitech Logitech BT Mini-Receiver] on usb-0000:00:1d.3-2.2/input0
[ 3.260012] usb 5-2.3: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
[ 3.462795] usb 5-2.3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 6.553090] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 6.553161] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 6.553164] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core
[ 6.591949] input: Logitech Logitech BT Mini-Receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.3/usb5/5-2/5-2.3/5-2.3:1.0/input/input6
[ 6.592167] logitech 0003:046D:C714.0004: input,hiddev96,hidraw3: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [Logitech Logitech BT Mini-Receiver] on usb-0000:00:1d.3-2.3/input0
[ 6.663645] usb 2-1: Detected FT232BM
[ 6.663648] usb 2-1: Number of endpoints 2
[ 6.663651] usb 2-1: Endpoint 1 MaxPacketSize 64
[ 6.663654] usb 2-1: Endpoint 2 MaxPacketSize 64
[ 6.663656] usb 2-1: Setting MaxPacketSize 64
[ 6.667018] usb 2-1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 6.667086] usbcore: registered new interface driver ftdi_sio

[metalac]

I have an identical issue. Everything worked prior to upgrade to 9.10. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

I've tried everything, but nothing seems to work. A simple

cat /dev/ttyUSB0

doesn't produce anything when I push buttons. I've tried unloading/loading related modules and so forth. I'm thinking now of opening up the box and removing all of the cards I can just to verify it's not some sort of IRQ conflict issue, but I doubt it since the device seems to be created correctly.

[Alexxf]

Confirm
same problem in 9.04 working fine but on 9.10 don't work.

[Beezleblub]

It's related to :
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/460857

"either patch the proposed kernel with the
2.6.31.5 code for ftdi_sio, or maybe start over with a new kernel based
on 2.6.31.5."

How to patch the current Kernel to use the updated ftdi_sio ?
Or is is possible to upgrade the Kernel to 2.6.31.5 ?

Thanks.

[carl.fischer]

Arg! I was about to post some comments on how I'd failed to solve this problem and then X suddenly quit. Maybe that's best...

Essentially I managed to recompile the current ftdi_sio and usbserial modules by following the instructions at the top of https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelCustomBuild. You need to install the linux-source package, then unpack the contents of the tar.bz2 archive into /usr/src and run the commands in the drivers/usb/serial folder.

This doesn't help because I don't have the patches to fix the problem. The patches mentioned at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/460857 don't seem to apply directly to that source tree.

I tried downloading the latest source from kernel.org and copying the whole drivers/usb/serial folder into the ubuntu sources but this won't compile, probably because there have been changed elsewhere in the kernel that affect these modules.

For information I'm having this problem with an XSens MTx inertial sensor. The issue occurred when I upgraded to Karmic a few days ago.

[lawrni]

Hi

I've got the same issue with the ftdi driver in 9.10. Interestingly, I can use minicom to open the serial port and then my application can then speak to the ftdi usb serial device no problem. This is only a short term fix - I'd really like to know how to install the ftdi driver from downloading the 2.6.31.6 kernel source from kernel.org.

I've tried going to drivers/usb/serial and keying 'make' - but I get all sorts of compile errors (showing my in-experience here).

I think I could install the 2.6.31.6 kernel from kernel.org in ubuntu, but do I risk having other parts of my system not working if I do this ?

If anyone out there could give a quick tutorial (or show me a few links on how to do this) on how to compile and insert the new driver in the current kernel it would help me (and others) a lot I think.

[carl.fischer]

Ubuntu keeps previous kernels. You can just hit escape at the start of the boot process to get the GRUB menu, and then choose your previous kernel. That gets my USB device working again but breaks the MacBook Pro's touchpad. (The external mouse is OK so I can keep working until an update is available.)

-- Carl

[lawrni]

Hi Carl,

Maybe I'll give this a go then - just install the kernel from kernel.org and reboot. If things start to go pear-shaped, use grub to switch back to the original kernel.

I'd still be interested if there is a relatively easy way to compile the updated ftdi driver against the current kernel.

Many thanks

Nick

[xblx]

I got the irtrans to work under Karmic by compiling the 2.6.31.6 kernel from kernel.org and by replacing the ftdi_sio module. Result is a nicely working HTPC. Aside from this unfortunate issue with the ftdi_sio kernel module supplied in Karmic which hopefully will be resolved in some kernel update later on there is now out-of-the box support in lcdproc for the irtrans module.

Short summary on how I got it to work is above, the long "overkill" version is below where I recompiled the complete kernel only to get a working ftdi_sio module. I am sure that there is a faster way to do it, however I did not manage to get a module that would load by only compiling a single module. Suggestions are welcome .

Create two new directories within your home:

# cd
# mkdir kernel-tmp
# mkdir kernel
# cd kernel-tmp

Download the kernel source for 2.6.31.6 and unpack the kernel:

# wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.31.6.tar.bz2
# tar xjvf linux-2.6.31.6.tar.bz2

Download the kernel source for the current kernel using apt and satisfy the build dependencies:

# cd
# cd
# cd kernel
# sudo apt-get build-dep linux-image-$(uname -r) fakeroot
# sudo apt-get install kernel-package
# apt-get source linux-image-$(uname -r)
# cd linux-$(uname -r)

Prepare the kernel for rebuilding to the currently installed kernel:

# cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config
# make oldconfig

Answer any questions with the default answer if applicable
Remove the debugging option to avoid large file sizes:

# nano .config

Search for the string "CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO" (CTRL-W) and replace the value to "CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO=n"
Save the change using CTRL-O and exit the file with CTRL-W

Now we are changing the makefile to make sure the kernel has the same identifier as the running kernel:

# nano Makefile

Change the EXTRAVERSION value to EXTRAVERSION = -14
Save in nano with CTRL-O and exit with CTRL-X

Now copy (replace) the new source for the FTDI driver from the downloaded kernel to the source retrieved using apt

# cd
# cp kernel-tmp/linux-2.6.31.6/drivers/usb/serial/ftdi* kernel/linux-image-$(uname -r)/drivers/usb/serial/

Build the kernel using the following command:

# sudo make-kpkg --rootcmd fakeroot --initrd --append-to-version=-generic kernel-image

Test your new ftdi module:

# sudo rmmod ftdi_sio
# sudo insmod drivers/usb/serial/ftdi_sio.ko

The irserver should work now, test this by typing:

# sudo /usr/local/irtrans/irserver /dev/ttyUSB0

Make the change permanent by the following command (replace the old module):

# sudo cp drivers/usb/serial/ftdi_sio.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/

I hope this works for you as well. Let me know if the instructions work for you or if you have a faster solution.