Has anyone had success getting this Startech device working in Linux? The official model number is ICUSB232_4. I can't supply a URL since I've had fewer than 5 posts, but I can tell you that cdw.com's website has some info on this device. See CDW part # 713272

I can compile the driver on RH9 without errors, and it creates the file pl2303.o - of course, I don't exactly know what to do with this file. I can't seem to tell Linux that I have this device hooked up. Does anyone know what the next step is? I can't seem to find any real documentation on this thing.

Also, has anyone been successful in getting this device to work with Linux kernel 2.6? I'd love to see this thing working on FC4, but I've had zero luck even getting the driver to compile.

Any assistance or insights that you could provide would be most appreciated.

-MC

The description is here:
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/def...spx?EDC=713272

It uses usb 1.1 - so the ohci driver should get loaded for it (FC4) - does it not work out of the box?

FC4 may have trouble compiling the driver if it's source relies on depreciated c++ classes etc. FC4 uses gcc4.0. You can opt to compile the driver with gcc3.2 (FC4 comes with the legacy compiler. Called gcc32.)

However - you've compiled in RH9 ... you need to install the module. Usually the manufacturer supplies you with a script for this as part of the top makefile? (./configure, make, make install) No?

You need to put the module where modprobe can find it and modprobe <modulename> to insert it.
I think it goes someplace like:
/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/usb/serial

You may have a serial startup script to go with this module (look in the tarball). Running this will insert the module and set things up.

Though again - dosn't the usb-ohci module claim this? But now I think of it - linux should think it's a serial port ... hmmm.


Have a look at this:
http://www.linux-usb.org/FAQ.html

This: thread in LQ

This is related: ("how to use" at the bottom)
http://platformx.sourceforge.net/Rel...7_2/pl2303.txt

Simon,

I appreciate all of the information that you've supplied. It will take me a few days to digest it all. I will let you know what I discover.

FYI- Ultimately I am trying to get four modems to work with Hylafax which is the whole reason for this exercise. I will post info on my progress (or lack thereof) after I work on this for a bit.

Thanks again,
Michael

To see if it works out of the box (in FC4 - or RH9) try plugging it in, plugging a modem into one of the serial ports, then sending stuff to the port...

echo "atdt 5551234" > /dev/ttyS0

and watch the modem lights go.

try again for ttyS1, ttyS2, ttyS3, etc.
(Chances are ttyS0 and ttyS1 are onboard - COM1 and COM2)

thinks: four modems! I presume this is a laptop - otherwise you may have better luck just installing another two pci serial cards.

Simon,

I will try that, although I do know that ttyS0 and ttyS1 are for the onboard COM ports, as I've used them both (successfully) with external modems. The Hylafax documentation says that because certain limitations in the way the software operates that it is usually impossible to have more than two internal or external modems operating with Hylafax simultaneously.

I will let you know what I find out. Also, I found someone who is using this device on 2.6.12 Debian. I will be checking with him to see what magic he used to get it all to work.

Thanks again for your suggestions. I'm still very much a Linux newbie.

-MC

Simon,

I tried your trick of plugging it in and seeing if it worked... well, it did! When I plugged the device in the USB port I heard the hard drive chirp for a moment - something I had missed the last time I did this. I immediately did: ls -l /dev/ttyS* and sure enough I had these guys:
crw------- 1 uucp uucp 188, 0 Aug 26 17:43 /dev/ttyUSB0
crw-rw---- 1 root uucp 188, 1 Aug 26 17:15 /dev/ttyUSB1
crw-rw---- 1 root uucp 188, 2 Aug 26 17:15 /dev/ttyUSB2
crw-rw---- 1 root uucp 188, 3 Aug 26 17:15 /dev/ttyUSB3

Even I could figure it out from here! Thanks for reminding me that it is a good idea to check that something is actually broken before trying to fix it! I'll let the guys at StarTech.com know that it actually works right out of the box on my FC4 installation.

Thanks again for the excellent research material you gave me.

-MC

Wonderful - add this to the HCL before I do

Now you've just learned something that surprised me when I was starting out... Windows has crappy HW support. Things which require special drivers and so on in Windows just work in linux.

While you're euphoric - please take a little time to click "thanks".
TTFN