getting the correct USB device for attached mobile phone

drkstr · 05-10-2006, 09:26 PM

Hello,

I just got a new cell phone and am trying to mount it to my linux box with a USB cable. I haven't yet had a lot of experience with USB devices and was needing some info on how to figure out which device I should use to access it. From what I found on the net, I am either supposed to use dmesg or 'tail /var/log/messages' to determine the correct device name, however this did not explicitly provide the device name. Is there a way to figure out the correct device form this info?

dmesg ('tail /var/log/messages' provides same info)

Code:

...
usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
usb 2-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
...

'cat /proc/bus/usb/devices'

Code:

...
T:  Bus=02 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=01 Cnt=02 Dev#=  3 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 1.10 Cls=02(comm.) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=0421 ProdID=0415 Rev= 0.00
S:  Manufacturer=Nokia
S:  Product=Nokia 9300
...

lsusb

Code:

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0421:0415 Nokia Mobile Phones 9300 GSM Smartphone
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 04e8:323a Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

note: samsung is my printer. I did not need to know the device file since cups localadmin did the configuration for me.

I am not above trial and error, but I'm not sure of the best way to test each device to see if I get a "hit". Any info on this would also be apprecieated.

Also, my USB device fails to be detected at all unless it is plugged into the next available usb port. Is this a sign of a hardware problem or just normal behavior?

thanks for the help!
...drkstr

cs-cam · 05-10-2006, 09:35 PM

Not all phones are able to be "mounted" per se, so unless you're seeing the usual mass storage device detected-style messages in dmesg you're out of luck in that department. I use Bluetooth + Openobex to talk to my phone which works great but apps like gnokii and gammu will allow you to play with your phone over USB. Google those two for more info

drkstr · 05-10-2006, 11:02 PM

My phone uses the EPOC file system and is supported in Linux with p3nfs. The filesystem is mounted with a command such as 'p3nfsd -series80 -tty <usb device> -dir <mnt DIR>' The documentation only gives an example of mounting over a serial connection so I am still trying to taylor it to my needs. Unfortunately, I can not figure out the correct device the command is looking for, and I'm pretty sure I will need to change '-tty' to something else.

Am I to understand you correctly that only USB storage devices are assigned a device file such as sda1/sda2/..etc? I would like to get p3nfs working since I should theoretically be able to mount my Linux drives on my phone as well, but I will also look into gnokii and gammu and see if my hardware is supported.

thanks for the reply!
...drkstr

cs-cam · 05-11-2006, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Am I to understand you correctly that only USB storage devices are assigned a device file such as sda1/sda2/..etc?

Yes, as far as I understand it that is correct.

Have a look in /dev, when you phone is plugged in and after dmesg has settled down, do you have a /dev/ttyUSBn? In a perfect world udev should create it and then you can use that as value for -tty and all should be sweet. Check that out and see if you run into a win

drkstr · 05-11-2006, 09:33 AM

I have never actually used udev so I decided to give it a try. It seems to make the /dev directory much easier to read. Thanks for the advice!

While I didn't see any device with the name ttyUSB*, I did see a few that seemed promising, such as:

usbdev1.1
usbdev2.1
usbdev2.2
usbdev2.3
usbdev3.1
usbdev4.1
usbdev5.1

It appears to have created a device for each of my USB ports. I would like to be able to test the device prior to using it in the command (for debugging reasons). Is there a good way to test a device to see if something is plugged into it?

thanks for the help!
...drkstr

cs-cam · 05-11-2006, 10:10 AM

Not 100% of how to test the device but with that naming scheme it's easy to find which device is your phone.

Code:

lsusb
cat /dev/usbdev*

Notice some of the numbers matching? The format is usbdevBUS.DEVICE. Maybe you could plug it in and see if there is a way on the phone to test the USB connection or maybe force something through the link? Then cat /dev/usbdev1.1 and see if anything gets dumped to your console. I know when I create an RFCOMM connection to my phone I can cat /dev/rfcomm and then send a file over Bluetooth and see the file get dumped.

drkstr · 05-11-2006, 11:36 AM

Brilliant! It appears usbdev2.3 is the device I am looking for according to 'lsusb'. I will play around with this more once I get home.

thanks you sir!
...drkstr

Mr.Gosh · 05-26-2006, 02:08 AM

Did you get it to work in any way?
I want to sync my Nokia 9300 too...

drkstr · 05-26-2006, 08:28 AM

Sort of.

What you need to do is enable 'USB Modem (CDC ACM) support' as a module in the kernel. The device it would then create for your phone would be '/dev/ttyACM0' (at least this is what udev created for it). You would then use this device to establish a TCP connection outlined in doc/usb.linux in the p3nfs source directory. These instructions are written for a different type of phone so you will need to modify them to the technical specifications of the 9300. Support for this is very small and is quite buggy. Personally, I just spent the $30 to get a bluetooh dongle since it is much easier to talk to the device though this protocol.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

regards,
...drkstr

Mr.Gosh · 05-27-2006, 07:08 AM

I have a Bluetooth dongle too, but how do you sync with your linux box over that?

cs-cam · 05-27-2006, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Gosh

I have a Bluetooth dongle too, but how do you sync with your linux box over that?

Sync what? Files, contacts? Google for it, there are plenty of ways

Mr.Gosh · 05-27-2006, 07:18 AM

but none for linux, it can only be synced over the syncml protokoll, but i dont have an syncml server...
but i will continue my search :/

cs-cam · 05-27-2006, 07:34 AM

http://nicolas.bougues.net/syncml/
http://multisync.sourceforge.net/
http://www.borowka.net/~maciek/ksyncml/index.html
http://handhelds.org/~florian/multisync/

None of those are any good for you?

den8286 · 02-17-2008, 11:44 AM

Hi, i am new to linux and i use fedora 8 (and i'm loving it).
i am trying to send sms using minicom & AT commands, so i need to know what is the file in /dev used for usb port connection.
serial port=>ttyS0 ; usb port => what? for fedora 8.
i didnt find ttyUSB but i did find usbdev 1.1 , 2.1... and also usbmon1,2,3.4. PLZ HELP THANX

Mr.Gosh · 02-19-2008, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cs-cam

http://nicolas.bougues.net/syncml/
http://multisync.sourceforge.net/
http://www.borowka.net/~maciek/ksyncml/index.html
http://handhelds.org/~florian/multisync/

None of those are any good for you?

Most of the links are dead or link to dead software, but I wanted to mention that I got synced my Nokia 9300, 9500 and 9300i with Kitchensync.

It wa sa bit triky, but after you paired the laptop and the mobile over bluetooth, you can add a new sync group to kitchensync.

I took KDE-PIM and syncml over bluetooth.
Than you have to enter the bluetooth MAC Address and change the paths to the desired adressbook and calendar events, and there you go!

I takes much longer than in OSX but it works!

This thread is cloesd, I think!