linuxgeek: Re: [LINUX_Newbies] Lost Serial Port?

On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 8:54 PM, ve7tk@yahoo.ca [LINUX_Newbies]
<LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Is it you, or is it the Yahoo mail interface sending this in HTML
email? Ugh, it's annoying to have to convert everything back to Plain
Text... oh well... I think Newbies is more lax on this than Linux@

> I've loaded a Compaq laptop with my 1st attempt at Linux using Linux Mint. I have some test equipment that the manufacturer says will run under Linux. It interfaces via a serial <> USB port connection. The setup includes a script to detect the port. To get the serial port number you run the perl script:
>
>
> ./detect-re.pl
>
>
> I finally navigated to the appropriate DIR with the file and tried the script. The result:
>
>
> bash: ./detect-re.pl: Permission denied

Try running it like so:

# sudo ./detect-re.pl

>
> I'm not sure what that's all about but I then tried to run the script in a different manor:

I cant look at that script as you have not shared it, nor do I care to
because I loathe perl more than just about anything in the world...
BUT generally this happens because a given script is trying to run
some command that requires root privileges to get to some system level
thing.

> perl detect-re.pl
>
>
> This time it identified the test equipment and gave me the information:

Just a guess, but MAYBE this is because it's being run directly within
the interpreter? That's just a guess though, I have a feeling it's a
matter of permissions though. Either way, you seem to have gotten it
worked out.

> Serial port 1: /dev/ttyUSB0
>
>
> Now for the tricky part. The needed software is Windoze and I opened it with WINE. As instructed in the manufacturer's README file I set the port to ttyUSB0 (that's a zero and not O by the way) and restarted the software. This time I got, in part, the following:

Ugh, why do people insist on using the term Windoze? Sigh... pet peeve

> The program could not open /dev/ttyUSB0 to communicate to the analyzer
>
>
> I've only been playing with Linux for a few days and I'm quite sure that there's some pilot error involved here as the learning curve is VERY steep. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

So just a friendly suggest, generally in the Linux world, we
appreciate you doing a bit of your own leg work beforehand and then
telling us what you've read, tried and couldn't get to work. Saves a
lot of time and most of us don't have a ton of time to do your
research for you. BUT please don't take that as harshly as it sounds,
that's just how we roll, we're all about self-empowerment.

NOW, more specifically it's been forever since I last used WINE, but
Windows doesn't have the concept of tty's but instead insists on COM
ports (same thing, different nomenclature). IIRC, you have to
configure WINE to point COM1 to /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyUSB0, I don't
think WINE does that on its own.

Here's something that's at least been tested as far as Ubuntu 12.04
that explains a bit about how to point WINE to usb devices:
http://g8ogj.org/files/Using%20USB%20serial%20ports%20under%20wine%20howwto%20ipb.pdf

Additionally, a google for "wine access USB port" will yield a lot of
results that may be more or less helpful here.

Hopefully something there can point you to the right config bits to
get WINE to see the USB port and your devices.

Cheers
Jeff

Also, 73 up there in VE land, de W4KDH