Mapping an unknown USB device to a given driver

[kgolding]

I have a USB RNDIS device that it not recognised, but I have been told that the Prolific USB RNDIS driver should be compatible.

So, is there a way from me to map the "238b:0a21" id I get from lsusb to a Prolific driver? I'm really of my depth here, but also really want to get it working!

I'm using Debian 6.04, but am happy to use Ubuntu if that makes it easier?

Regards,

Kevin

[Dutch_Master]

You can, but:
1) you really need to know what you're doing and
2) it involves writing some udev rules (that require a certain syntax)

Run

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man udev

for more details on the latter. Note it might break other devices if you associate the driver wrongly....

[kgolding]

Thank you for the reply. I have been reading up on udev, and I can see how to add a rule for my device, but I can not see how to force the use of a particular driver?

Kevin

[ferrari]

Without knowing anything about the driver concerned, in general you can use the 'modinfo' command (or man page if one exists) to determine any driver options available. For example, the usbserial driver can be loaded with particular vendor and product IDs

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 modinfo usbserial
filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.37.6-0.11-desktop/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/usbserial.ko
license:        GPL
description:    USB Serial Driver core
author:         Greg Kroah-Hartman, greg@kroah.com, http://www.kroah.com/linux/
srcversion:     3F51183D19FC4ACD9619988
depends:       
vermagic:       2.6.37.6-0.11-desktop SMP preempt mod_unload modversions
parm:           vendor:User specified USB idVendor (ushort)
parm:           product:User specified USB idProduct (ushort)
parm:           debug:Debug enabled or not (bool)

As you can see, this driver has options to parse a specific chipset. So, one might have a particular hardware device that requires this driver to load via a udev rule eg

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SUBSYSTEM==”usb”, \
SYSFS{idVendor}==”19d2″, \
SYSFS{idProduct}==”0001″, \
RUN+=”/sbin/modprobe usbserial vendor=0x19d2 product=0×0001″

You will need to determine what module options are available to you.

[kgolding]

Now that looks good!

I'm trying to load the plusb (Prolific USB Network) driver on a proprietary device that I am told should work with said driver.

However, given the output below I don't think the driver will accept the PID/VID override?

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modinfo plusb
filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/usb/plusb.ko
license:        GPL
description:    Prolific PL-2301/2302 USB Host to Host Link Driver
author:         David Brownell
alias:          usb:v067Bp0001d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
alias:          usb:v067Bp0000d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
depends:        usbnet,usbcore
vermagic:       2.6.32-5-amd64 SMP mod_unload modversions


In fact... I may only need the usbnet driver:

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modinfo usbnet
filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/usb/usbnet.ko
license:        GPL
description:    USB network driver framework
author:         David Brownell
depends:        mii,usbcore
vermagic:       2.6.32-5-amd64 SMP mod_unload modversions
parm:           msg_level:Override default message level (int)


[ferrari]

I'm trying to load the plusb (Prolific USB Network) driver on a proprietary device that I am told should work with said driver.

You may not need to do anything explicitly for this device. Plug in your device and post the output of

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dmesg|tail

That will tell us what the kernel makes of it (if anything).

If there is no ethernet device evident, you could try loading the driver manually

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modprobe plusb

[kgolding]

Here's the output from dmesg after plugging the USB device in:
[ 87.004106] usb 4-1: new full speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
[ 87.128067] usb 4-1: device descriptor read/64, error -71
[ 87.356082] usb 4-1: device descriptor read/64, error -71
[ 87.572077] usb 4-1: new full speed USB device number 3 using uhci_hcd
[ 87.696123] usb 4-1: device descriptor read/64, error -71
[ 87.924079] usb 4-1: device descriptor read/64, error -71
[ 88.084104] hub 4-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 1
[ 91.088101] usb 4-1: new full speed USB device number 5 using uhci_hcd
[ 91.398819] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ether
[ 91.400398] usbcore: registered new interface driver rndis_host
[ 91.401664] usbcore: registered new interface driver rndis_wlan


And this is what lsusb shows (just the one line relating to that device):
Bus 004 Device 005: ID 238b:0a11

I think I need to tell the usbnet driver to recognised the "238b:0a11" id somehow?

Regards,

Kevin

[ferrari]

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[ 91.398819] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ether
[ 91.400398] usbcore: registered new interface driver rndis_host
[ 91.401664] usbcore: registered new interface driver rndis_wlan

This looks promising. The cdc_ether driver depends on usbnet being loaded anyway. The rndis_host driver depends on cdc_ether, and rndis_wlan depends on rndis_host. You can check what is loaded with

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lsmod |grep rndis

Check what network interface are present

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ifconfig -a

[kgolding]

Thanks again for the help so far!

lsmod is showing the drivers being loaded, but ifconfig -a is not showing any new interfaces being added.

Is there a way to add an interface and map it to the driver?

Kevin

[ferrari]

lsmod is showing the drivers being loaded, but ifconfig -a is not showing any new interfaces being added.

I'm at the limits of my knowledge here (especially as I don't have such a device to play with).

1. Is your device one of these?

http://linuxusbguide.sourceforge.net/US ... /x540.html

That was the basis for considering the plusb driver. If not, we're probably trying to go upstream without a paddle

Otherwise, try loading the plusb driver manually

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modprobe plusb

and check if plusb0 exists with the ifconfig command again.

2. BTW, how are you trying to use this device? The following post hints at this device (driver) only working between two Linux machines

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... ws-699382/

So, I assume you're not trying to plug it into a router for example?

[/url]

[kgolding]

I think I'm at the upstream, lack of paddle place, and in way over my head!

I've posted a job on oDesk in a bid to get a resolution.

Thank you VERY much for all your help.

Kevin

[ferrari]

I had a quick check of the product and vendor codes here:

http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids

You device is not listed. I would have expected the vendor code (238b) to be valid at least. (That doesn't bode well for support with a Linux driver, since the kernel depends on these for device recognition).

[ferrari]

You're welcome. Good luck!

[PCNetSpec]

Have you tried:-

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modprobe plusb
echo 238b 0a11 > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/plusb/new_id

Then re-plugging the device.

[kgolding]

Thank you for the suggestion. I have now tried that both before plugging the device in, and after plugging in it. Either way ifconfig -a is not showing an extra network interface.

Kevin