USB FTDI support on ARM?

[bsrdjan]

Hello,

according to FTDI web site, virtual COM port USB drivers are currently not supported on ARM platforms and I see that users of ARM boards are struggling with that problem, discuss on forums etc.

Is it likely to expect the solution any time soon and is there any workaround to use virtual COM ports over FTDI USB on iMX233, for the time being?

With A13, the situation is probably the same?

Thanks and regards,
srdjan

[davidjf2001]

There are no problems at all using FTDI devices in linux, you just need to build the modules.

[bsrdjan]

Thanks. Some more information would be great, like which modules, where to download and how to start getting virtual COM port over FTDI USB working? I connected FTDI USB device to RPi and it creates /dev/ttyUSB0 device, works good. How to achieve the same on iMX233?

[davidjf2001]

For now you have to rebuild the kernel and enable FTDI serial. I don't know of any repository of (pre-built) modules for the standard kernel. It would be nice if Olimex could host this.  Add a usb hard drive to your setup, create a swap file and build per archlinuxarm instructions.  I expect it will take a number of hours building on the board itself. I build on a OpenRD system which has a Sata drive and more memory so it is much faster.

[xxcn]

My current stock archlinuxarm kernel has support for my FTDI cable:

Code Select Expand

[root@oli ~]# uname -a
Linux oli 2.6.35-7-ARCH+ #1 PREEMPT Wed Sep 19 05:23:48 UTC 2012 armv5tejl GNU/Linux
[root@oli ~]# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT232 USB-Serial (UART) IC
[root@oli ~]# ll /dev/ttyUSB0
crw-rw---- 1 root uucp 188, 0 Jan  5  1970 /dev/ttyUSB0
[root@oli ~]#


You can install the kernel with:

Code Select Expand


pacman -Sy
pacman -S kernel26-olinuxino


[bsrdjan]

this works! Thanks a lot 

My current stock archlinuxarm kernel has support for my FTDI cable:

Code Select Expand

[root@oli ~]# uname -a
Linux oli 2.6.35-7-ARCH+ #1 PREEMPT Wed Sep 19 05:23:48 UTC 2012 armv5tejl GNU/Linux
[root@oli ~]# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT232 USB-Serial (UART) IC
[root@oli ~]# ll /dev/ttyUSB0
crw-rw---- 1 root uucp 188, 0 Jan  5  1970 /dev/ttyUSB0
[root@oli ~]#


You can install the kernel with:

Code Select Expand


pacman -Sy
pacman -S kernel26-olinuxino


[bsrdjan]

this needs to be done to grant non-root user access to /dev/ttyUSB

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Udev#Accessing_Firmware_Programmers_and_USB_Virtual_Comm_Devices

[xxcn]

Or, just add your user to the uucp group.