Problem connecting to Meade #497 Autostar controller using KStars

[Chuck_Sterling]

I have a USB to serial converter and homemade #505 (Meade) cable
connected to a Meade #497 Autostar, which works okay in WinXP with
Cartes du Ceil, but not using KStars and Fedora Core 2 (up to date as
of now). Might help to know the device name I should use, but I do not
know how to determine that. In WinXP it's com3, fwiw. Any helpful
suggestions?

Chuck Sterling

[Steve Maddison]

Chuck_Sterling wrote:

Hi Chuck,

The COM3 device would be /dev/ttyS2 under Linux, but bare in mind that
this is probably a virtual port under Windows and therefore won't map
directly to a Linux device at all. IIRC the driver for the adapter
creates the COM device, which is basically a hack to allow Windows-based
programs to "see" an extra serial port which doesn't actually exist.
Under Linux, /dev/ttyS2 represents an *actual* serial port, should you
have it (which you don't).

However - the kernel module usb-serial supports a lot of these adapters.
You did the right thing posting all the details and model numbers, but
seem to have missed the important one ;-) Supported devices are listed
in the kernel source docs under: Documentation/usb/usb-serial.txt
You should end up with devices like /dev/usb/ttyUSB0, which you can then
use as if there were regualr serial ports.

Another place to look for details would be here:
http://www.linux-usb.org/USB-guide/x356.html

On my system (Debian Sarge) the module isn't compiled by default. This
may be different in Fedora but otherwise you'll need to compile it yourself.


Best of luck,

Steve

--
Steve Maddison
Den Haag, The Netherlands
http://www.cosam.org/

[Chuck_Sterling]

Steve Maddison wrote:


Thanks for the feedback. I'll see what else I can learn based on your
advice. The usb-serial converter I have is from (gasp) Radio Shack. The
installation sheet indicates that your analysis of its behavior under
WinXP is correct: "After installing the software, Device Manager
generates an additional COM Port, RadioShack USB to Serial Cable (COM3)
for connecting any RS232 serial device." Of course there is no mention
of non-Windows operating systems...

Thanks again,
Chuck

[Steve Maddison]

Chuck_Sterling wrote:

I can imagine the Radio Shack version is made by someone else and
rebadged. The usb-serial driver supports many different types, one of
which is likely to be the same as, or at least compatable with, yours.
There's also a generic driver, as a last resort. You may be able to get
a better idea of what you've got by plugging it in and running lsusb(8).

Let us know how it goes!

--
Steve Maddison
Den Haag, The Netherlands
http://www.cosam.org/

[Chuck_Sterling]

Steve Maddison wrote:


Jasem Mutlaq from KStars yesterday noticed my similar message in a
Fedora newsgroup and suggested that I check the permissions on
the /dev/ttyUSB0 device, and of course that simple thing was something
I overlooked. Once I gave my user account rw access, the scope was
found and now responds. I did find confusing the fact that there appear
to be two separate sets of these devices, one in /dev and the other
in /dev/usb. If I can believe the disparate permissions they are two
separate sets, but may be linked in some way I do not understand. IAC,
the ones in /dev are the ones I specified in the setup.

I also found that the convenient USB hub on top of the PC cabinet, while
it worked with the converter and scope under WinXP, did not work with
them under FC2, although I routinely use it with Lexar Jumpdrives and
the like. I moved the converter to a port on the main board, where it
works as advertised.

Thanks for your feedback.

Chuck

[Steve Maddison]

Chuck_Sterling wrote:

Good to hear you got it working! I'm a bit fuzzy on the whole /dev stuff
myself. IIRC the files directly under /dev are real files, whereas those
under /dev/*/ are dynamically assigned by the kernel depending on what
harware is present in the machine. Something like that, anyway...


That's strange... although it could be that the hub is seen as a
separate device, meaning the serial adapter would be given a different
device name.

--Steve