USB driver for linux for IO with CubesatKit

[datahaki]

We would like to exchange data between

Cool SpaceRunner-LX800 PC/104-Plus Single Board Computer running Debian 2.6.32 Squeeze

and Pumpkin Cubesat-kit muC (alternatively Cubesat-kit Motherboard)

via USB (so that we don't need extra hardware to convert from COM to UART).

1) Does pumpkin provide usb drivers for Linux to enable connection between sbc to Cubesat Kit / Flightmotherboard 2003-2008, or can you point us to a driver of a 3rd party... ?
2) Another general question: where does the usb show up in linux /dev/...

Thank you and greetings from Singapore,
Jan

[aek]

Pumpkin uses the FT232 chip from FTDI -- http://www.ftdichip.com.

This USB-to-serial converter is ubiquitous, and is supported in all modern operating systems.

However, Pumpkin uses its own PID and VID, and preprograms each FT232 chip with its own custom settings. We used a VID of 0403 and a PID of F020 for each Development Board (DB) and Motherboard (MB). This is a unique combination, and differs from the default that the FT232 is provided with. See e.g. p.6 of http://www.cubesatkit.com/docs/datashee ... 0297-E.pdf .

We provide dedicated USB drivers (via modifications to FTDI's driver files) for:

• Windows 2k, XP, etc.
• Windows 7, etc.
• Mac OS X

We do not yet provide a driver for Linux, but of course FTDI does.

As a CubeSat Kit user on Linux, you can either

• Modify FTDI's Linux driver for use with Pumpkin's VID and PID, or
• Reprogram the FT232R in the CubeSat Kit using FTDI's MPROG/FT_Prog utility with the standard VID, PID and other settings, and it will work immediately with default drivers

I don't recall where the CubeSat Kit shows up in a Linux list of devices, but it's pretty trivial -- I did it e.g. on a Mac.

We will put the MPROG/FT_PROG files for CSK Rev A- Rev E online shortly.

The reason for having uniquely programmed FT232 chips in the CSK is that it is easier to distinguish what is Pumpkin equipment and what are other USB devices in a large system, via the unique text strings associated with the Pumpkin hardware, e.g. when adding new devices in Windows.

We used FT232B chips on Rev A-C, then FT232R from Rev D onwards.

[aek]

We have placed the FT_Prog (FTDI EEPROM programming utility) files for Rev A - Rev E of the CSK DB and CSK MB online at http://www.cubesatkit.com/driver/usb/eeprom/ .