[Elecraft] COM port problems

Thu Jul 7 03:58:29 EDT 2022

On 06/07/2022 16:46, Gerry Hull wrote:
> Great info, Dave.
     Thanks...

> Might be a little technical for some users.
     Well, this is a "technical" hobby, and such technicalities are not 
going to go away anytime soon I suspect.  Especially in regards to the 
use of computers in the shack.
>
> The #1 problem most hams have is they plug their USB-To-Serial 
> adapters into different USB ports, and the COM port number changes.
     That is well known, and can be managed, especially with devices 
that have a unique "identifying feature" in their USB descriptor that 
the OS sees.   (FTDI rule the roost in that matter!)
> Not only that, Windows leaves the old port number reserved much of the 
> time.
     Yep, but again, that can be managed, using USBDview if nothing else.
>
> I have an in-depth blog post which talks about this in layman's terms 
> on my blog.  See 
> https://blog.remote.radio/2020/11/automation-in-amateur-radio-rs-232-for.html
     Good info, but many of the hardware solutions (that do work well) 
edgeport etc are beyond the purchasing ability of many Hams. Plus, they 
rarely show up surplus or at ham-flea markets (here in the UK at least...)

     Lantronix are more well known for their LANPort devices.  Very 
good, but needs a certain level of knowledge to use, plus application 
software needs to be able to use TCP/IP connections to other devices.   
(Or tunnel a VCP over a network link.)
>
> As explained in that blog article, there is a way to solve this 
> problem.   Digi, a company who has been in the business for many 
> decades, has a series of USB-to-Serial adapters
> called Edgeport, from 1 to 16 ports.   The great thing about Edgeport 
> devices is they have a driver and utility.  If you use that, the COM 
> port number is associated with
> the BOX, not where it is plugged in.
>
> Edgeport devices are quite expensive when new, but can often be found 
> on the surplus market (ebay, etc).  They have been used to do baudot 
> by hams for decades.  I use them all over the place.
> I have 4,8, and 16-port USB-to-serials that are surplus to my needs if 
> anyone is interested.
>
> They solve the RS-232 port issue every time!

     The simplest solution, is to (sorry) learn and understand the 
issue, then use stable and easy to uniquely enumerate devices, (FTDI is 
the only vendor that shows unique serial numbers AFIK.)

     As before, Ham Radio is a Technical Hobby by it's nature, it 
worries me sometimes when even highly respected Hams who can and have 
worked the world (i.e. are Superb operators with worked all continents 
on many bands and modes etc) seem to know very little about the 
technical aspects of the kit they own and use.
>
> 73,
>
> Gerry Hull, *W1VE *Hancock, NH USA
> CWOps #191 | YCCC | CanAm Contest Coalition | Maritime Contest Club
> RadioSport Manitoba | ARRL | RAC | QCWA
> ARCluster dxc.w1ve.com <http://dxc.w1ve.com> | Telnet or telnet:7373 
> access | RBN direct feeds

     73.
     Dave G0WBX(G8KBV)   A "no one" in Ham terms.  No awards, no WAC, 
WAB, or whatever.  But I can diagnose faults, fix and adapt stuff.

>
> On Sun, Jul 3, 2022 at 7:04 AM Dave B via Elecraft 
> <elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>
>     FYI...
>
>     Windows users, can use these utilities to find out what is/was
>     connected
>     to their PC's by USB etc...
>
>     USBview:  A Microsoft (was System Internals who MS bought) tool.
>     The easiest way to find it is here:- https://ftdichip.com/utilities/
>     "Microsoft USBView - USB Connection Viewer"
>     There is a link to download a zipfile that contains it:-
>     https://ftdichip.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/usbview.zip
>     That contains a single stand-alone exe file that is the utility.
>     Put it
>     in a folder of it's own, and create a shortcut to it for your desktop.
>
>     (Also a link to a Linux version, that does work, but needs compiling
>     from source, and running using sudo as it needs elevated rights to
>     read
>     the running configuration files to get the information to display.)
>
>
>     Another similar tool is USBDview
>     https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html
>     That shows a much more detailed list of what Windows knows about,
>     that
>     is, any USB device that was ever connected since windows was
>     initially
>     installed, regardless of if it was ever used!
>
>     You can also delete instances of old / defunct devices easily with
>     this
>     very useful tool.
>     (Some AV tools say it's suspect or malicious.  Use VirusTotal.com to
>     verify if it (or anything else) is bad, on a file by file, or webpage
>     basis. )
>
>
>     Note that if for whatever reason Windows (or Linux) re-enumerates
>     things, the linkage between a physical device and it's COM port
>     number
>     can (and often does!) change.  Seemingly at the will of some minor
>     deity
>     somewhere...   That of course, will break any software that
>     expects some
>     specific device to be at a specific COM port.
>
>     Windows has the means to "Fix" that.  (Known to work up to Win10,
>     that I
>     have personally tested it on.)
>     Find those details here:-
>     https://sourceforge.net/p/fldigi/wiki/windows_com_howto/
>     I wrote much of that after hours of "fun" some years ago... As above,
>     it works well with Win-10.
>
>
>     For Linux users, look up and explore the world of "udev rules". But...
>     They are only really easy to setup, if a USB device has a unique
>     "something" in it's USB descriptor, that the OS uses to identify it.
>     Such as a Serial Number.   FTDI devices have unique sn's, but
>     Prolific,
>     SiLabs and others sadly do not.  So, it gets funky if you have
>     several
>     of the same type of device that all "look the same" to the OS.
>
>     (Newer genuine FTDI devices also have the ability to have that serial
>     number (and some other settings) re-programmed!   Fakes seem to
>     take the
>     reprogramming, but the new data does not "stick".  Don't ask how I
>     found
>     that out!)
>
>     However, you can use the "connection path" between the OS and the
>     Device, as a deciding factor, but then you are forced into hooking
>     everything up "EXACTLY" the same each time.  (Hub's and all...)
>     But it
>     does work.
>
>     Using them, you create "symbolic links" to the actual port used,
>     so for
>     example my VHF radio appears as /dev/ttyFT736  Regardless of which
>     hole
>     I connect it's associated FTDI serial adapter to on the PC (or via
>     any
>     hubs!)  Or what /dev/ttyUSB* the OS re-assigns it to if things are
>     re-enumerated for whatever reason.)
>
>     For example, this is the rule for my ancient FT-736
>
>     #FT-736r
>     SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{serial}=="A50285BI", SYMLINK+="ttyFT736"
>
>     Flrig and most other software both accept symlinks and work well.
>
>     (For the odd software title that insists on using the full
>     /dev/ttyUSBx
>     for example, they often store their settings in a file that can
>     often be
>     edited with a text editor, where you can in effect force-feed it the
>     symlink.   The fun part is finding where that is stored!)
>
>     The exact details of how to use udev rules are way to much for this
>     list, but as usual, there are many websites that can furnish such
>     info,
>     plus some examples.   Has to be said though, different "flavors" of
>     Linux, often store such rules in subtly different places to others.
>
>
>     I have zero experience of Apple Mac's.  But they use a custom
>     version of
>     BSD as their OS, that is more like Unix than Linux.  So it is likely
>     some if not all of the above could work on them too. If Apple let you
>     dig that deep and meddle...
>
>
>     Hope some of the above helps, and or gives people some ideas how
>     to tame
>     things.
>
>     73.
>     Dave G0WBX(G8KBV)
>
>     -- 
>     Created on and sent from a Unix like PC running and using free and
>     open source software:
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-- 
Created on and sent from a Unix like PC running and using free and open source software: