[Preston] Fwd: USB support under Linux

[Guy]

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From: Guy <guy@remember-tomorrow.co.uk>
To: Adrian Hodgson <adrian@aphtrading.co.uk>
Subject: USB support under Linux
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 16:29:28 +0000
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Hi Adrian,
Last night we were talking about USB support for devices under Linux.
A useful place to start is:
http://www.linux-usb.org/
There, there is a list of manufacturer/device ID numbers and a useful tool in
the form of a program called 'usbview'. This program shows you the
connections on your USB port and you can find the ID numbers.
When you have found these ID numbers you can try to track down a relevant
module that drives the device.

The command 'lsmod' lists all the modules that are loaded into your kernel
(you have to be root and on redhat based systems you may have to type
'/sbin/lsmod' i.e. give the full path to the command). Try running lsmod,
plugging in your usb device and running lsmod again to see if anything has
changed. The kernel has a database of ID numbers and associated modules to
load when it detects the presence of a device. If the kernel doesn't load a
module when you plug in a device  it doesn't always mean the device is
unsupported! Maybe the device has not been added to the database and the
module for another similar device might work.

The commands 'insmod' and 'modprobe' are useful for adding modules to the
running kernel (insmod inserts a module, modprobe is similar but also loads
other modules that the one in question depends on.) The program  'modconf'
has a graphical interface for selecting modules to load.

http://www.google.com/linux
is a good search engine for Linux related stuff

Check what kernel you are running - the 2.4.xx series has much better USB
support than the 2.2.xx (type 'uname -a')

I have to say that support for webcams and scanners is patchy under Linux.
The only piece of hardware I own that doesn't work (yet) under Linux is a
webcam (I have never owned a scanner).

There is a feature on scanner support in the new 'Linux Format' magazine.

Good Luck!
--
Guy

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