SOLVED; USB FTDI Cable use

[TriggerX]

Hi all,

This is my first hunt for help since I signed up. I have looked about and tried various ways to get my machine (Dell E6400, 2.4GHz Dual Core, 3GB RAM, Sonya 32Bit) to 'see' a USB to serial cable. It comes up as a CH340 USB/Serial cable in "Connected Devices" via the settings in my old netbook running W10. I want to get the cable to operate a 'push to talk' (PTT) function in a Ham Radio program called Fldigi. I don't really know how to get it going. From what I have read the driver should already be in Mint but I just don't really know how to find it and then get it to key up my radio to transmit the various datamodes sounds from Fldigi. Any help would be most welcome. Thanks, Tryg

[TriggerX]

I do not know if I need to be using a VCP driver or D2XX. I read this guide...

http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Documen ... _Linux.pdf

My searching has a number of possibly conflicting instructions. I did try the "dmesg | grep FTDI" via Terminal but got no response. Just some further info regarding my efforts here. This is a bit of a headwrecker as I've been trying to sort it for most of the day. I wanted to make a bit of an effort before I posted for help. Cheers.

[jimallyn]

I use an FTDI cable with Chirp to program my handie-talkie. Pretty sure that I did not have to install any driver, as it is built into the kernel. I would think that fldigi would have a setting to use that serial port to key the rig. No?

[jimallyn]

http://www.w1hkj.com/FldigiHelp/rig_config_page.html

[JeremyB]

You might have to be part of group dialout

Code: Select all

sudo usermod -a -G dialout user

Replace user with your login name on the computer

[TriggerX]

I use an FTDI cable with Chirp to program my handie-talkie. Pretty sure that I did not have to install any driver, as it is built into the kernel. I would think that fldigi would have a setting to use that serial port to key the rig. No?

If there is I can't quite figure it out. I tried the lsusb command and the device shows up but I cannot figure out how to get the device to talk to the interface ptt.

[TriggerX]

You might have to be part of group dialout

Code: Select all

sudo usermod -a -G dialout user

Replace user with your login name on the computer

I tried that and when asked for a password in the Terminal nothing I typed came up on the command line.

[JeremyB]

That is normal to have no feedback from the terminal for the sudo password. Post results for

Code: Select all

lsusb

With the FTDI plugged in

[TriggerX]

Hi All,

Upon the advice of one of the members here I signed up over at linuxham on Groups.io. David W1HKJ walked me through it all and now all is well with the rig putting out good, clean psk31 (through a dummy load for test purposes). I just wanted to express my satisfaction here on the forum and to say thanks very much to everyone that provided their time and assistance.

73, to all

Tryg

--

[TriggerX]

Hi All,

To follow up, here is the reply from David regarding setting up the keying of the rig via the cable.

"You should not need to worry about special drivers on Mint Linux. It should discover both the audio and the USB serial device on the fldigi controls for that purpose. Select the Portaudio and the microphone input / speaker (or perhaps line) output on this fldigi config tab.

Setup your PTT on this tab

Select the "Use separate serial port PTT". The device will probably show up as /dev/ttyUSB0. It might also be a "named" device
such as this device shows up on my test system for my FT817.

Use either entry. Check with your friend as to whether the interface should be controlled via DTR, RTS, or both. If using DTR you probably want to uncheck the "DTR = +V" control.

David"

I could not embed the images he attached in his reply but it should be pretty easy for those familiar with Fldigi. Cheers, Tryg de EI7CLB