Serial port:

nanckekr · July 8, 2009, 4:14am

My understanding of setting up a serial device is that once you plug it in, you will see a new file in the folder “/dev/usb/tts/”. That folder contains the file “0” which is for the zwavde dongle, and for each serial port you attach to Vera, a new file will be added in the folder. So if you are attaching 4 serial ports, you will get the files
“0,1,2,3”.

If adding a serial device to the USB port does not result in a file being added to this folder, then no device will ever show up in Vera’s WEB ui. If a file does appear, then in theory a device should show up in Vera’s web ui under devices.

If a file did not appear in the folder, then we learned from CJ that the magic line rmmod -f ftdi_sio && insmod ftdi_sio vendor=0x403 product=0x6010 would at least for myself (nanckekr) and mizar.

Personally I started out with the problem that there were no device in the web UI and no file in the above mentioned folder. After CJ’s line I was able to get the file to appear in the folder, but so far I have never seen the device in the web UI.

mizar mentioned that he did see the files after learning of CJ’s magic line, but it is not clear to me if mizar saw the device in the web UI.

So, 325xi, where in this are you? Did you get the file in the folder even without CJ’s line? I understand that the device is not in the web UI for you as well as for me.

325xi · July 8, 2009, 4:32am

Little googling showed that the “magic line” merely unloads the “generic” ftdi_sio module, and reloads it with vendor specific parameters. My adapter uses pl2303 chipset, and lucky me, it got recognized right away (well, I did read reviews on few of them before ordering).

However I do not see the port in UI.

nanckekr · July 8, 2009, 5:08am

Seems like you are stuck at the same point as I then - the device is detected but nothing in the UI. I’ll post when I hear from MCV support team

guessed · July 8, 2009, 8:10am

I had a similar problem to this, but my USB-based Alarm interface (Serial device) was detected and showing as dev/tts/1, but not in Vera’s UI.

I upgraded today to the 756 release (released July 6) and it now shows in Vera’s UI. I also see my USB/Alarm as a “Device”, and a bunch of Advanced options for setting Baud Rate, Serial Proxy Port (etc).

So far, it doesn’t look like the Baud rates requested are being respected, so it’s defaulting to 9600/N/8/1 (According to the Serial Proxy Server logs).

It also seems to ignore the Serial Proxy Port I spec’d. I reset my Alarm to use the lower baud rate and can confirm that Vera’s Serial Proxy to the device is working.

“telnet 127.0.0.1 3881” will connect to my USB Device/Alarm and I can see the traffic from it correctly.

My device is a Paradox Security APR3 Printer and HA Interface board
with USB.

It’s worth trying the upgrade to see if it fixes the issues. I lost a few configs during the process, but nothing too bad (“Rooms” disappeared and had to be re-entered, and Devices re-assigned)

Oh, by the way, backup your LUA before upgrade and upload it again afterwards

mizar · July 8, 2009, 11:39am

After upgrading to 756 I see a new device called a Serial_Portlist, but I still see nothing when I try the serial port configuration.

I am not sure what to do with the serial_portlist. It has listed as a devicetype “micasaverde-com:serialportroot”.

gentlemen, I think we have ventured into an area where there is a lot of active development in progress.

nanckekr · July 8, 2009, 1:18pm

mizar & guessed: where did you find the 756 release? It does not appear on my download page and I could not find it in the forum when I searched.

mizar · July 8, 2009, 2:54pm

On the micasaverde wiki page. Vera Luup Releases

guessed · July 8, 2009, 2:56pm

Yeap, it’s listed here:

http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Vera_Luup_Releases

325xi · July 8, 2009, 3:06pm

[quote=“mizar, post:45, topic:164506”]After upgrading to 756 I see a new device called a Serial_Portlist, but I still see nothing when I try the serial port configuration.

I am not sure what to do with the serial_portlist. It has listed as a devicetype “micasaverde-com:serialportroot”.

gentlemen, I think we have ventured into an area where there is a lot of active development in progress.[/quote]

Same for me.
I’m curious what guessed did so he can see it on web UI…

guessed · July 8, 2009, 3:29pm

Ok, roughly the steps were:

Run the upgrade
Notice 2x “extra” Devices that seem to be coupled (see Picture 4.png attached)
Add back my missing rooms, rename the two extra devices
Reset my password for SSH after the upgrade
Go back to Devices / Luup Plugins and press the now present “Serial Port Configuration” button (see Picture 2.png attached)
Modify the Baud to 57600 (which is ignored anyhow)
Type in 127.0.0.1 as it was blank, this might not be needed.

In my system, it’s the Second “joined” device, that I’ve renamed “Alarm System” after upgrade, that appears to have the Advanced properties attached to it like Baud Rate (etc). These are repeated in the “Serial Port Configuration” section

It was late (well, early), so I might have missed something. There were lots of steps in between where I was using SSH to see what was going on, also I had to reset the Baud rate on My Alarm system (etc) to match the 9600 I found in a new log file (/var/log/cmh/serproxy.log) which I found by running

root@HomeControl:/etc# strings /usr/bin/serproxy | grep log logprintf '/var/log/cmh/serproxy.log

That was found by accident using “ps”, so:

886 root 2360 S /bin/ash /usr/bin/Start_serproxy.sh 4533 root 1416 S /usr/bin/serproxy 127.0.0.1 myVera'sID 4806 root 1416 S /usr/bin/serproxy 127.0.0.1 myVera'sID 26082 root 2360 S grep -i ser

strangely, the serproxy.log file is no longer present. But it had some basic information in it that lead me to know that the Baud rate settings were 9600/N/8/1 (etc) along with the Port information that the Serial Proxy was running on (although you can get that from “netstat -a | grep LISTEN” also)

For those interested, this is the section of my dmesg output that relates to the USB Device being recognized/registered by Vera’s Linux

usb.c: kmalloc IF 81899d20, numif 1 usb.c: new device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 usb.c: USB device number 4 default language ID 0x409 usbserial.c: FTDI FT232BM Compatible converter detected usbserial.c: FTDI FT232BM Compatible converter now attached to ttyUSB1 (or usb/tts/1 for devfs) usb.c: serial driver claimed interface 81899d20 usb.c: kusbd: /sbin/hotplug-call add 4

and a little output from the serproxy interface to my Alarm for a motion-sensor activate/deactivate event pair:

root@HomeControl:/etc# telnet 127.0.0.1 3881 G001N015A001 G000N015A001

Now that I have basic USB connectivity I’ll go back to getting the Device XML descriptions working …when I get home tonight.

325xi · July 8, 2009, 3:52pm

Have you attached the mentioned pictures?

guessed · July 8, 2009, 4:40pm

Strangely, yes. When I login to the Forum I can see the images as Attachments (small thumbnails with the option to expand), but not sure why they don’t show for anyone else.

Other than that, I don’t quite know how to put them up for everyone. On the plus side, once we find a location for them, I have them at work now so I can put them there

MCV: Have you enabled Forums Attachment download for users? Or is it disabled because I have newbie status?

325xi · July 8, 2009, 5:19pm

I think they’re disabled (or is it just me?) - in another thread a source code of serial proxy said to be attached but I can’t see it either.

We could use box.net for meanwhile. They have “share file” option - so you can put the file there and post link here.

10      07/08/09 14:26:45.166   luvd_open /data_request?id=lu_alive FileBuffer 0x623b80 <0x340e>
10      07/08/09 14:26:51.939   luvd_open /data_request?id=lu_finddevice&devid=7410&devtype=micasaverde-com:serialportroot FileBuffer 0x5cf6f0 <0x340e>
10      07/08/09 14:26:52.032   luvd_open /data_request?id=lu_childdevices&DeviceNum=4 FileBuffer 0x62cd58 <0x340e>

I have strong suspiction that Vera will show only active (i.e. connected ready to communicate) ports, not any disconnected port merely recognized by the system

325xi · July 8, 2009, 6:15pm

I tried to follow Somfy Walkthrough just to get a feel of xml descriptors, etc.
It created 3 devices as expected, but when I cklick On or Off it says “delivery failed” and I can’t see anything related in LuaUPnP.log!
I tried to put my own debug prints - nothing.
Anyone tried to create any simple working device so far using those D_* and I_* files?

guessed · July 8, 2009, 6:31pm

Until MCV opens Forums upload access, the two images I reference above are now posted here:

http://www.box.net/shared/tvfo9iqerh

325xi · July 8, 2009, 6:34pm

How did you initially create Alarm System device so it recognized as serial device?
Grrrr… there’s something missing in the docs…

nanckekr · July 8, 2009, 6:48pm

On the new firmware 756 I got just one device added called “Serial_Portlist_2147450735”, not two as ‘guessed’ did.
On the Luup Plugins page, I see no changes from before, i.e. there is a button called “Serial Port Configuration”, when I click that button I get one line displayed below the buttons that says “Serial Port Configuration”, but there are no labels and input boxes like on the screen shot posted by ‘guessed’.

Seems like I am out of luck…

nanckekr · July 8, 2009, 6:54pm

Also, on this firmware, I am not seeing the files “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8” in the /dev/usb/tts/ folder. Neither before or after running CJ’s magic line

guessed · July 8, 2009, 7:09pm

325xi: I didn’t create the Alarm device, it came with the Serial_Portlist_eieio device. They seem to be linked together, as they’re visually “boxed” together like the HSM100 used to be (prior to it breaking in the LUA Releases)

At the time of the upgrade, my USB Alarm Interface module (APR-PTR3) was actively plugged into both my Alarm (Digiplex EVO48) and the Vera. Don’t know if that makes a difference or not, but it shouldn’t

After the upgrade, I simply renamed both of these devices (sorry, I don’t recall the factory-default name prior to me renaming it to “Alarm”). No other modifications were done to the Serial_Portlist_eieio device.

Prior to my upgrade (the 745 release), I was able to see the [tt]/dev/usb/tts/1[/tt] device so I didn’t run into those issues, just that I couldn’t “talk” to it. When I get home I’ll upload the [tt]lsusb[/tt] for those interested, and then get on with trying to flesh out my Alarm LUA Device Description.

325xi · July 8, 2009, 9:01pm

Oh, I see. I’ve created device from xml, and trying to make it show me rs232 related settings…