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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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9 years ago

Using GPS with the De1-SoC...

For our application, position is important and we have procured a Globalsat BU-353-S4

The good news is the Prolific USB/serial port driver is visible... 

root@DE1_SoC:~# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 067b:2303 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2303 Serial Port
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:2512 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

but there is no corresponding /dev/ttyUSB0 device visible. 


block            input             network_throughput  ptyp5  ram0    tty11  tty21  tty31  tty41  tty51  tty61  ttyp5  ttyS0    vcsa1
bus              kmem              null                ptyp6  ram1    tty12  tty22  tty32  tty42  tty52  tty62  ttyp6  ttyS1    vcsa2
char             kmsg              psaux               ptyp7  random  tty13  tty23  tty33  tty43  tty53  tty63  ttyp7  urandom  vcsa3
console          log               ptmx                ptyp8  shm     tty14  tty24  tty34  tty44  tty54  tty7   ttyp8  vcs      vcsa4
cpu_dma_latency  mem               ptp0                ptyp9  stderr  tty15  tty25  tty35  tty45  tty55  tty8   ttyp9  vcs1     vcsa5
disk             memory_bandwidth  pts                 ptypa  stdin   tty16  tty26  tty36  tty46  tty56  tty9   ttypa  vcs2     vcsa6
fb0              mmcblk0           ptyp0               ptypb  stdout  tty17  tty27  tty37  tty47  tty57  ttyp0  ttypb  vcs3     watchdog
fd               mmcblk0p1         ptyp1               ptypc  tty     tty18  tty28  tty38  tty48  tty58  ttyp1  ttypc  vcs4     zero
full             mmcblk0p2         ptyp2               ptypd  tty0    tty19  tty29  tty39  tty49  tty59  ttyp2  ttypd  vcs5
i2c-0            mmcblk0p3         ptyp3               ptype  tty1    tty2   tty3   tty4   tty5   tty6   ttyp3  ttype  vcs6
initctl          network_latency   ptyp4               ptypf  tty10   tty20  tty30  tty40  tty50  tty60  ttyp4  ttypf  vcsa

dmesg also looks promising but doesn't list a tty# ... 


root@DE1_SoC:/etc/modprobe.d# dmesg
 usb 1-1.2: new full-speed USB device number 3 using dwc2
 usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=067b, idProduct=2303
 usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
 usb 1-1.2: Product: USB-Serial Controller D
 usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: Prolific Technology Inc.

I have tried encouraging udev to create a device according to a suggestion here (http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/81754/how-can-i-match-a-ttyusbx-device-to-a-usb-serial-device) by creating the udev file below but no device was created. 


root@DE1_SoC:~# cat /etc/udev/rules.d/50-usb.rules
SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="067b", ATTRS{idProduct}=="2303", SYMLINK+="USB0", MODE="0666"

The datasheet (http://usglobalsat.com/store/download/688/bu353s4_ds.pdf) says it is based on the SiRF Star IV chipset.

ATM I am at a loss and I would be very grateful for some constructive ideas.

1 Reply

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    9 years ago

    Update: I plugged the BU-353 into one of my debian boxes and did the following... 

    
grunt:~# apt-get install gpsd gpsd-clients
grunt:~# dpkg-reconfigure
grunt:~# dmesg | grep ttyUSB
 usb 1-6: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
 usb 1-9: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB1
grunt:~# stty -F /dev/ttyUSB1 ispeed 4800
grunt:~# cat < /dev/ttyUSB1

    ... and out streamed lovely lines of GPS data.

    That was easy! That's is what I was expecting.

    So there is nothing wrong with the BU-353.

    One of the questions i have seen posted on the askubuntu forum (http://askubuntu.com/questions/30569/how-to-use-gps-receiver-bu-353) suggests if it is not working it might be a missing kernel module. Yes, the kernel spots the Prolific USB driver but does it need a special SiRF Star IV module that I might be able to find, compile & modprobe?

    Any ideas/help will be gratefully received.