FTDI driver for linux

D2XX for Linux -------------- As Linux distributions vary these instructions are a guide to installation and use. FTDI has tested the driver and samples with Ubuntu 12.04 (kernel version 3.2) for i386 and x86_64, and Debian 6 'squeeze' (kernel version 2.6.32) for arm926. FTDI developed libftd2xx primarily to aid porting Windows applications written with D2XX to Linux. We intend the APIs to behave the same on Windows and Linux so if you notice any differences, please contact us (see http://www.ftdichip.com/FTSupport.htm). FTDI do not release the source code for libftd2xx. If you prefer to work with source code and are starting a project from scratch, consider using the open-source libFTDI. libftd2xx uses an unmodified version of libusb (http://sourceforge.net/projects/libusb/). Source code for libusb is included in the driver distribution. Installing the D2XX shared library and static library. ------------------------------------------------------ 1. tar xfvz libftd2xx1.1.12.tar.gz This unpacks the archive, creating the following directory structure: build arm926 i386 x86_64 examples libusb ftd2xx.h WinTypes.h 2. cd build/arm926 3. sudo -s or, if sudo is not available on your system: su Promotes you to super-user, with installation privileges. If you're already root, then step 3 (and step 7) is not necessary. 4. cp lib* /usr/local/lib Copies the libraries to a central location. 5. chmod 0755 /usr/local/lib/libftd2xx.so.1.1.12 Allows non-root access to the shared object. 6. ln -sf /usr/local/lib/libftd2xx.so.1.1.12 /usr/local/lib/libftd2xx.so Creates a symbolic link to the 1.1.12 version of the shared object. 7. exit Ends your super-user session. Building the shared-object examples. ------------------------------------ 1. cd examples 2. make -B This builds all the shared-object examples in subdirectories. With an FTDI device connected to a USB port, try one of the examples, e.g. reading EEPROM. 3. cd EEPROM/read 4. sudo ./read If the message "FT_Open failed" appears: Perhaps the kernel automatically loaded another driver for the FTDI USB device. sudo lsmod If "ftdi_sio" is listed: Unload it (and its helper module, usbserial), as follows. sudo rmmod ftdi_sio sudo rmmod usbserial Otherwise, it's possible that libftd2xx does not recognise your device's Vendor and Product Identifiers. Call FT_SetVIDPID before calling FT_Open/FT_OpenEx/FT_ListDevices. Building the static-library example. ------------------------------------ 1. cd examples/static 2. rm lib* Cleans out any existing libraries built for another target. 3. cp /usr/local/lib/libftd2xx.a . 4. make -B 5. sudo ./static_link This example demonstrates writing to, and reading from, a device with a loop-back connector attached. The examples show how to call a small subset of the D2XX API. The full API is available here: http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Documents/ProgramGuides/D2XX_Programmer%27s_Guide(FT_000071).pdf