Enable Hardware Notification on Ubuntu Desktop when plugging devices – udev-notify

udev-notify enables hardware notification on desktop whenever devices are plugged to the computer. It provides a convenient way for users to get visual feedback on whether the devices has been successfully recognized by the computer or otherwise.

udev-notify is known to be compatible with Debian and Ubuntu (to some extend Fedora 15) under GNOME and XFCE. udev-notify display the type,name and model of the device connected and recognized by the computer on the desktop.

Udev
Udev
Udev
Udev

Installing udev-notify

echo "deb http://download.learnfree.eu/repository/skss / #SKSS" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
wget http://download.learnfree.eu/repository/skss/repo.pub.asc -q -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install udev-notify

And you may try plugging in devices to your computer to see if it works!

Winbond W89C35 VID:0416 PID:0035 USB Wireless Driver

Dear readers,

I’ve uploaded Windows XP driver for Winbond W89C35 as it can enable the use of Winbond USB wifi dongle (VID:0416 PID:0035) under Ubuntu Lucid Lynx.

Follow the step-by-step instruction as outlined in the Ubuntu Wiki page, in order to use the driver with ndiswrapper.

p/s: I’ve uploaded this driver because I find a lot of websites out there that offers fake Winbond W89C35 drivers.

p/s 2: Of course I would recommend the rest of the users out there to buy a more Linux-friendly USB wifi dongle, such as from TP-Link
, D-Link, Netgear or TRENDnet which I found to be very portable across operating systems.

Create Ubuntu Live USB Drive easily with uSbuntu

uSbuntu is a tool that let you create Live USB Drive Ubuntu system using iso image files. The tool is inuitive to use and it can be downloaded from any of these sites :

  1. Official website
  2. Mirror 1 (softpedia)
  3. Mirror 1 (4shared)
  4. Mirror 1 (softronic)
uSbuntu

uSbuntu works on Windows XP as well as Vista operating system and can work with any USB drive with 1GB or more space. The creator of uSbuntu has stated that the project would be evolved to support other Linux distribution too under the name LiLi (Linux USB Live Creator) which can be downloaded from LinuxLiveUSB.com

How to enable USB-Serial Port adapter (RS-232) in Ubuntu Linux

Though some might argue that Serial port are things in the past, it is still the most popular port for those who are into electronic DIY. Building electronic device with serial port interface is cheaper than buiding one that uses USB. That is the reason why people still sell USB-Serial adapter to those electronic DIY enthusiast.

Here’s how to enable USB-Serial port adapter in Ubuntu Linux (with credit to Freeman from RepRap forum)


First plug in the USB-Serial Port adaptor to one of your USB port. Wait for a couple of second, then run “dmesg”. You should see these message at the end of dmesg output.

usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_and address 2
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice 

After that, unplug the device and type “lsusb”. You will see a list of output similar to this.

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  
Bus 002 Device 007: ID 03f0:4f11 Hewlett-Packard 
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 05e3:1205 Genesys Logic, Inc. Afilias Optical Mouse H3003
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 15d9:0a33  

Plug in the USB-Serial Port converter back, and run “lsusb” again, and you shall see an additional line, like this.

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  
Bus 002 Device 007: ID 03f0:4f11 Hewlett-Packard 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 4348:5523 --- --- --- (notice the additional line!)
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 05e3:1205 Genesys Logic, Inc. Afilias Optical Mouse H3003
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 15d9:0a33  

Now we know the vendor id and the product id of the USB-Serial Port converter, this will enable us to load the linux kernel module “usbserial” to activate the device, like this :

sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0x4348 product=0x5523 

Run “dmesg” again and you shall see lines similar like this :

usbserial_generic 1-1:1.0: generic converter detected
usb 1-1: generic converter now attached to ttyUSB0
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic 

As you can see, the new serial port device is mapped to /dev/ttyUSB0. You can instruct Ubuntu to load this module automatically by include the line : “usbserial vendor=0x4348 product=0x5523” inside “/etc/modules” file.

Bonus: What application benefits from usb-serial port adaptor?
For starters, there are modems which uses RS-232 serial port. Some home-made devices includes Infrared remote control which uses LIRC which also depends on the serial port.

I use the adaptor to hook up my morse keyer in order to send morse code through the internet using Xchat CWIRC plugin. The site has an excellent circuit diagram to build such interface.

You can see my home-made morse code oscillator here : My Homemade Morse Code Practice Oscillator

Where can I get USB to Serial port converter?
You can get it from your local computer stores or order it online !