[drats_users] using D-RATS with USB to serial adapter

[Mike Heitmann]

On Sun, 2010-11-21 at 19:42 -0500, mike wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I have been trying to run D-RATS on Linux (Fedora 12) using a USB to 
> serial adapter.
> 
> Software will not allow me to add a serial port in order ro connect to 
> my ICOM ID-880H. Computer creates ttyUSB0 and it is a valid option when 
> i bring up the port window but the software will not add it to the 
> settings when i click on save.
> 
> connecting a TNC to the USB to serial adapter works so the problem isn't 
> the adapter.
> 
> Windows version of D-RATS with the adapter works as well.

Hi Mike,

I've seen this before, it's probably a file permissions problem  with
the serial ports files in /dev/*. Check the log files for error messages
associated with attempting to access the serial port in question (dmesg
| grep tty should do the trick).

Try using the port while running D-RATS as root. If that works, it's a
permissions problem.

Also try entering: ls -l /dev/tty* 
That will show who "owns" the serial ports (the /dev/ttyS*
and /dev/ttyUSB* files). On my Fedora 14 system, those files are owned
by user root:dialout. The dialout group has read/write access to the
ports, so I added myself to that group. In F11 or 12 it was group tty,
in another release it was uucp.

I've had to add my username to additional groups after several upgrades
to regain access to the SERIAL and/or USB ports. I'm running Fedora 14
here now, and a quick check using SYSTEM-> Administration->Users and
Groups shows that I've added myself to the following groups:
dialout
tty
uucp

After adding yourself  to those groups you will need to logout and log
back in for the change to affect.

Hope this helps!

73,
Mike, N0SO