Northern Digital Polaris Vicra User Manual page 35

Installing the USB Drivers
The Linux driver model is a kernel level driver that supports the USB to serial conversion. It appears
as a Linux device file "/dev/ttyUSBx" (where x is enumerated) and emulates a standard PC serial
port such that the USB device may be communicated with as a standard RS-232 device. NDI has
provided a patch to the 2.6.8 kernel driver source files.
These instructions are based on the Linux 2.6.8 kernel. The following changes are captured in the
ftdi.patch file.
In the directory /usr/src/linux-2.6.8-24/drivers/usb/serial:
1. ftdi_sio.c - added NDI Host USB Converter Product ID (PID) to supported devices tables,
added aliasing of 19.2K baud for the Host USB Converter to use 1.2Mbaud as required by NDI
ToolBox.
2. ftdi_sio.h - added the define for the USB PID for the Host USB Converter.
Apply the patch to an unmodified kernel as follows:
1. logon as root user.
2. cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.8-24.
3. patch -p1 < ftdi.patch.
4. rebuild the kernel following the instructions specific to the kernel.
5. the NDI Host USB Converter when connected will appear as "/dev/ttyUSBx", where 'x' is the
part number.
Host USB converters are interchangeable on the same USB port, without having to re-install drivers
or losing the device file enumeration previously established.
NDI ToolBox
Install NDI ToolBox as follows:
1. On the Polaris Vicra CD, browse to Linux/ToolBox/install.bin.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process. The default installation location is
<user_account>/ToolBox.
3. The installation of NDI ToolBox also downloads the kernel patch file to apply to drivers for the
Host USB Converter. The default download location is <user_account>/ToolBox/kernel-2.6.8-
usb-patch.
Note
The NDI ToolBox download includes a Java virtual machine (VM) for Windows and Linux systems. The Java VM
included in the NDI ToolBox download is fully compatible with NDI ToolBox. Other versions of Java VM may
cause NDI ToolBox to exhibit unusual or unpredictable behaviour.
Polaris Vicra User Guide - Revision 2
Setting Up the Polaris Vicra System
23