title: Serial Comm Connection on Linux
body: <p>I have a <a href="http://www.trossenrobotics.com/p/REDBEE-Wireless-rfid-reader.aspx" rel="nofollow" title="RedBee RFID Reader">RedBee RFID Reader</a>. Its user documentation is only for windows, and I am on ArchLinux. The only time I have ever done serial communication over a USB port was for an <a href="http://arduino.cc/en/reference/serial#.UxvDCnX22il" rel="nofollow">Arduino</a> and that was through their GUI environment so I never was exposed to the metal. So I have this RFID reader that you interface with via serial communication across a USB port. The baud rate is <code>9600</code>, the device is connected to <code>/dev/bus/usb/004/004</code>. The output of <code>ls -l /dev/bus/usb/004/004</code> is:</p>
  
  <pre><code>crwxrwxrwx 1 root root 189, 387 Mar  8 19:14 /dev/bus/usb/004/004
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The output of lsusb is</p>
  
  <pre><code>Bus 004 Device 004: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT232 USB-
  Serial (UART) IC
  Bus 004 Device 003: ID 0cf3:3005 Atheros Communications, Inc. AR3011 Bluetooth
  ...
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The output of <code>lsusb -s 004:004 -v</code> is:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Bus 004 Device 004: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT232 USB-Serial (UART) IC
  Device Descriptor:
    bLength                18
    bDescriptorType         1
    bcdUSB               2.00
    bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
    bDeviceSubClass         0 
    bDeviceProtocol         0 
    bMaxPacketSize0         8
    idVendor           0x0403 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd
    idProduct          0x6001 FT232 USB-Serial (UART) IC
    bcdDevice            6.00
    iManufacturer           1 FTDI
    iProduct                2 FT232R USB UART
    iSerial                 3 A900DGX9
    bNumConfigurations      1
    Configuration Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         2
      wTotalLength           32
      bNumInterfaces          1
      bConfigurationValue     1
      iConfiguration          0 
      bmAttributes         0xa0
        (Bus Powered)
        Remote Wakeup
      MaxPower               90mA
      Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType         4
        bInterfaceNumber        0
        bAlternateSetting       0
        bNumEndpoints           2
        bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
        bInterfaceSubClass    255 Vendor Specific Subclass
        bInterfaceProtocol    255 Vendor Specific Protocol
        iInterface              2 FT232R USB UART
        Endpoint Descriptor:
          bLength                 7
          bDescriptorType         5
          bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
          bmAttributes            2
            Transfer Type            Bulk
            Synch Type               None
            Usage Type               Data
          wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
          bInterval               0
        Endpoint Descriptor:
          bLength                 7
          bDescriptorType         5
          bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT
          bmAttributes            2
            Transfer Type            Bulk
            Synch Type               None
            Usage Type               Data
          wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
          bInterval               0
  Device Status:     0x0000
    (Bus Powered)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Here is the output of <code>dmsg | grep -i tty</code></p>
  
  <pre><code>[    0.000000] console [tty0] enabled
  [    7.226118] systemd[1]: Starting system-getty.slice.
  [    7.226397] systemd[1]: Created slice system-getty.slice.
  [   10.535204] usb 4-1.7: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
  [ 6372.435916] ftdi_sio ttyUSB0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
  [ 7961.660760] usb 4-1.7: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
  [ 7964.716225] ftdi_sio ttyUSB0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
  [ 8282.582961] usb 4-1.7: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Things I have tried:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>I have tried using putty's (compiled for linux) serial option to connect to /dev/bus/usb/004/004 but it responds with:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Unable to open connection to:
  Unable to configure serial port
  </code></pre></li>
  </ul>