Ubuntu USB Serial port install procedure - noogrub/GS1_rf2500 GitHub Wiki
The procedure for using the USB adapter from the BOM wasn't in the wiki - nor was it immediately obvious, so, here goes.
If you are using the usb -> RS232 adapter, the serial drivers may need to be installed for the device to work properly. After plugging in the device, first check the hardware messages to see the device was detected:
dmesg
Torward the end of the messages, you should see this:
usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_and address 2
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Now, we need to figure out the device vendor number and product number to tell the usbserial driver. For this we can use lsusb. The easiest way to find the information is to first unplug the device, then run lsusb:
lsusb
You will see a summary list of your USB devices on the system. Now, plug the device back in, and run lsusb again:
lsusb
Which returns the summary list again, but now showing the new USB device:
Bus 004 Device 005: ID 0451:f432 Texas Instruments, Inc. eZ430 Development Tool
Now, we can load up the driver for this device:
sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0x0451 product=0xf432
Finally, check dmesg again to ensure it loaded properly.
dmesg
Near the end, you might see something like:
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
However, in my case on Ubuntu, I got this:
[10667.550101] generic-usb 0003:0451:F432.0005: usb_submit_urb(ctrl) failed
[10667.550125] generic-usb 0003:0451:F432.0005: timeout initializing reports
[10667.550424] generic-usb 0003:0451:F432.0005: hiddev0,hidraw0:
USB HID v1.01 Device [Texas Instruments Texas Instruments MSP-FET430UIF] on usb-0000:00:1d.2-1/input1
Have no fear. The system sees the USB device well enough to use mspdebug for actual programming.
Congratulations, your link is up - in my case, the device can be used by mspdebug on usb-0000:00:1d.2-1/input1. As much fun as you had doing this, there is some chance you want to do this automatically in the future. Just add this line:
usbserial vendor=0x4348 product=0x5523