Ubuntu issues with alchitryloader and serial port

Help Request
1

I’m having some issues with Ubuntu.
When I plug in the Alchitry, the Loader sees it BUT ubuntu can’t see the serial port.
If I look at dmesg I see this;

[   45.565465] usb 1-3: new high-speed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd
[   45.695817] usb 1-3: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6010, bcdDevice= 7.00
[   45.695833] usb 1-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[   45.695840] usb 1-3: Product: Alchitry Au
[   45.695844] usb 1-3: Manufacturer: Alchitry
[   45.695848] usb 1-3: SerialNumber: FT3KRFFN
[   45.750800] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[   45.750809] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic
[   45.752915] usbcore: registered new interface driver ftdi_sio
[   45.752946] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for FTDI USB Serial Device
[   45.752972] ftdi_sio 1-3:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
[   45.753002] usb 1-3: Detected FT2232H
[   45.753122] usb 1-3: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[   45.753151] ftdi_sio 1-3:1.1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
[   45.753175] usb 1-3: Detected FT2232H
[   45.753282] usb 1-3: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[   45.754148] ftdi_sio ttyUSB0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
[   45.754163] ftdi_sio 1-3:1.0: device disconnected
[   45.754226] ftdi_sio ttyUSB1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now disconnected from ttyUSB1
[   45.754240] ftdi_sio 1-3:1.1: device disconnected

If I move the 99-alchitry.rules file out of /etc/udev/rules.d/

I can then see the serial port, BUT alchitry loader does not see the alchitry board.

Did I miss something?

2

It looks like you have the ftdi_sio driver installer, I remember a talk stating that it was needed to remove it so that the libusb can take over?

You can try

sudo rmmod ftdi_sio

3

This is out of the box ubuntu, how do I change it?
I couldn’t find instructions on the main page.

4

I assume I need to reboot as that didn’t work?

5

didn’t work with a reboot, same issue.
With the 99-alchitry.rules in /etc/udev/rules.d/ I cannot see the Alchitry serial port but CAN upload.
if I remove the 99-alchitry.rules from /etc/udev/rules.d I CAN see the Alchitry serial port but CANNOT upload.

6

rmmod does not survives a reboot.
For a premanant (but still reversible) disable you need to do :

  1. Create of edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, add :
blacklist ftdi_sio
  1. sudo update-initramfs -u
  2. reboot
7

sadly, no luck.
Same issue, alchitry loader works, but there is no ttyUSB0 or ttyUSB1

$ ls /dev/tty*
/dev/tty    /dev/tty20  /dev/tty33  /dev/tty46  /dev/tty59      /dev/ttyS12  /dev/ttyS25
/dev/tty0   /dev/tty21  /dev/tty34  /dev/tty47  /dev/tty6       /dev/ttyS13  /dev/ttyS26
/dev/tty1   /dev/tty22  /dev/tty35  /dev/tty48  /dev/tty60      /dev/ttyS14  /dev/ttyS27
/dev/tty10  /dev/tty23  /dev/tty36  /dev/tty49  /dev/tty61      /dev/ttyS15  /dev/ttyS28
/dev/tty11  /dev/tty24  /dev/tty37  /dev/tty5   /dev/tty62      /dev/ttyS16  /dev/ttyS29
/dev/tty12  /dev/tty25  /dev/tty38  /dev/tty50  /dev/tty63      /dev/ttyS17  /dev/ttyS3
/dev/tty13  /dev/tty26  /dev/tty39  /dev/tty51  /dev/tty7       /dev/ttyS18  /dev/ttyS30
/dev/tty14  /dev/tty27  /dev/tty4   /dev/tty52  /dev/tty8       /dev/ttyS19  /dev/ttyS31
/dev/tty15  /dev/tty28  /dev/tty40  /dev/tty53  /dev/tty9       /dev/ttyS2   /dev/ttyS4
/dev/tty16  /dev/tty29  /dev/tty41  /dev/tty54  /dev/ttyprintk  /dev/ttyS20  /dev/ttyS5
/dev/tty17  /dev/tty3   /dev/tty42  /dev/tty55  /dev/ttyS0      /dev/ttyS21  /dev/ttyS6
/dev/tty18  /dev/tty30  /dev/tty43  /dev/tty56  /dev/ttyS1      /dev/ttyS22  /dev/ttyS7
/dev/tty19  /dev/tty31  /dev/tty44  /dev/tty57  /dev/ttyS10     /dev/ttyS23  /dev/ttyS8
/dev/tty2   /dev/tty32  /dev/tty45  /dev/tty58  /dev/ttyS11     /dev/ttyS24  /dev/ttyS9

and dmesg -l info gives me -

[   81.169232] usb 1-3: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6010, bcdDevice= 7.00
[   81.169236] usb 1-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[   81.169237] usb 1-3: Product: Alchitry Au
[   81.169238] usb 1-3: Manufacturer: Alchitry
[   81.169239] usb 1-3: SerialNumber: FT3KRFFN
[  144.854204] usb 1-3: USB disconnect, device number 5
[  146.556189] usb 1-3: new high-speed USB device number 6 using xhci_hcd
[  146.688204] usb 1-3: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6010, bcdDevice= 7.00
[  146.688208] usb 1-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[  146.688209] usb 1-3: Product: Alchitry Au
[  146.688210] usb 1-3: Manufacturer: Alchitry
[  146.688210] usb 1-3: SerialNumber: FT3KRFFN

Note that it doesn’t show the USB0 or USB1

8

I just tested it on my Raspberry Pi and it works with Pi OS (Debian-based) and Labs 1.2.7.

I downloaded Alchitry Labs 1.2.7 but it does not work out-of-box on Pi.
I had to replace swt.jar with an AARCH64 version, then add libusb4java-1.3.0-linux-aarch64.jar.

Once I got it working, I plugged my Au and witnessed ftdi_sio loaded like it did for you, providing the two tty.
I ran the loader and I could erase and program without issue.

I didn’t disabled ftdi_sio nor used udev rules.

I’ll try Labs 2 later.

9

Very odd I’m on Ubuntu 24 on a regular PC

10

I don’t have an ubuntu setup at hand, I could try to fire up a VM tomorrow, but for now I just tried Labs v2 on Raspberry :smiley:

I had to build it from source but it works out-of-box and the built-in loader found my Au right away.

Of course it’s not very usefull with an Au since Vivado won’t run on a Pi (I managed to install it fully using the excellent box64, but I could not get it to run properly, at least not the GUI), but it could be usable with a Cu and the open-source toolchain.

11

Yeah, the problem is being able to see BOTH the alchitry in the loader AND the uart on the Alchitry board at the same time for me.

12

I do see both at the same time on my Pi :slight_smile:
I’m downloading Ubuntu 24 and will try it in a VM but internet is pretty slow, no fiber yet…

13

So I tried it on Ubuntu and there I have your issue, so it looks like it’s Ubuntu specific but I can’t tell why so far…
Maybe some package are not fully up-to-date or something like this.

14

Very odd, so it’s ubuntu specific…
I’m going to double check the brltty thing

15

Found a fix with the help of someone who is WAY better with linux than I am;

SUBSYSTEM!="usb|usb_device", GOTO="ft2232_rules_end"
ACTION!="add", GOTO="ft2232_rules_end"

ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6010", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'basename %p
:1.0 > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/ftdi_sio/unbind''", MODE="0666", GROUP="dialout", EN
V{ID_MM_DEVICE_IGNORE}="1"

LABEL="ft2232_rules_end"
16

I was on this track too since it looks like it’s a conflict between ftdi_sio and D2XX (another native API of FTDI used by Labs and Loader).

I still wonder why this is an issue only on ubuntu though…
EDIT : It may be bound to kernel / driver version, Raspbian uses newer kernel (6.12) that Ubuntu 24 (6.8)

This new rule does not unload ftdi_sio but instead instruct it to ignore the Au (more accurately any FTDI 2232 device).