How to configure WSL (Windows Ubuntu subsystem) to see USB serial ports and connect to Xiegu X6100

instructions.md

How to configure WSL (Windows Ubuntu subsystem) to see USB serial ports and connect to Xiegu X6100

Problem: WSL does not see USB serial ports on win10 (CH34x driver)

Solution based on: (https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/connecting-usb-devices-to-wsl/ )

Install USBIPD

To get started with this functionality, first ensure you’re running Windows 10/11 and have installed all WSL updates. Running uname -a from within WSL should report a kernel version of 5.10.60.1 or later. You’ll need to be running a WSL 2 distro.

Install the latest release of usbipd-win..

From within WSL, install the user space tools for USB/IP and a database of USB hardware identifiers. On Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, run these commands:

sudo apt install linux-tools-5.4.0-77-generic hwdata
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/local/bin/usbip usbip /usr/lib/linux-tools/5.4.0-77-generic/usbip 20

Now a service is running on Windows to share USB devices, and the necessary tools are installed in WSL to attach to shared devices.

Attaching and using usb-serial device

Attach device from MSDOS prompt with Admin privileges:

BUSID  DEVICE                                                        STATE
1-7    Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R)                                Not attached
1-8    Integrated Camera                                             Not attached
1-9    Synaptics WBDI                                                Not attached
1-15   Realtek USB 3.0 Card Reader                                   Not attached
2-2    USB Audio Device, USB Input Device                            Not attached
2-4    USB-Enhanced-SERIAL-A CH342 (COM4), USB-Enhanced-SERIAL-B...  Not attached

C:\Windows\system32>usbipd wsl attach --busid 2-2
[sudo] password for djb:

C:\Windows\system32>usbipd wsl attach --busid 2-4
[sudo] password for djb: 

From WSL command prompt check USB devices became visible

djb@DESKTOP-PIBVJ34:/mnt/c/Windows/system32$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1a86:55d2 QinHeng Electronics USB Dual_Serial
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0d8c:0012 C-Media Electronics, Inc. USB Audio Device
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
djb@DESKTOP-PIBVJ34:/mnt/c/Windows/system32$ 

Serial devices are listed under /dev/

djb@DESKTOP-PIBVJ34:/mnt/c/Windows/system32$ ls -l /dev/ttyACM*
crw------- 1 root root 166, 0 Jan 18 13:33 /dev/ttyACM0
crw------- 1 root root 166, 1 Jan 18 13:32 /dev/ttyACM1
djb@DESKTOP-PIBVJ34:/mnt/c/Windows/system32$

Connect to device

sudo picocom --imap lfcrlf  --baud 115200   /dev/ttyACM0 

Bonus: picocom from macOS or linux

picocom --imap lfcrlf  --baud 115200   /dev/tty.usbmodem529B0101931 

(ctrl-A ctrl-X to disconnect and return to macos command prompt)

in case you dont have picocom it can be installed using brew install picocom