I have experienced similar issues with "no name" hardware, that permits
an attempt at what constitutes "real".
1. If there are standards (e.g., https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.usb.org_documents&d=DwIDaQ&c=gRgGjJ3BkIsb5y6s49QqsA&r=gd8BzeSQcySVxr0gDWSEbN-P-pgDXkdyCtaMqdCgPPdW1cyL5RIpaIYrCn8C5x2A&m=eylOrvOYEMhiZxOxhJmc1NcAroPTDWoxQdA11kbbvYw&s=on9gdTT0d7Z27yz8BqYvlKhnVm_W0JGVeS7d8KUoa48&e= for
specifications documents), then a statement from the vendor that the
item meets particular standards. Some vendors are less than candid
about this fact -- I can provide examples from my own experience.
2. An inspection of the mechanical components (including cable outer
jacket, cable "flexibility", lack of flexibility in the hardware case --
I have seen some that compress when one simple "finger pinches" an item).
3. Mechanical fit and retention -- for a jack, does a plug fit well with
little "wiggle slop", and for a plug, the same when pushed into a proper
jack (e.g., a USB port on a vendor laptop from say HP, Dell, Lenovo,
Apple, etc.).
4. Is the hardware recognized by a production Linux? By MS Win 10? If
the hardware requires a specific software driver, typically from the
vendor, will it work with later/other operating system releases? If the
driver is MS Win or Mac OS X proprietary, has it been reverse engineered
for Linux?
On 2/12/21 11:45 AM, Stephen L. Talbott wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 12, 2021 at 10:37:11AM -0800, Konstantin Olchanski wrote:
>> On Thu, Feb 11, 2021 at 04:17:46PM -0500, Stephen L. Talbott wrote:
>>>
>>> Is there an reason why a rather vanilla SL-7.9 system might report “4
>>> ports detected” on a new, Sabrent 7-port, powered USB 3.0 hub (HB-BUP7)?
>>>
>>
>> Some of these usb switches have interesting internal structure (separate usb2
>> and usb3 hubs, two 4-port hubs cascaded from each other, etc) and the linux
>> usb hub driver may be confused and fail to enable all the ports.
>>
>> You can see the bus structure that linux can see in the output
>> of "lsusb" and in /sys/bus/usb/devices/. There may be some error
>> messages in "dmesg" ("cannot enable port", etc).
>>
>> And possibility of defective device cannot be ruled out,
>> these $1 products do not go through any QA.
>>
>> Also if you have reports of device "HB-BUP7" working for somebody,
>> it means nothing. Makers of $1 USB devices are notorious
>> for shipping completeley different devices (different chips,
>> different linux drivers) under the same part number. Bait-and-switch
>> in action.
>>
>> --
>> Konstantin Olchanski
>> Data Acquisition Systems: The Bytes Must Flow!
>> Email: olchansk-at-triumf-dot-ca
>> Snail mail: 4004 Wesbrook Mall, TRIUMF, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 2A3, Canada
>
> Thanks for the comments, which are helpful background. I am appending
> below the dmesg content that immediately follows my connecting the hub. I
> am not qualified to read much into the messages, but there seem to be no
> errors reported. However, there ARE a good number of lines like these
> two:
>
> systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read /run/udev/data/c189:535: No
> such file or directory
>
> systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read
> /run/udev/data/+usb:5-1.3.4:1.0: No such file or directory
>
> As for “$1 devices”, my Sabrent hub cost $36.99 before tax. I am curious
> where one goes for a “real” hub (at least 7 ports) — although somehow I
> have a hunch that there are many different definitions of “real” out
> there. My machine is an HP desktop for personal work, not a server for
> critical services.
>
> ################# dmesg output #################
> [27424.944664] usb 5-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 24 using xhci_hcd
> [27425.035451] usb 5-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=5411, bcdDevice= 1.36
> [27425.035460] usb 5-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
> [27425.035465] usb 5-1.3: Product: 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub
> [27425.035470] usb 5-1.3: Manufacturer: Generic
> [27425.035860] systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read /run/udev/data/c189:535: No such file or directory
> [27425.036081] systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read /run/udev/data/c189:535: No such file or directory
> [27425.036253] systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read /run/udev/data/c189:535: No such file or directory
> [27425.036408] systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read /run/udev/data/c189:535: No such file or directory
> [27425.037951] hub 5-1.3:1.0: USB hub found
> [27425.038991] systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read /run/udev/data/+usb:5-1.3:1.0: No such file or directory
> [27425.039281] hub 5-1.3:1.0: 4 ports detected
> [27425.039922] systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read /run/udev/data/+usb:5-1.3:1.0: No such file or directory
> [27425.315678] usb 5-1.3.4: new high-speed USB device number 25 using xhci_hcd
> [27425.416560] usb 5-1.3.4: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=5411, bcdDevice= 1.36
> [27425.416569] usb 5-1.3.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
> [27425.416574] usb 5-1.3.4: Product: 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub
> [27425.416578] usb 5-1.3.4: Manufacturer: Generic
> [27425.417474] systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read /run/udev/data/c189:536: No such file or directory
> [27425.417783] systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read /run/udev/data/c189:536: No such file or directory
> [27425.418566] hub 5-1.3.4:1.0: USB hub found
> [27425.419153] systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read /run/udev/data/+usb:5-1.3.4:1.0: No such file or directory
> [27425.419901] hub 5-1.3.4:1.0: 4 ports detected
> [27425.420967] systemd-journald[506]: no db file to read /run/udev/data/+usb:5-1.3.4:1.0: No such file or directory
> [27484.039490] systemd-journald[506]: Sent WATCHDOG=1 notification.
>
> Steve
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Stephen L. Talbott https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__bwo.life_&d=DwIDaQ&c=gRgGjJ3BkIsb5y6s49QqsA&r=gd8BzeSQcySVxr0gDWSEbN-P-pgDXkdyCtaMqdCgPPdW1cyL5RIpaIYrCn8C5x2A&m=IPOXzXBtrCO_fXWWHvEYDEXPD_kUR28KBKMZtr2PiqA&s=61kPrfSHULQyKHHfU12Y5DQSyzmIyqTT-FIAul8FuJY&e=
> “Evolution As It Was Meant To Be” https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__bwo.life_bk&d=DwIDaQ&c=gRgGjJ3BkIsb5y6s49QqsA&r=gd8BzeSQcySVxr0gDWSEbN-P-pgDXkdyCtaMqdCgPPdW1cyL5RIpaIYrCn8C5x2A&m=IPOXzXBtrCO_fXWWHvEYDEXPD_kUR28KBKMZtr2PiqA&s=vsQXR6TQuNiSz_9hUlzgtGL_Sr5OR4RW5bFAzAg-tPY&e=
> Senior Researcher, The Nature Institute: natureinstitute.org
> Mailing address: 20 May Hill Road, Ghent NY 12075 Tel: 518-672-5049
>
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