Sorry, no idea immediately what needs doing but perhaps it would be worth saying what you have tried and how it went wrong.

The "lsusb" command is your friend for checking for the basic connection. On Ubuntu and Debian it's in a package called "usbutils". Probably something similar on Puppy.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=275608

Here's how a CurrentCost meter looks on by Ubuntu laptop:

edavies@bill:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 067b:2303 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2303 Serial Port
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:c001 Logitech, Inc. N48/M-BB48 [FirstMouse Plus]
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

The CurrentCost is the first line, basically telling you what chip is in the USB-to-serial lead which came with it.

My 1-wire adapter shows up in very much the same way on my Debian Pogoplug:
(http://edavies.me.uk/2011/09/ssh-pogoplug/)

edavies@penelope:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 067b:2303 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2303 Serial Port
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 4971:ce17 SimpleTech 1TB SimpleDrive II USB External Hard Drive
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB-2.0 4-Port HUB
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Posted By: wookeyThe standard Dallas 1-wire USB device appears as:

Good point. The Prolific device I mentioned for 1-wire on my Pogoplug is actually a USB-to-serial adapter I'm using with a serial-to-1-wire adapter (DS9097U) because I couldn't get my USB adapter (DS9490R) to work on Debian. Works fine on Ubuntu and appears there as Wookey says. I wish I could remember these things.

Posted By: JSHarris
wookey, I've spent tens of hours searching the web for easy, beginner-level, stuff on Linux. It just isn't there! I'm not ranting, as you put it, simply stating a fact. There are masses of Linux forums and groups around, but all seem to be aimed at people who already understand the fundamental structure of Linux and who use arcane language that means little to an outsider. You mentioned Unix - does that mean that if I get a book on Unix I'll get a better understanding of Linux? If so, why isn't this info available more readily?

Right, but you need to think about your readers, just as you say Linux writers should. It doesn't tell us anything useful to know how long you have spent looking. It would be more useful to give specific examples of what you have tried and what you are looking for. What have you found that is closest to what you are looking for and why doesn't it match your needs, for example? Then we would have some chance of pointing out either how to improve your searches, or where other resources are. Right now I don't have a clear idea of what you are looking for so I'm not sure what to suggest.

Linux is similar in many ways to Unix, although there are also many differences. Most of the commands are the same and the API is the same because they all try to follow POSIX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSIX). And the various flavours of UNIX are extremely well documented; I'm most familiar with the Solaris docs.

But rather than buy a UNIX book, I'd be inclined to go to a big bookshop (Heffers, Blackwells, Foyles etc) and browse the Linux section to see if there's anything that suits you. Start with the 100 or so O'Reilly books (http://shop.oreilly.com/category/browse-subjects/operating-systems/linux-unix.do?sortby=bestSellers&sortType=1) but there are plenty of others.

Oh and there's a command list at http://oreilly.com/linux/command-directory/ A site I use a lot (for man pages mostly) is http://linux.die.net/ And there are lots of manuals like http://ocw.novell.com/suse-linux-enterprise-server-administrators/suse-linux-enterprise-11-fundamentals/3101_all_manual.pdf but I don't know if that's what you're looking for

Your approach to my posts is pretty typical of that from the Linux community as a whole, without wishing to be rude in any way. I've already said that I've taken a lot of time to research Linux on the web, I've taken the time to download and install Virtual Box and Debian (after a heck of a struggle), I've spent money on buying two machines that came with Linux installed by default. I don't think those actions are anything but those of someone with a commitment to use it, do you? I've explained some of the difficulties new users like me have and how confusing the whole Linux scene seems to be, yet instead of pointing me to a source of useful basic information you've chosen to assume I was ranting when all I've been seeking is some fundamental, beginner-level information.

I think the whole of that was pretty much uncalled for. As I mentioned earlier, you need to think about what useful information you've given us to help us identify what it is you're looking for and why you haven't found it.

Clue 1: Adding the -v or --verbose flag to many many Unix/Linux commands will give a lot more detail. See if that helps.

Rgds

Damon

PS. If you use owfs the device's data innards are unpacked for you in a subdirectory of the mount point you specified and you need never poke around directly with lsusb or its ilk (unless something goes wrong).

Hi ST. What are you trying to do? OWFS - http://owfs.org/ What are you running Puppy/Ubuntu on?

Right, sitting here on a fairly old (4-5 year) Hi-Grade laptop.
Celeron M 1.6 GHz
RAM 505 MB
Linux Kernel 2.6.33.2 (i686)
Puppy Linux 0.52

I have installed Libra Office (and the JRE)
VLC (so I can now watch Phycoville)
and the USBUtils, but cant seem to get it to do anything in BASH (if that is what the terminal window is called, see picking up some lingo already)

I shall go and have a look at owfs.org and see if I can find the software for the 1Wire.

Thanks

Shall try and put Ubuntu on the desktop tomorrow. That has a bit more go in it.

Posted By: Ed DaviesPull something out and see what disappears.

Managed to get which USB it was in (3) and a device number, so can track it that way.
Also found the Wizard Wizard useful. Did see something about 'dependencies'. Are these like drivers/patches that need to be installed. Cant find my way back to the screen that told me about them though

Edit
Found it, seems they are like .dll files, is that right?

I wrote a programme to move a pointer about in assembly language for a Zilog. Seem to remember it had 158 op codes, one was 'rotate right' Was 1986. It never did find the shortest path to take mind.

Still if nothing else I am finding my way around the desktop tonight

He's using Puppy, which seems tobe some sort of very stripped down live distro.

ST, puppy looks like an interesting way to dip your toe in, but you will probably find life more satisfactory after a while if you use a more popular distro which other people are familiar with. Ubuntu is the most obvious candidate.

The main advantage you get is that software is almost always already packaged so you don't have to download it and compile it before you can use it. Neither OWFS nor digitemp are supplied with/packaged for puppy. Digtemp is available in both Debian and Ubuntu, and OWFS is packaged for the forthcoming releases of both.

ST. I don't know why you are not getting descriptions from your lsusb output. The IDs are fixed though, so a dallas DS9490R# will always appear as ID: 04fa:2490 (04fa is Dallas, 2490 is the part). That'll be the same ID for the ibutton readers as for the 1-wire adaptor (only the connector and case shape is different).

You can also get the same info from looking in /sys/bus/usb/devices/ which has an amazing maze of files containing all available subsystem info. It's mostly mysterious rather than helpful, but you'll find things like 'product' and 'manufacturer' in there.

I have my old desktop booting up with a live CD, Ubuntu 11, when I come to install it to the new HD, what should I use, EXT4? and I think that I get a choice of using single partition or multiple ones, which is most suitable for something that will be connected to the WWW and hopefully be able to connect to other PCs/Network Storage on my local network?

I went with the defaults in the end. Seem to have a problem with the network connection now, worked fine from the live boot disk, now installed it is refusing to connect (oddly had the exact same problem with the latest version of Puppy).
So until I get that sorted I ma rather stuck, or shall go back to what I was doing yesterday on the laptop.
Shall play for a while and then go into town.

The terminal window seems to have to be 'searched' for, is it easy to make an Icon/Alias or whatever they call them on the Linux. Also cant see how to view the file system easily. All seems a bit different from previous versions

I have abandoned 11.10 as I just cannot get it to connect to my router. Makes all the right moves, but then just keeps disconnecting.
So now installing Puppy 5.2 to the HD of the Desktop as I think that will do all I need (it works well on the laptop booting from the disk). I shall play a bit later and get it set up to my liking and then see how I can read of the OW and the CC.
Still got to find out how to find all the Java bits get installed.
And sort out that horrible GRUB thingy to make it book from the HD. Seems that it only like it when it is installed to the MBR. Then I have to press a key to get it to boot.

Posted By: Ed DaviesProbably the simplest is to have a relatively small partition (couple of gigs) for the root with all of the operating system and stuff and a larger/homepartition for all your stuff.

I agree that having separate partitions for root and /home is sensible. But a full-blown linux system nowadays is happier with ten or twenty GB rather than two! It all depends how many applications you finish up installing and whether you keep data in e.g. mysql at the default location etc etc. It can also be useful to keep a spare 10/20 GB partition to load an alternate/upgraded version without risking destroying your working version.

Posted By: wookeyI don't know why you are not getting descriptions from your lsusb output.

lsusb uses a file to look up device details. Possibly /usr/share/usb.ids Perhaps that is missing or abbreviated on Puppy?

FWIW here are the notes for future reference that I made after installing OWFS on a debian system a few years ago. I have since used them to install on another identical system, and a couple of other people have also used them.

N.B.
a) I am not a Linux expert. This is just the accumulation of things I gathered from various sources and that worked for me. If any of the real experts would care to correct or improve on these notes then I'd be delighted

b) The download part of the notes refers to a specifc OWFS release. Please replace that with the relevant current version (e.g. by consulting the OWFS page on sourceforge.net).

c) I was working on a 'headless' computer, so I did all this via SSH, using PuTTY from a Windows box, you might have direct access. So far as I'm aware that should make no difference.

Here goes. Every thing preceeded by ## is a comment. Most of the rest is stuff you'll need to type on the command line. There are a few exceptions to this. I hope they are reasonably obvious...

## Log in as root. ##

## First collect some tools, etc. ##

apt-get install autoconf automake

apt-get install libtool

apt-get install fuse-utils libfuse-dev

apt-get install swig

## Now collect and build owfs (1-Wire File System) ##

cd /usr/local

wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/owfs/owfs-2.7p14.tar.gz

tar -xvvf owfs-2.7p14.tar.gz

mv owfs-2.7p14 owfs

cd /usr/local/owfs

./bootstrap

./configure

##
## N.B. The next step (i.e. make) can take a long time...
##

make

make install

## Now do a test ##

## For a DS9490 USB adaptor that would be:

perl -MOW -e "OW::init('u'); printf OW::get('');"

## For a DS9097U or DS9097 serial adaptor connected to a serial port it would be:

perl -MOW -e "OW::init('/dev/ttyS0'); printf OW::get('');"

## If you have are using a serial adaptor via a USB to serial, then you may need extra steps to reach that?

## N.B. replace 0 in above line with relevant serial port number if 0 isn't appropriate.

## (For a USB adaptor) Expect something like :

DEFAULT: Opened USB DS9490 adapter at 002/002.

## Now create a data directory where 1-Wire filesystem will be mounted. e.g. ##

mkdir /home/1wire
mkdir /home/1wire/mnt

## Now manually install fuse ##

modprobe fuse

## Now mount the drive using either ##

/opt/owfs/bin/owfs /dev/ttyS0 /home/1wire/mnt

## or ##

/opt/owfs/bin/owfs u /home/1wire/mnt

## or whatever as appropriate ##

## With that you should be able to 'see' the 1-wire devices using

ls /home/1wire/mnt

## Running that here on a test system produced:

10.A78B94010800 1F.72D303000000 26.D55BB6000000 settings system
1D.04010E000000 1F.F5D303000000 81.FD4927000000 simultaneous uncached
1D.5CEB09000000 26.3F59B6000000 alarm statistics
1F.63D603000000 26.C3A5BC000000 bus.0 structure

## For regular use fuse needs to be loaded automatically during reboot, so ##
## add a line to /etc/modules using the vi editor

cd /etc
vi modules

## Then type EXACTLY the following keys:

G (end of file)
o (open new line and go into insert mode)
fuse
[ESC][ESC]
:wq[ENTER]

## N.B. in the above
G "means go to end of file"
o means "open new line and go into insert mode"
:wq means "write file and quit"

## or

cd /etc
echo fuse >> modules

## OWFS also needs to be mounted automatically during reboot, so ##
## create a owfs.init file from the text at the end of these notes, ##
## edit the ARGS line in the supplied owfs.init if necessary (e.g. /dev/ttyS0 ##
## in place of u if you have a serial adaptor on that port) then copy it ##
## to /etc/init.d/owfs, e.g.

cp /srv/www/myweb/owfs.init /etc/init.d/owfs

chmod 755 /etc/init.d/owfs

update-rc.d owfs defaults 99


# Next bit is the owfs.init mention above
#! /bin/sh
# owfs.init

PATH=/opt/owfs/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin
DAEMON=/opt/owfs/bin/owfs
PIDFILE=/var/run/owfs.pid

# Arguments to owfs
#
MOUNT_POINT="/home/1wire/mnt"
ARGS="u $MOUNT_POINT"

test -x $DAEMON || exit 0

case "$1" in
start)
echo -n "Starting owfs"
start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE \
--exec $DAEMON --$ARGS
echo "."
;;
stop)
echo -n "Stopping owfs"
umount $MOUNT_POINT
echo "."
;;
restart)
sh $0 stop
sh $0 start
;;
*)
echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/owfs {start|stop|restart}"
exit 1
;;
esac

exit 0

At a glance that looks more or less like my owfs install experience...

Rgds

Damon