MX Linux Forum

Greetings All! I'm just another former frustrated winders user converted to Mx. (formerly mepis). I've done a number of installs and some multi booting various flavors of linux. Interestingly, my installs required very little Terminal interaction. All 4 of my laptops ran wonderfully OOTB after MX14-19 installs with a printer/scanner problem now and then.
Well I bought a win 10 lenovo laptop for dedicated Auto scanner use- USB cable to ELM327 dongle into OBD2 port in vehicle. I could never get win 10 to co-operate, Window would disappear, Cortana would ask or warn or cover the screen, Popups everywhere,Menu lists that took over the entire scrreen to show 5 programs, It was like web surfing on a smartphone- never getting what I wanted, Just what they were selling. software removed, or never installed. What a list! Out of anger I formatted the hard drive to EXT4. Installed MX-19 and Wine. So far so good. Plugged in USB OBD cable, Led flashes. Program sees it. All is good until I plug into vehicle. Then program notifies Connected cannot communicate with ELM327. Well after many web searches and Browsing I'm here asking for HELP!
Since I've rarely used terminal, or done anything other than follow detailed instructions on my laptops, I am asking for the exact commands to try to diagnose this problem. It could be a missing Driver, Permissions, etc. I've found and bookmarked many pages that were solved, but they were using linux guru speak, not newbie speak. So I wasn't comfortable trying unfamiliar and possibly poorly written or improperly written commands. Most of the pages I've found are quite old, 1999-2015, so the new kernels have incorporated many of those issues.
Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. I will run the suggested commands while connected, screenshot them and report back. Thanks in advance.

Welcome. Can you give us more information such as what you're even talking about? I for one can't make heads or tails out of anything you've told us so far.

hes got a piece of hardware called an elm327 for talking to his car on-board diagnostics (obd) interface:

The ELM327 is a programmed microcontroller produced by ELM Electronics for translating the on-board diagnostics interface found in most modern cars. The ELM327 command protocol is one of the most popular PC-to-OBD interface standards and is also implemented by other vendors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELM327

the (obd) program hes using says it cant communicate with the (pc-side) hardware.

exp, a suggestion-- tell us what youre trying to do with the command line. unless youre trying to learn everything about it, then we can point you to a long command line tutorial. but thats probably not what you need right now.

JayM, It is just diagnostic software with possibility to delete some error messages via OBDII from Laptop to your car.

I used forscan (russian softw.) with usb dongle (ELM 327chip) under win7 without problems.

So exp500, which software do you use? Expensive ones with possibility to change car configuration, illegal ones, or simple diagnostic ones?

Which ELM327 dongle do you use? There have been some kinds of them, some working with x, some with y ...


edit, to late ;-)

I've never managed to get my Elm327 EOBD scanner working under Linux or Windows 10. It actually worked best with XP!

There are some links to software you can try here:

https://www.elmelectronics.com/help/obd/software/

Chris

So it's something like on Mighty Car Mods when they plug a laptop into something called an ACU (automatic control unit?) to tune their engine/turbo and maximize their horsepower kilowattage at the wheels on a dyno? I enjoy their YouTube channel but I can't make out what they're talking about half the time either. I can understand points, rotors, distributors and carburetors and am lost beyond that level of automotive tech.

This guide was written for openSUSE but it seems to be transferable to MX: https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:ELM327_based_ODB2_scan_tool

The mentioned pyobd program is available as a .deb package from here: http://www.obdtester.com/pyobd-download

But unfortunately it depends on an old version of python-wxgtk so it won't work in MX-19.

So instead download the tarball and unpack it: Now modify the dependency: Then Install devscripts & the build dependencies, build the package and install it: You should now be able to run it with: We don't need no stinkin' WINE

EDIT: 's/odb/obd/', curse my dyslexia...

JayM wrote: Fri May 01, 2020 4:06 am So it's something like on Mighty Car Mods when they plug a laptop into something called an ACU (automatic control unit?) to tune their engine/turbo and maximize their horsepower kilowattage at the wheels on a dyno? I enjoy their YouTube channel but I can't make out what they're talking about half the time either. I can understand points, rotors, distributors and carburetors and am lost beyond that level of automotive tech.

Not really.

Any car since 1996 in the US, and 2001 in Europe, has to have a standardised interface port that can be used to look for fault codes in the (E)ngine (C)ontrol (U)nit. This is primarily for the maintenance of emission control systems.

Basic devices like the ELM came on the market so amateurs could fault-find, and reset fault codes, but the function of the ECU has evolved into controlling every aspect of the vehicles' systems, and there is no requirement for those parts of the ECU to be available to monitor or reset, outside of the manufacturer's equipment.

That makes devices like the ELM much less useful.

Other devices that can control and monitor every aspect of an ECU without needing the dealer's equipment are now available, but they are expensive, and usually only relate to a particular manufacturer.

Chris

Maybe you could run one of the Android OBD2 reader apps through Anbox (or something like it).

Thanks for the replies. I am using Forscan with an OBDLINK EX USB dongle.
Kulmbacher, You hit it closest,
Freemedia, You are onto what I'm looking for, needing some diagnostic command line codes to figure out my system.
Head_on_a_stick, what you posted is beyond my expertise but I could do it with some research and maybe a few questions answered. But it's along the lines of what I'm looking for, with more emphasis on figuring out whats missing on my system.
Chrispop99, You have it partially, There are car hackers able to open everything, It seems Forscan can do more than dealer equipment. But a Sna-pon scanner at $3000.+ is out of the question.
JefferyC, I'm looking for two way communication, Androids all are one way.
JayM, Don't know about that wonder box yet.
Again, I'm just trying to diagnose my communication errors on my sytem as it stands now, I'll get a screenshot and report back.Any Command line entries you think I should try for figuring this out please post. Thanks.

this may provide a couple leads: https://obd2-elm327.com/obd2-elm327-can-not-connect-ecu

it does not appear to include the solution. it describes part of the functionality (without going into a lot of detail) that could be responsible for the problem.

in particular, you might double check that the elm is indeed compatible with the vehicle ecu: http://obd2-elm327.com/elm327-compatible-cars this was also interesting, as it involves forscan as well as the elm adapter: https://topscantool.com/modify-mscan-el ... rscan.html

Thanks for the reply and links, Below is something along the lines i think I need.
This is from the forscan site jun 2014- How to run forscan on linux
Author: Valentin Marinov, Bulgaria (Ford Escape Hybrid 2007). Edited by: Dmitry Lyubitskiy (Mazda Familia), Dick Saarloos (Ford Fiesta Mk6.5, Dutch Fiestaclub http://www.fiestaclub.nl)

In Wine emulation under Linux, FORScan was unable to detect the COM port until I added the following registry entries (by editing the file ~/.wine/system.reg):

WINE REGISTRY Version 2
;; All keys relative to \\Machine

#arch=win32

[Hardware\\Devicemap\\Serialcomm] 1015709345
"Serial0"="COM1"

Clarification from Dick Saarloos (Ford Fiesta Mk6.5, Dutch Fiestaclub http://www.fiestaclub.nl):

As a Linux Kubuntu user I had some troubles to get it working under WINE1.6 but found the solution. In the HOWTO you just mention its enough to edit the ~/.wine/system.reg but could not activate the COM - USB port within FORscan.

I got it running after changing/configuring some settings within Kubuntu 13.10, 14.04

a. after plugging in verification with LSMOD showed the adapter visible as lp2303 and usbserial (easy so far)
b. with ls -la /dev/tty* the adapter will be visible as /dev/ttyUSB0 and can be simply tested with a console program like screen /dev/ttyUSB0 (interrupt screen with unplugging the adapter)
c. I made my username member of the dialgroup. First check with id-Gn. With sudo adduser dicks dialout I became member of the dialgroup. Checked it with id-Gn
d. for WINE you have to create a symbolic link for the com1 device with ln -s /dev/ttyUSB0 ~/.wine/dosdevices/com1

Without this symbolic link no com device will be seen in wine/dosdevices

To get it working for Bluetooth ELM is very simular like the way it has to be done with a USB ELM. So user/group policy is the same.

a. With LSMOD the modules rfcomm and bluetooth must be visible
b. If blue-man is installed, start blueman, start search device, add the OBDII adapter by means of the "green plus", click on the PIN-key and type in 1234, trust the device with the yellow star, click on configure and select for Serial Port. Wait for message that device is available via the rfcomm0 port
c. Check with ls -l /dev/rfcomm0 is available
d. Change for WINE by editing the file ~/.wine/system.reg the entry for Bluetooth the Serialcomm setting to COM5:

WINE REGISTRY Version 2
;; All keys relative to \\Machine

#arch=win32

[Hardware\\Devicemap\\Serialcomm] 1015709345
"Serial0"="COM5"

e. Create a symbolic link for the com5 device with ln -s /dev/rfcomm1 ~/.wine/dosdevices/com5

FORScan runs fine under WINE but after disconnecting the Bluetooth adapter it does not reconnect automaticly as it does under XP. The only possibility to reconnect as I found out till now is to delete the Bluetooth device and to configure it again.

Top

And the final post


FORScan
Site Admin
Posts: 2640
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 2:21 am

Re: How to run FORScan on Linux

Post by FORScan » Mon Feb 15, 2016 3:47 am
Update from Time_Lord:

The problem with using a symbolic link that makes com1 point to /dev/ttyUSB0 is that the USB device is not always guarenteed to be ttyUSB0.

I would recommend you go one step further and have an entry in/etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules, you will to create this file if it does not exist.

My 10-local.rules file has the following entry:

SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6001", SYMLINK+="elm327"

This may need to be modified for your system (see below), the entry should be all one line, capitalization etc matters! What this will do is when the device is plugged into the sytem it will create a ttyUSBx entry like before and then it will automatically create a symbolic link called /dev/elm327 which it will then automatically point to whatever ttyUSB device the system assigns giving you a fixed device name to use.

Now you can simply create in your ~/.wine/dosdevices an symbolic link pointing to /dev/elm327 eg "ln -s /dev/elm327 ~/.wine/dosdevices/com1"

The values I used for idVendor and idProduct may not match your device and you'll need to identify the correct entries, there are several ways to do this, the easiest is simply plug the device in and then type "dmesg | tail -15", (performed on a Fedora system) you'll get something very similar to this:

extra lines removed
[522120.236103] usb 1-1: new full-speed USB device number 21 using xhci_hcd
[522120.405985] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6001
[522120.405994] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[522120.405999] usb 1-1: Product: FT232R USB UART
[522120.406003] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: FTDI
[522120.406006] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: A9009fB7
[522120.408974] ftdi_sio 1-1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
[522120.409031] usb 1-1: Detected FT232RL
[522120.409259] usb 1-1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0

notice the entries for idVendor and idProduct, those are the values to use, you can also use the serial number but I've found that on cheap devices the serial numbers either are reused on multiple devices or are simply not set and show "0"

After updating the rules in udev make sure you either restart udevd or simply restart your system and next time you plug in the device you'll get two entries in /dev, one /dev/ttyUSBx and /dev/elm327 (or whatever you choose to name it)
Top

Did you search winehq's application database for forscan?
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager. ... &iId=15369

Maybe try an older forscan version that supports your car.
I remember there was a cut (free/pay vers.) in the software, some years ago.

Vers. down to 2013 -> https://forscan.org/download.html

Thank you all for trying, I'm going to spend time trying to learn command line more. There must be some commands that will show what I have Vs: what I need. I'll update as I learn more.
The links all seem to be about 6 years old or older, so I figured the newer versions would do more out of the box, with minor changes- I just needed help figuring out how to do the changes. Thanks again.

exp500 wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 1:49 pmThere must be some commands that will show what I have Vs: what I need.

dmesg and lspci are good ones to know when dealing with hardware. lsusb is a good one too. of these, i expect dmesg to be the most useful for what youre doing.

OP will probably get more help and advice in an automotive forum than in a Linux distro support forum considering that the software in question isn't even for Linux.

Found it, now to figure out how... and since it was originally Arch linux I have to figure out Those differences as well.
For those (if any) interested the file name is libftd2xx-x86_64-1.4.8gz
The installation instructions-AN_220_FTDI_Drivers_Installation_Guide.pdf
https://www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm
This is way over my head , but if I can word my question(s) correctly, I have a chance.
The VCP drivers are already in MX-19. Thats a start.
Currently reading debian handbook for administrators, chapter 5
BTW, most of the comments/help offered on the Auto websites for Linux read like the FTDI Installation Guide. Learn Or Die!
Thanks Again.

Thank you all for the vote of confidence! The Configuration now works Perfectly! Installing the drivers was the fix. MX Linux just gets better and better. Many thanks to the Developers and testers for such a great product. It's time I made a contribution to the cause to keep them interested.

I can't find the EDIT button so I can change Topic Heading to SOLVED. Any Admins or helpers with suggestions?

if its available, the little pencil next to the quote and report icons on the upper right lets you edit the post.