Using HID compliant mouse like device in Ubuntu

Aim: I have a whiteboard which emulates as mouse. Thus, when you click and drag on the whiteboard it should move the cursor. I want to make a whiteboard work in Ubuntu It works on windows. Device information: the output of cat /proc/bus/input which contains the device information

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=4623 Product=011a Version=0111
N: Name="Hite Board-XXXXXXXX"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:14.0-1/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-1/1-1:1.0/
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse2 event13
B: PROP=2
B: EV=b
B: KEY=400 0 0 0 0 0
B: ABS=260800000000003
abhishek@vaio:~$ lsusb -d 4623:011a -v
Bus 001 Device 012: ID 4623:011a
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Device Descriptor: bLength 18 bDescriptorType 1 bcdUSB 2.00 bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level) bDeviceSubClass 0 bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 64 idVendor 0x4623 idProduct 0x011a bcdDevice 0.01 iManufacturer 1 iProduct 2 iSerial 0 bNumConfigurations 1 Configuration Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 2 wTotalLength 73 bNumInterfaces 2 bConfigurationValue 1 iConfiguration 0 bmAttributes 0x80 (Bus Powered) MaxPower 150mA Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 0 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 2 bInterfaceClass 3 Human Interface Device bInterfaceSubClass 0 No Subclass bInterfaceProtocol 0 None iInterface 0 HID Device Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 33 bcdHID 1.11 bCountryCode 0 Not supported bNumDescriptors 1 bDescriptorType 34 Report wDescriptorLength 429 Report Descriptors: ** UNAVAILABLE ** Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN bmAttributes 3 Transfer Type Interrupt Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 1x 64 bytes bInterval 8 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x01 EP 1 OUT bmAttributes 3 Transfer Type Interrupt Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 1x 64 bytes bInterval 1 Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 1 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 2 bInterfaceClass 3 Human Interface Device bInterfaceSubClass 0 No Subclass bInterfaceProtocol 0 None iInterface 6 HID Device Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 33 bcdHID 1.10 bCountryCode 33 US bNumDescriptors 1 bDescriptorType 34 Report wDescriptorLength 91 Report Descriptors: ** UNAVAILABLE ** Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x82 EP 2 IN bmAttributes 3 Transfer Type Interrupt Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 1x 64 bytes bInterval 1 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT bmAttributes 3 Transfer Type Interrupt Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 1x 64 bytes bInterval 1

Since bInterfaceProtocol is None, linux doesn't recognize it as a mouse input device.

What's ideal approach to reverse engineering it from windows to make it work in linux.

Device in windows device manager:

Edit 1:

abhishek@vaio:~/dev_work/whiteboard/pyusbwhiteboard$ usb-devices | grep -A5 'Vendor=4623 ProdID=011a' | grep Driver
I: If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=03(HID ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=usbfs
I: If#= 1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=03(HID ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=usbhid

dmesg output:

1 Answer

I wrote script which was able to do the job. But I had to figure out what the inputs from the device meant.

import sys,pdb
import usb.core
import usb.util
from pymouse import PyMouse
# whiteboard coordinates axis computed by checking the output against strokes
white_board_x_min=(1<<8)+1
white_board_x_max=(127<<8)+255
white_board_y_min=(1<<8)+1
white_board_y_max=(127<<8)+255
white_board_x_diff=white_board_x_max-white_board_x_min
white_board_y_diff=white_board_y_max-white_board_y_min
# mouse handler
m = PyMouse()
x_screen, y_screen = m.screen_size()
# decimal vendor and product values
dev = usb.core.find(idVendor=17955, idProduct=282)
# first endpoint
interface = 0
endpoint = dev[0][(0,0)][0]
# if the OS kernel already claimed the device, which is most likely true
# thanks to
if dev.is_kernel_driver_active(interface) is True: # tell the kernel to detach dev.detach_kernel_driver(interface) # claim the device usb.util.claim_interface(dev, interface)
mouse_down_event=False
try: while True : try: data = dev.read(endpoint.bEndpointAddress,endpoint.wMaxPacketSize) # click value click=data[1] # if it is 7 mouse down else if it is 4 it is mouse up # get the coordinates xcor,ycor,dec_x_binary,dec_y_binary=data[4],data[6],data[3],data[5] # convert to decimal xcor_dec=(xcor<<8)+dec_x_binary ycor_dec=(ycor<<8)+dec_y_binary # convert to relative screen coordinates screen_xcor=int(round((float(xcor_dec-white_board_x_min)/float(white_board_x_diff)) * x_screen)) screen_ycor=int(round((float(ycor_dec-white_board_y_min)/float(white_board_y_diff)) * y_screen)) #print "%d, %d"%(xcor_dec,ycor_dec) #print "%d, %d"%(screen_xcor,screen_ycor) # check if it is valid event if xcor_dec!=0 and ycor_dec!=0: # move mouse if click==7: # mean mouse down event if mouse_down_event: # drag event # draw a line from previous coordinates m.drag(screen_xcor, screen_ycor) else: # first button press event m.click(screen_xcor, screen_ycor, 1) mouse_down_event=True else: # mouse up event # set event type in mouse_down_event # first button press and drag mouse_down_event=False except usb.core.USBError as e: data = None if e.args == ('Operation timed out',): continue
finally: # release the device usb.util.release_interface(dev, interface) # reattach the device to the OS kernel dev.attach_kernel_driver(interface)