FAQ

We've found that Windows will only recognize the USB driver installation on the USB port that it was originally installed on. Assuming you've indeed installed the USB driver correctly, confirm that you're connecting your USB cable to the USB port that the driver was originally installed on and re-initialize your Teleo application.

I'm having trouble with the USB drivers (or the USB port) on Mac OS X. What can I do?

1. Make sure you have enough disk space
2. Manually remove the driver, and re-install.
3. Enforce the proper ownership and permissions on the driver files

1. Make sure you have enough disk space:

The USB driver needs a lot of free space on the disk. We do not have an accurate measure, but 100MByte would cover it. If you have less than 100MByte of free disk space, this might be the cause. Try to free up some disk space and re-install the driver.

2. Manually remove the driver, and re-install.

a. Bring up a terminal:

Appliction->Utilities->Terminal

b. Remove the kext cache files (may not be present):

sudo rm /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kernelcaches/kernelcache.* (you will be asked for your password)

c. Remove the kext files:

sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext

d. Remove the receipts:

sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/FTDIUSBSerialDriver.pkg sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext

e. Remove the startup scripts:

sudo rm -rf /Library/StartupItems/FTDIReEnumerate

At this point the driver should be gone. I'm not sure it's necessary, but I would reboot now.

After rebooting, check with your System Profiler to make sure it's gone.

Download a fresh version of the driver from our website (perhaps your local copy is somehow corrupted), unpack the .sit file, and double-click on the .pkg file to install the driver as described in our readme.

Follow the installation procedure and allow it to reboot

3. Enforce the proper ownership and permissions on the driver files.

a. Bring up a terminal

Appliction->Utilities->Terminal

b. Change your working directory to the driver directory:

cd /System/Library/Extensions

c. Change the owner for all files and directories of this driver to root:

sudo chown -R root FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext

d. Change the group for all files and directories of this driver to wheel:

sudo chgrp -R wheel FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext

e. Change permissions for all files to 644:

sudo find FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

f. Change permissions for all directories to 755:

sudo find FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

How can I confirm that the FTDI USB driver is installed properly, on both OS X and Windows?

For Windows:

1. First make sure your Teleo system is powered and the USB cable is plugged in. If you are using a USB Translator, please connected at least one other Teleo module. (If you are using an Intro Module then that module alone is sufficient.)

2. Open your device manager. On Windows XP:

right-cLick on "My computer"
select properties
select "Hardware"
click on "Device Manager

3. Confirm that the USB system is enabled on your motherboard:

Click on the '+' sign by the "Universal Serial Bus controllers"

If you don't see this entry, reboot your machine and press the appropriate key (or key combination) to enter the CMOS SETUP. Find where USB is controlled, and make sure it is enabled. While pretty rare on new machines, we have found USB disabled on some older machines

4. Confirm that the USB hardware is found:

Open the device manager (if it's not open) and look for an entry that says "USB High Speed Serial converter"

If you don't see this, then the USB device on your Teleo module is not being found. Double check that the USB cable is plugged in well on both ends. I did have a problem just today where the connector wasn't plugged in all the way.

5. Confirm that the USB hardware is working properly:

right click on the "USB High Speed Serial converter" and select "Properties"

You should see that the manufacturer is FTDI and that the Device status is OK.

If this doesn't seem right, I would guess that the driver is not installed or working properly. You can uninstall the driver by selecting the "Driver" tab and clicking uninstall. Then re-install.

6. Confirm that the USB driver appears as a virtual serial console:

The USB driver appears as a serial port, so if you expand (click on the '+' sign) by "Ports (COM & LPT)" you should see the usual 2 or so "Communication Ports (COMx)" (depending on how many serial ports your computer has), possibly an LPT port (if your computer has a parallel port) and finally, if the USB driver is installed properly, "USB Serial Port (COMx)".

Right click on the "USB Serial Port (COMx)"

You should see that the manufacturer is FTDI and that the Device status is OK.

If this doesn't seem right, I would guess that the driver is not installed or working properly. You can uninstall the driver by selecting the "Driver" tab and clicking uninstall. Then re-install.

7. If this all works you should be able to open a terminal emulator on the serial port. You can use HyperTerminal:

Start->All Programs->Accessories->Communications->Hyperterminal

When asked for a name type a random name and click on "OK".

A "Connect To" window will appear, with a field labeled "Connect With" and a click box for selecting which COM port.

Select the COM port found in step 6 above and click on "OK".

A "Port Settings" window will open. This doesn't matter - click "OK".

Finally in the terminal window you should see a bunch of seemingly meaningless characters. These are the ASCII representations of the binary data your Intro module is sending out. About every second you should see a new string of characters. This is one of your Teleo modules identifying itself.

If everything seems fine up to this point but your Teleo system is still not working, please contact us and we'll figure out where to go from here.

For Mac OS X

2. Open the Apple System Profiler:

Macintosh HD->Applications->Utilities->Apple System Profiler

3. Confirm that the USB driver is installed:

Select the "Devices and Volumes" tab.

Locate the "USB Information" section.

In this section there should be a box labeled "USB <-> Serial". If you don't see this, then the USB driver is not installe. Follow the instructions in our README or at the vendor's website at http://www.ftdichip.com/FTMacDriver.htm. The driver you need is the VCP Drivers for Apple OS-X ( FT232 / FT245 ).

If you do see a box labeled "USB <-> Serial" there should be an arrow to the left of the box. Click on this arrow to get some more details. In particular, you should see that the Vendor is FTDI.

4. Confirm that the USB hardware is working properly and is being found by the driver:

Invoke a terminal ( Macintosh HD->Applications->Utilities->Terminal )

In the terminal application, type:

ls /dev/tty.usb*

You should see something like

/dev/tty.usbserial-181

It's ok if the number is different. You can confirm that this is the Teleo USB module by moving the USB cable to another USB port and then typing the ls command again. This time you should get a different number e.g.

/dev/tty.usbserial-191

If this doesn't work please contact us for further steps.

5. If this all works you should be able to open a terminal emulator on the serial port. You can use Zterm to do this. I'll be adding a FAQ entry for this shortly, but meanwhile, you can follow the FAQ at http://www.makingthings.com/products/FAQ/faq.htm#Q4, being aware that the Introductory Module does not have ASCII mode.

When you invoke Zterm you should see a bunch of seemingly meaningless characters. These are the ASCII representations of the binary data your Intro module is sending out. About every second you should see a new string of characters. This is one of your Teleo modules identifying itself.

If everything seems fine up to this point but your Teleo system is still not working, please contact us and we'll figure out where to go from here.

ZTerm, written by Dave Alverson, is terminal emulator that can talk to a serial port. Since the USB device emulates a serial port, this program is ideal.

1. Download and install Zterm (e.g. from here). Versions are available for both OS 9 and OS X.

2. Invoke Zterm. You should be asked which serial port you wish to use. One of them should be something like "USBHighSpeedSerialConverter" (for OS 9) or "usbserial-001" (for OS X).

(If you are not given a choice select "Settings" and then "Modem Preferences")

If you do not see "USBHighSpeedSerialConverter" or "usbserial-001", two possible causes are:

1. The USB port may be hung. Perform these steps to unclog the USB port:

1. Shutdown the Macintosh
2. Unplug the USB cable from the Teleo USB Translator
3. Unplug the Teleo Network cable from the Teleo USB Translator
4. Wait about 10 seconds
5. Plug in the Teleo Network cable to the Teleo USB Translator
6. Make sure the green LED on the Teleo USB Translator is blinking
6. Plug in the USB cable to the Teleo USB Translator
7. Power up the Mac
8. Try Zterm again

2. The USB driver may not be installed proplerly. Remove the driver and install it again. The driver (and instructions) are available in the Teleo Max Externals here or directly from the USB manufacturer (FTDI) here and download either VCP Drivers for Apple OS-8 / OS-9 ( FT232 / FT245 ) or VCP Drivers for Apple OS-X ( FT232 / FT245 ) as appropriate to your OS.

3. If you've come this far, I assume that "USBHighSpeedSerialConverter" was presented at Zterm. Select this port (if it didn't automatically select it for you). You should see a character or two, probably the '<' sign, appearing on your screen about every 5 seconds. This is a message from one of the Teleo modules identifying itself.

The USB Translator normally communicates with your Macintosh in binary mode, which is why you may see different odd characters.

4. Tell the USB Translator to go into ASCII mode by pressing the <space> bar rapidly twice. You should see:

MAKINGTHINGS : USB Translator V2.0
Command Mode (press '?' for Help)

If this doesn't work, wait 3 seconds and press the <space> bar twice again.

5. Press the white button on any Teleo module other than the USB Translator. You should see
something like:

B A 5

This message means that a button was pressed on the module at address '5'. ('5' is the Servo module default address.) If you have different modules, pressing the button on those modules should yield a "button pressed" message from each of those modules, along with its address. (If any module addresses have been changed from the default, the address reported will be the one you changed to.)

If you have other modules, you should press the white button on those modules to see each of them report the button press message.

6. Test your MultiIO Digital Output device as follows:

1. Connect an LED or other indicator between Digital Out Device 0 (DO0) and V+.
2. Turn on Digital Out Device 0 (DO0) by typing:

P 3.8.0 1

This means: Put to Module 3 (MultiIO), device 8 (DO0), Property 0 (the on or off property) the value 1. Similarly, to turn off the device type:

P 3.8.0 0

or to turn on PWM 0 to half duty type:

P 3.12.0 50

You can press '?' for help with the USB Translator Command Mode shell.

6. When you are finished with Zterm press 'b' to return to binary mode, then quit Zterm.

Max or the entire computer crashes as soon as I try to place a Teleo object in my patch. What can I do?

Max seems to be sensitive to corrupted preferences - every reported case of Max or the computer crashing when a Teleo object is placed has been cured by removing the preferences. This can be accomplished as follows:

1. Exit Max/MSP
2. Open the hard drive
3. Open the System Folder
4. Open the Preferences folder
5. Drag the whole Max 4 Preferences folder into the trash
6. Drag the whole MSP Preferences folder into the trash
7. Invoke Max and try Teleo again