suggestion: more info in USB devices menu

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maker675
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suggestion: more info in USB devices menu

Post by maker675 »

Recently have been attaching two identical USB->Serial Adapters to my Mac.

On the Mac side can view lots of information about them.

In VirtualBox, navigating to the menus Devices / USB / what it says is "FTDI F232R USB UART [0600]"

Identical for both adapters. So it's impossible to tell them apart.

Suggestion is to show (in cases like this) the Serial Number as well, since that seems to be the differentiating feature.

Same applies, methinks, for a variety of other USB devices.

Any other views?
socratis
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Re: suggestion: more info in USB devices menu

Post by socratis »

Ever heard of the expression "too much information"? ;)
It might get overcrowded in there if you start include everything (and the kitchen sink). And you got to admit that your problem is a border case. I wouldn't welcome such a change, and here's why:
Devices » USB » JMicron USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge, 152D:0567[0124], JMicron, USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge, 0123456789ABCDEF
That would be a string that fully described my USB3 HD case. Do you see how big it gets? If I plug another disk in the case, it's still going to be the same serial. Or if I have another identical case, I won't be able to tell them apart.

Solution? Not an easy one. But, if you had a USB filter (which includes a custom_name), you could (in theory) walk the USB tree and replace the menu entry with the custom_name from the USB filter. If it's a match. But what if you have two? ;)

PS. Moving this from the "OSX Hosts" section to the "Suggestions" one.
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michaln
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Re: suggestion: more info in USB devices menu

Post by michaln »

The serial number is already displayed. But only for devices that have one...
socratis
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Re: suggestion: more info in USB devices menu

Post by socratis »

Hmm... no. It's not. Not on the Devices » USB » menu. Not on an OSX host and a couple of Win hosts. I've never seen a serial number on the menu, and I have about 20 different USB devices to try. Unless you mean the tooltip, which I don't have on OSX...

What you have populated in the menu is "$VendorString + $DeviceString [$revision]".
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michaln
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Re: suggestion: more info in USB devices menu

Post by michaln »

I'm talking about the tooltip, yes.

Showing the serial number in the menu doesn't seem useful based on my sample of about 5 devices. For example I have a device with serial number "0000213386CC1832525C8C2B1B1260E0". I have another device with serial number "~~" (though not exactly that). I do not see how displaying either in the menu would improve usability. If there was some semi-standardized format for USB device serial numbers that would be one thing. But there isn't, the serial number is just a string.

The other problem is that when you really would like to see the serial numbers (two or more identical devices), chances are good they will all have the same "serial number".

USB is cheap. You get what you pay for.
socratis
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Re: suggestion: more info in USB devices menu

Post by socratis »

Oh, I'm 100% with you on that one, all of the points actually, I mentioned it in a previous post. The tooltip is a nice touch, but not portable, so I'm not sure what a solution might be. If there needs to be one...

I briefly mentioned walking through the attached USB devices tree and replacing the menu name with the USB filter name (if it exists), but even that might 1) not work as envisioned, and 2) might be too much work for too little gain.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
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