Granting non root USB device access (Linux)

On some Linux systems, USB device permissions are set only to the root user and non-root users may be unable to open serial devices or exit autorun from the BL654 USB dongle. Raspbian (Raspberry Pi) is an example of a distribution that requires this. This applies to systems using udev, systems using other device management daemons are not covered in this guide.

Open a terminal and go into the root account:

su

or

sudo su

Navigate to the system udev rule directory:

cd /etc/udev/rules.d

Create a new file to hold the rule:

nano 40-ftdi.rules

Paste/type the following into the file:

#FTDI permissions granted to users group
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idProduct}=="6001", ATTR{idVendor}=="0403", MODE="0660", GROUP="users"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6001", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", MODE="0660", GROUP="users"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb-serial", MODE="0660", GROUP="users"

Save and close the editor using ctrl + x, pressing y and enter. Then reload the udev rules:

udevadm control --reload

You can now plug your USB devices/dongles in and non-root users will have full access to them without having to run the applications as the root user. If this does not work then you may have a system udev rule overriding this rule or causing a conflict, if so then you will need to resolve this issue without assistance from Laird, alternatively, running the application as root should also work.