PRS-500 reverse engineering the Reader USB protocol - Page 2

William Moates · 11-10-2006, 06:31 AM

I'm on Mac OS X, which is BSD-based, so I took the plunge to see if I could use your app. I used Fink (and the FinkCommander GUI) to upgrade python 2.3 to 2.5, installed/compiled pyUSB 0.3.5, then installed libprs500-0.2. setup.py ran without errors, and I could get prs500.py to run, but it gives me errors when trying to read the device. I don't have udev on my version of Linux (it's apparently only in the Debian distros), so I had to create the udev folder, and the 90-local.rules file. That didn't affect the read errors I was getting from prs500.py, so I think udev is not related to the the problem.

I don't have python-dev or libusb-dev installed, and they aren't available as Fink packages. (Neither is udev.)

Have you tried your app on other Linux boxes?

For now, I consider libprs500-0.2 a proof-of-concept. If I could see it installed and run on other Linux boxes, then I'd call it a prototype.

(Okay, I just looked up the two terms, and they appear synonymous, so I may be splitting hairs. If I could reproduce your results, I'd call it a prototype. Perhaps others have had more success.)

kovidgoyal · 11-10-2006, 11:22 AM

Well I've tested it on Gentoo and Kubuntu. libusb has problems on Mac OSX, unfortunately I dont have a Mac on which to test it. If you look at the code in communicate.py there is a todo in there about mac osx. If you post the error messages you get that would be helpful.

William Moates · 11-11-2006, 02:22 AM

In that case, it's a prototype.

I will post the error messages when I get a chance: my forum-reading computer is different from the one I tested libprs500 on, so I couldn't easily paste the error messages into the reply I was writing.

libusb was installable via Fink, so it may be OK now. Let me look into that, and into the todo in communicate.py--that's where the error originated.

kovidgoyal · 11-11-2006, 02:45 AM

Yeah there's no fundamental reason why this shouldn't work on OSX, besides a little tweaking of the USB parameters. I've updated the first post in the thread with the most up-to-date installation information.

William Moates · 11-11-2006, 03:03 AM

I was also trying to get others to post tales of their success/failure with libprs500. Every little bit helps.

Well? Anyone??

leha · 11-13-2006, 07:39 PM

Thanks for providing linux library, works well in Kubuntu.

The only thing that I got problem with is help message for cp command. Part of it says
"Device paths have the form: device:mountpoint/my/path"
It took me 10 min to figure out that "device" should be just the word "device" and not an actual linux device (considering there is no device created for reader it was long 10 min). Other then this the utility is very usable, thanks.

kovidgoyal · 11-14-2006, 11:22 AM

Glad to hear that it works. I'll improve the usage message for the next release.

kovidgoyal · 11-14-2006, 06:16 PM

I've isolated the problem on OSX to bulk reads failing in libusb. Unfortunately, I dont have enough access to an OSX system to debug that.

Uploaded a new version that makes the usage of cp a little clearer (I hope).

William Moates · 11-15-2006, 01:32 AM

Ok, here's the errors I got from libprs500-0.2:

Code:

VeeTechV1:/sw/bin wdmoates$ prs500.py info
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/bin/prs500.py", line 290, in <module>
    main()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/bin/prs500.py", line 183, in main
    dev.open()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/site-packages/libprs500/communicate.py", line 196, in open
    version = self._bulk_read(24, data_type=USBProtocolVersion)[0].version
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/site-packages/libprs500/communicate.py", line 289, in _bulk_read
    packet = bulk_read_packet(data_type=data_type, size=packet_size)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/site-packages/libprs500/communicate.py", line 281, in bulk_read_packet
    data = data_type(self.handle.bulkRead(PRS500Device.PRS500_BULK_IN_EP, size))
usb.USBError: usb_bulk_read: An error occured during read (see messages above)

I upgraded to libprs500-0.2.1, and here's the errors I get:

Code:

VeeTechV1:/sw/bin wdmoates$ prs500.py info
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/bin/prs500.py", line 290, in <module>
    main()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/bin/prs500.py", line 183, in main
    dev.open()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/site-packages/libprs500/communicate.py", line 192, in open
    version = self._bulk_read(24, data_type=USBProtocolVersion)[0].version
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/site-packages/libprs500/communicate.py", line 286, in _bulk_read
    packet = bulk_read_packet(data_type=data_type, size=packet_size)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.5/lib/python2.5/site-packages/libprs500/communicate.py", line 278, in bulk_read_packet
    data = data_type(self.handle.bulkRead(PRS500Device.PRS500_BULK_IN_EP, size))
usb.USBError: usb_bulk_read: An error occured during read (see messages above)

Still getting the error with bulk_read_packet. This is my fault, because I didn't get the error message to you sooner.

However, I did have some other successes:

Only Python 2.3 comes with Mac OS X versions 10.3 and 10.4, and Apple's documentation on it is sketchy. I first tried using Fink to upgrade, where I had to install xfree86 to upgrade to Python 2.5. The second time, I found out Python's website had Mac installers for Python 2.5 (you can find them here ), so I did that on my second Mac, which made things much easier.

In both cases, I've gotten libusb and pyUSB to install without much problem--they're mostly idiot-proof.

Here's the libprs500 commands which perform without error:

prs500.py
prs500.py --version
(when unplugged) prs500.py info

When I use these commands, I get the same bulk_read_packet error I mentioned above:

prs500.py info
prs500.py df
prs500.py cat
prs500.py ls

If you need more info, let me know.

kovidgoyal · 11-15-2006, 12:32 PM

Thanks, yeah that's the same error I was getting in my testing. Unfortunately, the problem seems to be in the libusb implementation on the Mac. Basically any attempt to perform bulk read/writes fails.

I don't know enough about USB internals on the Mac to debug it. Knowing me I'm probably not going to be able resist the challenge to learn though ;-)

seamusfp · 11-23-2006, 02:59 PM

I've been lurking on this thread for a bit hoping someone would solve the OS X problem.

But I decided to take the plunge and see if I could help work on things. However, I'm a bit of unix noob and can't seem to find python 2.5, I downloaded fink but I can only see 2.3 and 2.4.

kovidgoyal · 11-23-2006, 03:20 PM

http://www.python.org/download/

I will get around to working on OSX, it's just not high on my list of priorities. Right now I'm working on reverse engineering the LRF format and building a GUI.

igorsk · 11-23-2006, 04:51 PM

Let me know if you need any help with that

Alexander Turcic · 11-23-2006, 05:08 PM

I'd be interested, too!

kovidgoyal · 11-23-2006, 07:15 PM

Well I have written a meta information reader/writer for LRF in python, that seems to be more complete than existing tools. That's what I need for the GUI atm, so I will work on the rest of the LRF format later. If you want to track development

Code:

svn co https://svn.kovidgoyal.net/code/prs-500

To install,

Code:

python setup.py develop

Commands are: prs500, prs500-gui, lrf-meta
Additional requirements: pyxml and PyQt4

11-23-2006, 07:15 PM	#30
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Well I have written a meta information reader/writer for LRF in python, that seems to be more complete than existing tools. That's what I need for the GUI atm, so I will work on the rest of the LRF format later. If you want to track development Code: svn co https://svn.kovidgoyal.net/code/prs-500 To install, Code: python setup.py develop Commands are: prs500, prs500-gui, lrf-meta Additional requirements: pyxml and PyQt4 Last edited by kovidgoyal; 12-02-2006 at 01:36 AM.

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11-10-2006, 06:31 AM	#16
William Moates Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 35 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Greensboro, NC Device: Sony Librie / Sony Clie / Sony Reader	I'm on Mac OS X, which is BSD-based, so I took the plunge to see if I could use your app. I used Fink (and the FinkCommander GUI) to upgrade python 2.3 to 2.5, installed/compiled pyUSB 0.3.5, then installed libprs500-0.2. setup.py ran without errors, and I could get prs500.py to run, but it gives me errors when trying to read the device. I don't have udev on my version of Linux (it's apparently only in the Debian distros), so I had to create the udev folder, and the 90-local.rules file. That didn't affect the read errors I was getting from prs500.py, so I think udev is not related to the the problem. I don't have python-dev or libusb-dev installed, and they aren't available as Fink packages. (Neither is udev.) Have you tried your app on other Linux boxes? For now, I consider libprs500-0.2 a proof-of-concept. If I could see it installed and run on other Linux boxes, then I'd call it a prototype. (Okay, I just looked up the two terms, and they appear synonymous, so I may be splitting hairs. If I could reproduce your results, I'd call it a prototype. Perhaps others have had more success.)

11-10-2006, 11:22 AM	#17
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Well I've tested it on Gentoo and Kubuntu. libusb has problems on Mac OSX, unfortunately I dont have a Mac on which to test it. If you look at the code in communicate.py there is a todo in there about mac osx. If you post the error messages you get that would be helpful.

11-11-2006, 02:22 AM	#18
William Moates Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 35 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Greensboro, NC Device: Sony Librie / Sony Clie / Sony Reader	In that case, it's a prototype. I will post the error messages when I get a chance: my forum-reading computer is different from the one I tested libprs500 on, so I couldn't easily paste the error messages into the reply I was writing. libusb was installable via Fink, so it may be OK now. Let me look into that, and into the todo in communicate.py--that's where the error originated.

11-11-2006, 02:45 AM	#19
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Yeah there's no fundamental reason why this shouldn't work on OSX, besides a little tweaking of the USB parameters. I've updated the first post in the thread with the most up-to-date installation information.

11-11-2006, 03:03 AM	#20
William Moates Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 35 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Greensboro, NC Device: Sony Librie / Sony Clie / Sony Reader	I was also trying to get others to post tales of their success/failure with libprs500. Every little bit helps. Well? Anyone??

11-13-2006, 07:39 PM	#21
leha Member Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2006 Device: prs-500	Thanks for providing linux library, works well in Kubuntu. The only thing that I got problem with is help message for cp command. Part of it says "Device paths have the form: device:mountpoint/my/path" It took me 10 min to figure out that "device" should be just the word "device" and not an actual linux device (considering there is no device created for reader it was long 10 min). Other then this the utility is very usable, thanks.

11-14-2006, 11:22 AM	#22
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Glad to hear that it works. I'll improve the usage message for the next release.

11-14-2006, 06:16 PM	#23
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I've isolated the problem on OSX to bulk reads failing in libusb. Unfortunately, I dont have enough access to an OSX system to debug that. Uploaded a new version that makes the usage of cp a little clearer (I hope).

11-15-2006, 12:32 PM	#25
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Thanks, yeah that's the same error I was getting in my testing. Unfortunately, the problem seems to be in the libusb implementation on the Mac. Basically any attempt to perform bulk read/writes fails. I don't know enough about USB internals on the Mac to debug it. Knowing me I'm probably not going to be able resist the challenge to learn though ;-)

11-23-2006, 02:59 PM	#26
seamusfp Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 432 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Connecticut Device: Sony PRS-500	I've been lurking on this thread for a bit hoping someone would solve the OS X problem. But I decided to take the plunge and see if I could help work on things. However, I'm a bit of unix noob and can't seem to find python 2.5, I downloaded fink but I can only see 2.3 and 2.4.

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11-23-2006, 03:20 PM	#27
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	http://www.python.org/download/ I will get around to working on OSX, it's just not high on my list of priorities. Right now I'm working on reverse engineering the LRF format and building a GUI.

11-23-2006, 04:51 PM	#28
igorsk Wizard Posts: 3,442 Karma: 300001 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Belgium Device: PRS-500/505/700, Kindle, Cybook Gen3, Words Gear	Let me know if you need any help with that

11-23-2006, 05:08 PM	#29
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,163 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	I'd be interested, too!