doc/www/requirements.php

   1 <? include ("barry.inc"); ?>
   2
   3 <? createHeader("barry - Requirements"); ?>
   4
   5 <? createSubHeader("::::::: Linux ::::::::::::::"); ?>
   6
   7 <? createSubHeader("Charging and the Kernel"); ?>
   8
   9 <p>One of the main features of Barry is the ability to control the charging
  10 modes of the Blackberry, as well as changing configuration modes on
  11 Pearl-like devices.</p>
  12
  13 <p>In order to achieve proper charging, udev is setup to run the bcharge
  14 program every time you plug in your Blackberry.</p>
  15
  16 <p>Kernels older than 2.6.34 have a module called berry_charge, which does
  17 similar things from the kernel level.  These two methods can conflict if both
  18 run at the same time.</p>
  19
  20 <p>Due to this conflict, the binary packages are setup to install
  21 a blacklist file under /etc/modprobe.d, which will disable berry_charge
  22 as long as you have the barry-util package installed.</p>
  23
  24 <p>If you are not using the binary packages, you can use the sample
  25 blacklist file that comes with the source tarball.</p>
  26
  27
  28
  29
  30 <? createSubHeader("Power and the Kernel"); ?>
  31
  32 <p>Recent kernels also have the ability to put the USB bus and its devices
  33 into suspend mode.  Distros often have this turned on by default.</p>
  34
  35 <p>When bcharge runs, it successfully changes the Blackberry to use 500mA
  36 (its normal power level for charging), but then the kernel puts the device
  37 into suspend mode.  This can have various undefined effects, such as
  38 the charge icon disappearing on the device, or having your device lose
  39 its charge in an accelerated manner.</p>
  40
  41 <p>Bcharge attempts to work around this by writing to the
  42 control files under <code>/sys/class/usb_device/.../device/power/</code>
  43 to turn autosuspend off.  Depending on your kernel version or kernel
  44 config, these files may not be available, but in most cases at
  45 least one of the needed files are there.</p>
  46
  47 <p>If you continue to experience trouble charging your Blackberry:
  48 <ul>
  49         <li> consider upgrading your kernel (Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy
  50                 patches their 2.6.22 kernel to fix this,
  51                 for example) </li>
  52         <li> recompile your kernel with CONFIG_USB_SUSPEND disabled </li>
  53 </ul>
  54 </p>
  55
  56
  57 <? createSubHeader("Device Ownership and Permissions"); ?>
  58
  59 <p>The Barry toolset performs all its actions through the /proc and/or
  60 /sysfs filesystems, using the libusb library.  This requires that you
  61 have permissions to write to the USB device files setup by the kernel.</p>
  62
  63 <p>This is handled differently on various systems:</p>
  64
  65 <ul>
  66         <li>On Debian based systems, there is a group called plugdev, which
  67                 is used to control permissions for pluggable devices.
  68                 When the barry-util deb package is installed, udev is
  69                 configured to set Blackberry device permissions to
  70                 the plugdev group.  Make sure your user is in the plugdev
  71                 group.</li>
  72         <li>On Fedora based systems, ownership is controlled by the
  73                 ConsoleKit package.  This changes ownership of pluggable
  74                 devices to the user currently logged into the console,
  75                 on the theory that anyone at the console should have
  76                 control of the devices he plugs in. </li>
  77 </ul>
  78
  79
  80
  81 <? createSubHeader("::::::: OpenBSD ::::::::::::::"); ?>
  82
  83 <? createSubHeader("Uberry Module and Ugen"); ?>
  84
  85 <p>The uberry kernel module conflicts with the ugen interface that
  86 libusb uses to talk to the device.  To work around this, you will
  87 need to boot your kernel with "boot -c" and disable the uberry module.<p>
  88
  89 <p>Suggestions for better ways to work around this conflict are welcome.</p>
  90