Drivers Barco Port Devices



When you plug the device into your USB, Windows will look for the associated driver, if it cannot find this driver then you will be prompted to insert the driver disc that came with your device. Common USB Device errors are ‘ usb port not working ‘, ‘device descriptor request. The reason is that after a Windows 10 update, virtual COM port drivers may not load any-longer by default for devices of some types. Dedicated app: virtual COM port driver for Windows 10 If ports COM & LPT are not shown in the Device Manager of your Windows 10 system, you can install Virtual COM Port Driver and solve this problem once and for all.

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Common serial port names are /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyS1, etc. Thenaround the year 2000 came the USB bus with names like /dev/ttyUSB0 and/dev/ttyACM1 (for the ACM modem on the USB bus). Multiport serialcard used somewhat differnt names (depending on the brand) such as/dev/ttyE5.

Since DOS provided for 4 serial ports on the old ISA bus:COM1-COM4, or ttyS0-ttyS3 in Linux, most serial ports on the newer PCIbus used higher numbers such as ttyS4 or ttyS14 (prior to kernel2.6.13). But since most PCs only came with one or two serial ports,ttyS0 and possibly ttyS1 (for the second port) the PCI bus can now usettyS2 (kernel 2.6.15 on). All this permits one to have both ISAserial ports and PCI serial ports on the same PC with no nameconflicts. 0-1 (or 0-3) are reserved for the old ISA bus (or thenewer LPC bus) and 2-upward (or 4-upward or 14-upward) are used forPCI, where older schemes are shown in parentheses . It's not requiredto be this way but it often is.

If you're using udev (which puts only the device you have on yourcomputer into the /dev directory at boottime) then there's an easy wayto change the device names by editing files in /etc/udev/. Forexample, to change the name of what the kernel detects as ttyS3 towhat you want to name it: ttyS14, add a line similar to this to/etc/udev/udev.rules
BUS'pci' KERNEL'ttyS3',NAME='ttyS14'

On-board serial ports on motherboards which have both PCI and ISAslots are likely to still be ISA ports. Even for all-PCI-slotmotherboards, the serial ports are often not PCI. Instead, they areeither ISA, on an internal ISA bus or on a LPC bus which is intendedfor slow legacy I/O devices: serial/parallel ports and floppy drives.

Devices in Linux have major and minor numbers. The serial portttySx (x=0,1,2, etc.) is major number 4. You can see this (and theminor numbers too) by typing: 'ls -l ttyS*' in the /dev directory. Tofind the device names for various devices, see the 'devices' file inthe kernel documentation.

There formerly was a 'cua' name for each serial port and it behavedjust a little differently. For example, ttyS2 would correspond tocua2. It was mainly used for modems. The cua major number was 5 andminor numbers started at 64. You may still have the cua devices inyour /dev directory but they are now deprecated. For details seeModem-HOWTO, section: cua Device Obsolete.

For creating the old devices in the device directory see:

Dos/Windows use the COM name while the messages from the serial driveruse ttyS00, ttyS01, etc. Older serial drivers (2001 ?) used justtty00, tty01, etc.

The tables below shows some examples of serial device names. TheIO addresses are the default addresses for the old ISA bus (not forthe newer PCI and USB buses).

For more info see the usb subdirectory in the kernel documentationdirectory for files: usb-serial, acm, etc.

On some installations, two extra devices will be created,/dev/modem for your modem and /dev/mouse for amouse. Both of these are symbolic links to the appropriatedevice in /dev.

Historical note: Formerly (in the 1990s) the use of/dev/modem (as a link to the modem's serial port) wasdiscouraged since lock files might not realize that it was really say/dev/ttyS2. The newer lock file system doesn't fall intothis trap so it's now OK to use such links.

Inspect the connectors

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Inspecting the connectors may give some clues but is often notdefinitive. The serial connectors on the back side of a PC areusually DB connectors with male pins. 9-pin is the most common butsome are 25-pin (especially older PCs like 486s). There may be one9-pin (perhaps ttyS0 ??) and one 25-pin (perhaps ttyS1 ??). For two9-pin ones the top one might be ttyS0.

If you only have one serial port connector on the back of your PC,this may be easy. If you also have an internal modem, a program likewvdial may be able to tell you what port it's on (unless it's a PnPthat hasn't been enabled yet). A report from setserial (atboot-time or run by you from the command line) should help youidentify the non-modem ports.

If you have two serial ports it may be more difficult. You could haveonly one serial connector but actually have 2 ports, one of whichisn't used (but it's still there electronically). First check manuals(if any) for your computer. Look at the connectors for meaningfullabels. You might even want to take off the PC's cover and see ifthere are any meaningful labels on the card where the internal ribbonserial cables plug in. Labels (if any) are likely to say something like'serial 1', 'serial 2' or A, B. Which com port it actually is willdepend on jumper or PnP settings (sometimes shown in a BIOS setupmenu). But 1 or A are more likely to be ttyS0 with 2 or B ttyS1.

Send bytes to the port

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Labels are not apt to be definitive so here's another method. Ifthe serial ports have been configured correctly per setserial, thenyou may send some bytes out a port and try to detect which connector(if any) they are coming out of. One way to send such a signal is tocopy a long text file to the port using a command like: cpmy_file_name /dev/ttyS1. A voltmeter connected to the DTR pin (seeSerial-HOWTO for Pinout) will display a positive voltage as soon asyou give the copy command.

The transmit pin should go from several volts negative to a voltagefluctuating around zero after you start sending the bytes. If it doesn't(but the DTR went positive) then you've got the right port but it'sblocked from sending. This may be due to a wrong IRQ, -clocal beingset, etc. The command 'stty -F /dev/ttyS1 -a' should showclocal (and not -clocal). If not, change it to clocal.

Another test is to jumper the transmit and receive pins (pins 2 and 3of either the 25-pin or 9-pin connector) of a test serial port. Thensend something to each port (from the PCs keyboard) and see if it getssent back. If it does it's likely the port with the jumper on it.Then remove the jumper and verify that nothing gets sent back. Notethat if 'echo' is set (per stty) then a jumper creates an infiniteloop. Bytes that pass thru the jumper go into the port and come rightback out of the other pin back to the jumper. Then they go back inand out again and again. Whatever you send to the port repeats itselfforever (until you interrupt it by removing the jumper, etc.). Thismay be a good way to test it as the repeating test messages halt whenthe jumper is removed.

As a jumper you could use a mini (or micro) jumper cable (sold in someelectronic parts stores) with mini alligator clips. A small scrap ofpaper may be used to prevent the mini clips from making electricalcontact where it shouldn't. Metal paper clips can sometimes be bentto use as jumpers. Whatever you use as a jumper take care not to bendor excessively scratch the pins. To receive something from a port,you can go to a virtual terminal (for example Alt-F2 and login) andtype something like 'cp /dev/ttyS2 /dev/tty'. Then at another virtualterminal you may send something to ttyS2 (or whatever) by 'echotest_message > /dev/ttyS2'. Then go back to the receive virtualterminal and look for the test_message. See Serial Electrical Test Equipment for more info.

Connect a device to the connector

Another way to try to identify a serial port is to connect somephysical serial device to it and see if it works. But a problem hereis that it might not work because it's not configured right. A serialmouse might get detected at boot-time if connected.

You may put a device, such as a serial mouse (use 1200 baud), on a portand then use minicom or picocom to communicate with that port. Thenby clicking on the mouse, or otherwise sending characters with thedevice, see if they get displayed. It not you may have told picocomthe wrong port (such as ttyS0 instead of ttyS1) so try again.

Missing connectors

If the software shows that you have more serial ports than youhave connectors for (including an internal modem which counts as aserial port) then you may have a serial port that has no connector.Some motherboards come with a serial port with no cable or externalserial DB connector. Someone may build a PC from this and decide notto use this serial port. There may be a 'serial' connector and labelon the motherboard but no ribbon cable connects to its pins. To usethis port you must get a ribbon cable and connector. I've seendifferent wiring arrangements for such ribbon cables so beware.

If you don't use devfs (which automatically creates such devices) anddon't have a device 'file' that you need, you will have to create it.Use the mknod command or with the MAKEDEV shell script.Example, suppose you needed to create ttyS0:

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The MAKEDEV script is easier to use.See the man page for it. For example, if you needed to make thedevice for ttyS0 you would just type:

If the above command doesn't work (and you are the root user), lookfor the MAKEDEV script in the /dev directory and run it.

This handles the devices creation and should set the correct permissions.For making multiport devices see Making multiport devices in the /dev directory.

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The EX-UBT is a compact remote expander that uses the AVB networking protocol to extend USB and/or Bluetooth sources back to a rack-mounted Tesira server-class device. A standard USB cable connects the host computer to the EX-UBT. CAT5e cabling or better is required for the network connection, with a maximum distance of up to 100 meters (328 ft) allowed to the equipment rack. The EX-UBT is an IEEE 802.3at Class 2 device requiring 7 watts of power from a gigabit PoE-capable switch or mid-span injector.

Features

USB

The EX-UBT USB port acts as a client to the connected host computer. Within Tesira software, the USB can be configured to pass audio in/out according to one of the following options:

  • Mono (1 input x 1 output)
  • Stereo (2 inputs x 2 outputs)
  • Multi-Channel (8 inputs x 8 outputs)
    • Note that the Biamp Tesira USB audio driver is required for Windows OS when using multi-channel mode. Mac OS supports multi-channel audio natively. Windows can only support mono and stereo audio natively without needing to install a USB driver.

When configured as a speakerphone, the EX-UBT uses Human Interface Device (HID) communication that can synchronize privacy mute state and volume control if the UC application supports this communication. HID mute synchronization and AEC offloading are supported by various UC platforms as noted:

Bluetooth & NFC

Bluetooth capability may be enabled/disabled when the EX-UBT is configured in Tesira software. The Bluetooth module supports the following Bluetooth subset profiles:

  • Hands-Free Profile (HFP)
  • Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
    • A2DP is supported as an audio sink, and allows the following codecs to be received:
      • SBC
      • Qualcomm® aptX™ audio
      • AAC

Bluetooth pairing may also be made via pre-configured Near Field Communication (NFC) tags. NFC tags allow users with NFC capable/enabled devices to quickly pair with the EX-UBT by tapping their device to the tag. Instructions for enabling the NFC function will vary by device. Note that Apple® devices do not support NFC-assisted compatibility at this time.

Each EX-UBT ships with two NFC tags that have been write-protect configured with the default hostname of the associated EX-UBT.

Software & programming

Configurations for the Tesira EX-UBT are available from the Object Toolbar via the Telephony/Communications menu item:

When the Tesira EX-UBT object type is selected from the Audio Object Toolbar, the EX-UBT Initialization dialog window is displayed:

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Users may check to use USB, Bluetooth or both.

Drivers Barco Port Devices

USB Channel Count - This allows the user to select between three different channel configurations:

  • Mono 1 input x 1 output channel
  • Stereo 2 input channels x 2 output channels
  • Multi-channel 8 input channels x 8 output channels

USB Connection Type - The two Speakerphone modes provide single or stereo audio input and output streams for use with a soft codec application on a host computer. The USB Input represents the incoming audio from the soft codec, and the USB Output is used to send audio to the far side.

Speakerphone: Disables Computer AEC – In this mode, the Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) function will be provided by the AEC block in the Tesira DSP. A control message is transmitted to the soft codec via the USB link telling it to disable its internal AEC.

Drivers Barco Port Devices

Speakerphone: Enables Computer AEC – This mode is for situations where the soft codec will provide the AEC function.

Line In/Out – This mode provides up to eight channels of audio. Combinations of 2, 4, 6 or 8 total USB channels can operate in fixed 24 Bit, 48 kHz.

Mute USB inputs as a group - Selecting this mutes all USB input channels when the mute state of a single input channel is changed. This selection is checked and cannot be deselected if either of the Speakerphone USB terminal types is selected. It is also checked by default if the Line In/Out USB terminal type is selected.

Mute USB outputs as a group - Selecting this mutes all USB output channels when the mute state of a single output channel is changed. This selection is checked and cannot be deselected if either of the Speakerphone USB terminal types is selected. It is also checked by default if the Line In/Out USB terminal type is selected.

Notes on host operating system controls:

  • 'USB host' refers to USB on the computer.
  • In Multi-Channel 8x8 Line In/Out mode, changes to the USB host mute and record level controls will be ignored by the EX-UBT.
  • Balance controls will not be synchronized between the USB input block and the USB host when in speakerphone mode (only playback levels are).

DSP blocks

The following images show the DSP blocks associated with different Initialization options:

For more details regarding EX-UBT logic, please reference tesira-help.biamp.com.

USB Details

When the EX-UBT is connected to a host computer, it will enumerate as an Echo Cancelling Speakerphone or sound device as defined during block initialization. Notice the sound device name also includes the unique serial number of the EX-UBT device by default.

If the user would like to change the name of the EX-UBT device as it presents to the host computer, Tesira 3.14 allows custom USB device naming within the block dialog window:

The EX-UBT device will reboot itself implementing the USB Device Name change and the host computer* will update with the new USB Device Name:

*(This feature had mixed results when tested on Mac OSX using 1-7 channel USB block. 8 channel EX-UBT USB block reportedly worked well.)

When the EX-UBT blocks are initialized as a speakerphone and selected as the Default Audio Device in the Windows 10 host computer, mute and volume synchronization occurs upon USB connection. This means that the host computer volume level will synchronize with the volume level of the EX-UBT USB input block in the Tesira configuration. Volume and mute changes made on the host computer or the EX-UBT USB input block will remain synchronized. This behavior is demonstrated in this short video. Note that files created with Tesira 3.17 or newer will set the USB block minimum level to -50 in order to map more accurately to the host PC volume ramp range and rate. This example video demonstrates the Tesira 3.17 behavior.

When privacy mute is selected in Skype For Business*, Microsoft Teams Room System* or Google Hangouts Meet System*, the mute state of the EX-UBT Output block mute will track accordingly. Similarly, if the mute logic input of the EX-UBT USB Output block is triggered high, the privacy mute indication in Skype For Business or Microsoft Teams will follow.

*The synchronization of level and mute states is possible via USB HID communication. Performance may vary with applications not listed in the UC compatibility table.

EX-UBT Tip:

  • A logic-driven preset can initialize the USB input block level providing a more consistent user experience. This short video provides an example of this concept.

Bluetooth details

The Bluetooth Control/Status block offers four user-settable parameters:

  • Bluetooth Name - Defaults to Tesira EX-UBTxxxxxxxx (where 'xxxxxxxx' represents the EX-UBT's serial number) and can be customized via the 'Edit' button.
  • Inactivity Timeout - An active Bluetooth connection will be disconnected after the defined time period. When set to 0 seconds, a connection will not timeout.
  • Bluetooth Radio - Enabled/Disabled
  • Discoverable - Enables/Disables discoverability of the EX-UBT.

The Bluetooth Status sub-section offers additional information regarding the paired/connected Bluetooth device:

  • Connected status & Bluetooth Host device name.
  • Streaming status & active Streaming Profile details.
  • MAC Address of the Bluetooth Host device
  • Optional Disconnect button.

*Note, third-party control systems can poll, set, and/or subscribe to these attributes via Tesira Text Protocol (TTP).

Bluetooth Best Practices:

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  • Set the Bluetooth name to the meeting room name so that users can identify and associate it accordingly.

  • Enable Bluetooth and make the EX-UBT Discoverable at appropriate times. If a conference room is powered down, it may make sense to disable the Bluetooth Radio.

  • Setting the Inactivity Timeout to a value greater than 0 will automatically disconnect Bluetooth devices if they are not actively streaming. This will free up the connection if users forget to disconnect. Values between 60 and 300 are recommended.

  • Setting the Inactivity Timeout to 0 seconds will allow a connected Bluetooth host to remain connected indefinitely.

  • Be sure to test various sources and applications because the 'Streaming' indication may vary with each application or platform.

  • Bluetooth connections are on a 'first come, first served' basis. If a host device is already connected, another Bluetooth device cannot bump them off. The Disconnect button can be utilized to bump active connections and permit a new device to connect.

Gain Structure & dBFS

Bluetooth and USB source signals are digital Full-Scale signals commonly referred to as dBFS. The audio meters in Tesira software are dBu meters. The following image provides a visual for correlation:

The USB and Bluetooth sources from the EX-UBT are digital (dBFS) sources. When the host device is set to 100% volume, the signal will likely average -12 dBFS but will appear on Tesira audio meters as +12 dBu. If the host volume is set to 50%, the signal will average approximately -24 dBFS or 0 dBu.

As a point of comparison, most analog microphones have their input gain adjusted so that a good signal will meter between 0 and 6 dBu. When mixing dBFS signals with microphone or line-level dBu signals in the Tesira configuration, consider using attenuation or dynamics to level match these different source types.

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The EX-UBT Bluetooth input block does include a Peak indication LED. This indicator will illuminate when the signal peak is 3 dB below clip (0 dBFS). A brief flickering of this indicator is acceptable and typically indicates the host Bluetooth device volume is likely at 100%. Turning down the volume on the host Bluetooth device will lower the signal accordingly. Based on the expected system performance, users may consider attenuating the Bluetooth input block as shown in the following image:

Powering the EX-UBT - PoE

The EX-UBT is a Power Over Ethernet device which classifies as 802.3at Class 2 (7W). Please note that there are manufacturing and design differences between mid-span PoE injectors.

When directly connecting the EX-UBT (or any Tesira expander) to a TesiraFORTE or Tesira Server-IO AVB port, the mid-span PoE injector must support 1 Gbps data link speed. If the mid-span PoE injector does not support 1 Gbps, the EX-UBT power LED will illuminate steady yellow but the LED on the AVB RJ45 port will remain dark indicating no data activity.

Troubleshooting & LED Indication

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  • Also available at tesira-help.biamp.com

Troubleshooting multi-channel audio

  • When connected (/disconnected) to (/from) a PC the USB device should be added (/deleted) in Windows PC Device Manager's Universal Serial Bus controllers list (as a USB Composite Device) as well as the Audio inputs and outputs list in real time.
  • The Biamp Tesira Control Panel for the Biamp ASIO driver (in the Windows tray) allows you to select the ASIO buffer size. A larger buffer will increase latency to the USB recorder but will reduce load on the CPU. Larger buffer sizes may reduce clicks, pops, glitches, or dropouts.
  • When verifying USB output to computers it can be useful to route a tone generator to the USB output channels. A 1kHz tone at +12dBu routed to each USB output channel will clearly show activity on meters on the recording PC. On some recording platforms the meters may not indicate low 'background level' activity so providing a high-level slate tone allows easy and repeatable validation of connected channels. Note that a +12dBu signal from the Tesira tone generator to a USB meter should indicate about -12dBFS.
  • 3rd party audio metering software can be used to independently verify the USB audio input if there is a question of the customer's recording software accurately receiving input. Be certain the 3rd party software is configured for the correct number of channels, the correct sample rate, and is assigned to monitor the correct USB inputs. Options that have been seen to work in the past include:
    • https://pas-products.com/multimeterbridge.html
      • Under Settings > 'Select audio input' choose '8 channels'
      • Under Settings > 'Level Outfit' - Meter Ballistics options choose 'Peak dBFS'
    • https://www.orban.com/meter
      • In the Settings tab choose Channels = '7.1 Surround' and the desired Audio Device input channels
      • In the Meters tab be sure to Start metering using the button at the bottom center
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Further reading





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