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How to reverse engineer USB HID on Linux (popovicu.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by cm0002@europe.pub to c/linux@programming.dev

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I recently added a UPS to my server rack to keep my internet and home network running during a power outage. After unpacking it, I investigated its USB port and discovered it wasn’t for powering other devices. Instead, it connects to a host computer to provide information like battery charge status, remaining runtime, and current load.

I wanted to access this data without relying on third-party software, so I decided to see if I could reverse-engineer the protocol using Linux.

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[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 5 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Everyone is new to something. No need to be surprised about that.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 15 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

They didnt think to look anything up.

Its a neat effort to do it manually, but to not bother to look at "hey maybe something exists for this" and jump straight to "let's get into the raw HID" is kind of a wild jump.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Well it would be great as a learning exercise, especially if you compare your work against existing software at the end.

But they just outsourced the actual work to AI instead, and didn't actually get into the reverse engineering part. I am significantly underwhelmed.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 5 points 2 weeks ago

Oh it'd be a great learning exercise for sure, though for that I'd rather see someone read spec and put it into practice. Though that'd be more of a UPS than a USB exercise I guess.

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