USB reset fails when using a LimeSDR Mini on FreeBSD

[Jan Behrens]

Dear all,

I'd like to use a software defined radio "LimeSDR Mini" on FreeBSD
utilizing the "SoapySDR library" with a driver from "Lime Suite", but I
encounter errors, supposedly in libusb.


As I didn't find a FreeBSD package for a LimeSDR Mini driver for
SoapySDR, I compiled it from source, downloading the latest
Lime Suite release from:

https://github.com/myriadrf/LimeSuite/releases/tag/v20.01.0

There are several compilation errors on FreeBSD if you compile
everything from the Suite, but it's possible to only build and install
the SoapySDR module by typing:

mkdir builddir && cd builddir
cmake ../
make LMS7Support
cp SoapyLMS7/libLMS7Support.so /usr/local/lib/SoapySDR/modules0.7/

The SoapySDRUtil command finds the device:

% SoapySDRUtil --find
[...]
Found device 0
  addr = 24607:1027
  driver = lime
  label = LimeSDR Mini [USB 2.0] 1D3AC7FE409032
  media = USB 2.0
  module = FT601
  name = LimeSDR Mini
  serial = 1D3AC7FE409032

However, trying to initialize the device with the corresponding
SoapySDR driver fails. I tracked the error down to the C++ function
ConnectionFT601::Open, which is defined in file:
LimeSuite-20.01.0/src/ConnectionFTDI/ConnectionFT601.cpp

https://github.com/myriadrf/LimeSuite/blob/1c1c202f9a6ae4bb34068b6f3f576f7f8e74c7f1/src/ConnectionFTDI/ConnectionFT601.cpp#L213

if (libusb_reset_device(dev_handle)!=0)
    return ReportError(-1, "USB reset failed", libusb_strerror(libusb_error(r)));


I tried to get help on the myriadrf.org Forum here, where I also posted
more detailed error output:

https://discourse.myriadrf.org/t/limesdr-mini-with-freebsd/6230

I used FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE-p6.

Any help on this would be appreciated. Is there any way to increase
verbosity of libusb or figure out why the USB initialization fails?


Kind regards,
Jan Behrens