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usbutils

lsusb — step one of every hardware problem in this catalog

What it does

Lists USB devices attached to the system, with vendor and product identifiers, and with -v the full descriptor for each.

Why you would want it

It earns its place twice. Half the entries in catalog/hardware/ record an identification gap that only lsusb output against real hardware can close, and separately, 'is the device even enumerating' is the first question in every SDR or serial-device problem — before drivers, before udev rules, before groups.

Before it will work

Nothing. Full descriptors from lsusb -v need root for some fields.

How it installs

  • apt: usbutils

Known problems

A device that appears in lsusb but has no /dev node is a udev or permissions problem, not a hardware one — which is exactly the distinction the tool is here to let you make.

Keeping it current

  • probe: apt policy
  • strategy: apt_upgrade

Source: catalog/packages/usbutils.yaml