So here I am with a drizzly day and sore arms and/or wrists. Time to do something constructive that doesn't involve much in the way of exertion. How about hooking up a serial cable to the controller board on that robot arm and seeing if I have the right documentation?
Rummage around in search of a USB-to-logic-level-UART dongle; find an assortment, both FTDI and otherwise, all known working before the move.
Plug one into the shiny USB 3.0 hub on my desk, leading to a USB 3.0 port on the back of the workstation.
Not enough bandwidth for new device state.
Say WHAT?
Try the others, one by each. Same thing.
Try unplugging the flash-card reader from the hub, so the serial dongle will be the only thing on that port. The same.
Plug one into a USB 2.0 port on the front of the workstation. That works fine. Unfortunately, it's under my desk instead of on top of it.
Well... I recall some USB 1.x devices not working on USB 2.0 ports. What happens if I stick another hub between the desktop hub and the serial dongle?
USB 1.x hub: Can't enumerate the hub.
USB 2.0 hub: Hub enumerates, but on connecting the serial dongle I get not enough bandwidth, etc.
Growf!
Looks like maybe I need a second desktop hub, of the 2.0 persuasion, plugged into its own port on the workstation. This means crawling around under the desk and pulling cables. Funsies!
Maybe I'll take a nap now. Or think about what to fix for dinner. Survey possible interim locations for a gas grill. Something that doesn't involve computers.
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