Free VID PID pairs for open source projects
To uniquely identify devices, the USB interface uses 16-bit identifiers: VendorID and ProductID. If your project uses a standard pair ... well, I think you already know.
However, the open source is sometimes lucky, and you can get legitimate identifiers for free.
The main problem of projects with a non-unique pair of VID PIDs is the difficulty of connecting several devices with the same identifiers. Suppose two devices are connected to the computer, they have the same VID and PID, but they need different drivers. As a result, only one of them will work, when switching the driver, you will have to reinstall it. This situation is observed in many projects that use V-USB, and not only. In addition, a unique pair of identifiers gives a chance to get the right to place the USB logo on the project.
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To get VendorID, you need to apply to USB-IF and pay a fee of $ 3,500–5,000, this allows you to release 65,535 different devices. It is easy to guess that there are a large number of ProductIDs that will never be used. Quite rarely, some companies arrange distribution of unused PIDs.
Recently, pid.codes received the rights to VendorID = 0x1209, initially it belongs to InterBiometrics, therefore the PID from 0x1000 to 0x1FFF is reserved.
Most interestingly, this VID was registered before the advent of USB-IF, which makes it difficult to declare these pairs of identifiers illegitimate.
How to get a free pair of ids is written here .
1. Create a fork repository .
2. In the org directory, create a folder with the name of the project. In it, create the file index.md
3. Select any free PID, it should not be listed . Then create a folder with the path / 1209 / <selected PID>. Inside, create the index.md file
4. Make a pull request.
If you accept the request, you will become the owner of a legitimate pair VendorID ProductID, with an unlimited period of validity.
The project should be distributed under the license MIT, GPL or similar; have a public repository, for example, on a githaba; and have a USB interface.
However, the open source is sometimes lucky, and you can get legitimate identifiers for free.
The main problem of projects with a non-unique pair of VID PIDs is the difficulty of connecting several devices with the same identifiers. Suppose two devices are connected to the computer, they have the same VID and PID, but they need different drivers. As a result, only one of them will work, when switching the driver, you will have to reinstall it. This situation is observed in many projects that use V-USB, and not only. In addition, a unique pair of identifiers gives a chance to get the right to place the USB logo on the project.
')
To get VendorID, you need to apply to USB-IF and pay a fee of $ 3,500–5,000, this allows you to release 65,535 different devices. It is easy to guess that there are a large number of ProductIDs that will never be used. Quite rarely, some companies arrange distribution of unused PIDs.
Recently, pid.codes received the rights to VendorID = 0x1209, initially it belongs to InterBiometrics, therefore the PID from 0x1000 to 0x1FFF is reserved.
Most interestingly, this VID was registered before the advent of USB-IF, which makes it difficult to declare these pairs of identifiers illegitimate.
How to get a free pair of ids is written here .
1. Create a fork repository .
2. In the org directory, create a folder with the name of the project. In it, create the file index.md
--- layout: org title: --- . 3. Select any free PID, it should not be listed . Then create a folder with the path / 1209 / <selected PID>. Inside, create the index.md file
--- layout: pid title: owner: license: MIT site: ( , ) source: --- 4. Make a pull request.
If you accept the request, you will become the owner of a legitimate pair VendorID ProductID, with an unlimited period of validity.
The project should be distributed under the license MIT, GPL or similar; have a public repository, for example, on a githaba; and have a USB interface.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/255831/
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