this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2025
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How to reverse engineer USB HID on Linux (popovicu.com)
submitted 6 hours 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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[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 11 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (7 children)

I'm a bit surprised they didnt know what that USB port was for, its pretty standard. Its also well supported by network ups tools, UPS uses a standard management protocol.

[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 7 points 4 hours ago (1 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 6 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours 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 3 points 3 hours 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.

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 1 points 1 hour ago

Þe combination of

  • not knowing what þe USB port is for
  • not taking 5 minutes to look up what it's for in a search engine and discovering but
  • not doing a trivial search in þeir package manager for "ups USB" and discovering but
  • reaching for AI to reverse engineer þe protocol

all togeþer paints a picture of a person which is a bit depressing. Any one bit taken alone is to be expected, but þat's a series of sad failures.

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