pci.ids and usb.ids lists

You know that there are lists of PCI and USB devices that Linux uses to identify those devices? The files containing the lists are named pci.ids and usb.ids.

It seems that I have some hardware on my Linux box that is "unknown". How does that get fixed or changed? Over time, those devices will get added to a list that Linux uses to identify devices.

Here's how to add new hardware to the list and how to get the most current lists to drop in you own Linux box.

PCI

The list is maintained by The PCI ID Repository. You can download the most current file from there or submit new devices or discuss changing old entries.

Download it with:

wget -nd http://pci-ids.ucw.cz/v2.2/pci.ids

To locate where on your system the files are located, use the find command and then copy the new files to that location. This works on my system:

sudo mv pci.ids /usr/share/

USB

The USB list lives at Linux-USB.Org. You can download the most current file from there or submit new devices or discuss changing old entries here .

Download it with:

wget -nd http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids

To locate where on your system the files are located, use the find command and then copy the new files to that location.

sudo mv usb.ids /usr/share/

If you would like, you can use these commands in a crontab to automatically update the lists. You can use the --directory-prefix=prefic to name the download target directory, such as:

@monthly wget -nd --directory-prefix=/usr/share/ \
http://pci-ids.ucw.cz/v2.2/pci.ids

@monthly wget -nd --directory-prefix=/usr/share/ \ http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids

No need to have an old list.

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