4 ms·
You can also just squat on one. As long as you avoid using the trademarks ("usb" and the logo) there is nothing that can be done to you even in the US. This is
by dmitrygr 8y ago
You can also just squat on one. As long as you avoid using the trademarks ("usb" and the logo) there is nothing that can be done to you even in the US. This is basically what most Chinese products do.
- sparky_ 8y agoWhat is the advantage of applying for one as a FOSS project as opposed to squatting?
- JoshTriplett 8y agoWell-behaved devices won't step on allocated IDs, so you can safely associate your device ID with your corresponding driver.
- seba_dos1 8y agoYou will get your product name visible in lsusb that way.
- dmitrygr 8y agoNot everybody wants to open source and give away for free everything they do, nor pay $5,000 to license something that is actually just a number. This is especially true for USB devices that follow the hid spec. They don't need drivers, so even if you happen to have one associated with that vendor ID and product id, the OS will not load it.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- justinjlynn 8y agoYeah... please don't do this. There exist better options than polluting a shared namespace. It's just like putting your private network in IP space you don't own.
- dmitrygr 8y agoNot at all. Because it does not cost you $5,000 to get an IP address.
- justinjlynn 8y agoYes, yes it can. It's 5k for a Vendor ID. That's like a /16 subnet allocation in IPv4, which could easily cost far more than than a Vendor ID.
- IshKebab 8y agoYes but most people don't need an entire Vendor ID, but that's the minimum you can buy. They even banned vendors from selling individual product IDs. USB IF are dicks.
- lathiat 8y agoEven a relatively small subnet (/22 - 1024 IPs) will cost you $1-2000/year under most NICs.
- baybal2 8y agoIt is how Chinese you can get 100 Chinese wireless devices all with one MAC
- simias 8y agoMAC is different because you need one by device, so having to buy them in "bulk" is a lot more reasonable. USBIDs ought to be purchasable individually (or large enough that you wouldn't have to purchase them).
- Dylan16807 8y agoYeah, if they were focused on what is best for users then at some point they would have added the option to use a UUID.
- garaetjjte 8y agoI have seen devices that used 0000 as VID/PID. It generally worked, but some software don't like this. (eg. virtualbox usb passthrough)