for purposes of tracking the steps to a solution I was asked on the Ubuntu forums to... > First, unplug the device, then plug it back in. Now, open up a terminal and run "dmesg". Look at the last 10 lines or so, it may tell you which object in /dev it is getting loaded as, something like /dev/ttyS0. If it doesn't then we'll do it the hard way. I believe this is the information you are requesting...I can copy/paste the whole output, but its pretty much the same thing. [347146.152016] usb 5-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 29 [347146.350258] usb 5-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice [347146.352262] ftdi_sio 5-1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected [347146.352291] usb 5-1: Detected FT232RL [347146.352335] usb 5-1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0 > In the terminal, do "ls /dev/tty*" and look at what shows up. Now, unplug the device and run the command again, has anything disappeared? If you plug the device back in, and run the command again, has it reappeared? If it has, then thats the device you're going to need to get going with wine. According to your directions the following device is the one we need to get going with wine. /dev/ttyUSB0 > ...could you post the output of "ls -l ~/.wine/dosdevices/" coachnatebean@Discovery-Ubuntu:~$ ls -l ~/.wine/dosdevices/ total 0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 coachnatebean coachnatebean 10 2009-07-15 10:42 c: -> ../drive_c lrwxrwxrwx 1 coachnatebean coachnatebean 8 2009-07-25 19:00 com1 -> /dev/USB lrwxrwxrwx 1 coachnatebean coachnatebean 11 2009-07-15 18:59 d: -> /media/disk lrwxrwxrwx 1 coachnatebean coachnatebean 9 2009-07-15 17:02 d:: -> /dev/sdb1 lrwxrwxrwx 1 coachnatebean coachnatebean 1 2009-07-15 10:42 z: -> / But it was not until I stumbled upon the words REVERSE ENGINEERING that the pieces started coming together. When I plugged the same device into a WindowsXP unit, I started looking into the Device Manager at different settings. It further frustrated me that the device was being recognized on COM4, when I could only get Ubuntu to recognize the device on COM1. The next logical place for me to look was in the WindowsXP Registry, hoping to compare entries to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle. In the Windows Registry it listed [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\SERIALCOMM] "\\Device\\VCP0"="COM4" In the Wine Registry it listed [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\SERIALCOMM] "COM1"="COM1" "COM2"="COM2" "COM3"="COM3" "COM4"="COM4" "COM5"="COM5" In the Windows Registry it listed [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\eInstruction\CPS4x\Settings\ComPort] @="4" In the Wine Registry it listed [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\eInstruction\CPS4x\Settings\ComPort] @="1" After changing the ComPort to 4 and initiating a link via ln -s /dev/ttyUSB0 ~/.wine/dosdevices/com4 I am happy to say the USB receiver and remotes are communicating with each other! Now all that's left is to "student test" the remotes in the classroom. I guess all I needed was someone to bounce an idea off of to get to the solution. THANK YOU!