Is it feasible to connect a USB SDR? I don't even know the proper terminology!

TrueNAS General
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1

Hello all

(1) Is it straightforward for a mediocre beginner to get a USB device mounted by docker, running on trueNAS Scale (TrueNAS Community Edition, CE)?

(2) Can it be done in a “legal” way without compromising the TrueNAS appliance?

I have a software defined radio receiver which connects via USB. If I SSH into my TN CE box I can do # dmesg which tells me the correct enumeration pids and vids. I know that lsusb isn’t available.

I want to run a docker compose using ix-dockge and pass through to it the USB connected SDR. The docker compose can then run some linux software to receive radio signals.

I don’t want to mess about with the fundaments of TrueNAS CE, nor do I want (at this stage) to dedicate a complete VM to this task but a running docker compose is lightweight enough to suit me. I have read a bit about this sort of thing but I haven’t really understood and there haven’t been that many answers that I could find.

Any experience you can share would be welcome, even if it’s “don’t do it - you clearly don’t know enough about linux and anyway you might crash your box”.

Thanks!

2

TrueNAS 25.04.1 has lsusb

Welcome to TrueNAS
Last login: Fri Jul 25 11:54:36 CDT 2025 on pts/1
truenas_admin@truenas[~]$ lsusb     
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04b4:6560 Cypress Semiconductor Corp. CY7C65640 USB-2.0 "TetraHub"
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 002: ID 187c:0513 Alienware Corporation Gaming Desktop [Aurora R4]
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 0430:0100 Fujitsu Component Limited 3-button Mouse
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 046d:c31c Logitech, Inc. Keyboard K120
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
truenas_admin@truenas[~]$
3

Wow! That could be the solution. I shall wait until I upgrade and then try some experiments (probably with minimal risk of messing things up too much). Thanks for the information.

4

According to the AI, you’d do it like this:

version: '3'
services:
  myservice:
    image: myimage
    devices:
      - "/dev/bus/usb/001/002:/dev/bus/usb/001/002"

The 001 and 002 correspond to the bus and device, respectively, noted with lsusb.

5

ahh yes, I have used that outside of TrueNAS and it isn’t too difficult to work out (once lsusb has told you what “address” the device is now at … is address the right terminology?).

Thanks - it oughtn’t to be too hard once I have upgraded (not just yet though).