Polar Loop not working with Wine or VM

Question

I have a new polar loop, and I connected it on USB port. But this does not work.

The application downloaded, polar flow sync works very well.... but we need to synchronize the peripheral (polar loop) with the application, but seems to not really work.

I tried with Wine, this application seems operational, except I never see the peripheral connected. With a VM (virtualbox 4.0), the same thing. I never see the peripheral.

On the folder browser too.

When I connected USB key or external hard disk, my Ubuntu automatically detected the peripheral, and mounts it. I see the icon. But the polar loop, nothing.

I do some command, and I think Ubuntu see that the peripheral is connected, but not completely.

The result of sudo lsusb was:

Bus 006 Device 002: ID 0da4:0008 Polar Electro OY 

I also ran dmesg | grep -i usb. That showed this, near the end of its output:

[    0.174318] ACPI: bus type USB registered
[    0.174318] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[    0.174318] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[    0.174318] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[    0.946347] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
[    0.946916] ehci-pci 0000:00:1a.7: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    0.960023] ehci-pci 0000:00:1a.7: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[    0.960079] usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002
[    0.960081] usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    0.960083] usb usb1: Product: EHCI Host Controller
[    0.960085] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 3.13.0-48-generic ehci_hcd
[    0.960087] usb usb1: SerialNumber: 0000:00:1a.7
[    0.960183] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    0.960412] ehci-pci 0000:00:1d.7: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
[    0.976039] ehci-pci 0000:00:1d.7: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[    0.976076] usb usb2: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002
[    0.976079] usb usb2: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    0.976081] usb usb2: Product: EHCI Host Controller
[    0.976083] usb usb2: Manufacturer: Linux 3.13.0-48-generic ehci_hcd
[    0.976085] usb usb2: SerialNumber: 0000:00:1d.7
[    0.976164] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    0.976313] ohci_hcd: USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver
[    0.976332] uhci_hcd: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver
[    0.976419] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
[    0.976494] usb usb3: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0001
[    0.976497] usb usb3: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    0.976499] usb usb3: Product: UHCI Host Controller
[    0.976501] usb usb3: Manufacturer: Linux 3.13.0-48-generic uhci_hcd
[    0.976503] usb usb3: SerialNumber: 0000:00:1a.0
[    0.976582] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    0.976739] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4
[    0.976812] usb usb4: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0001
[    0.976814] usb usb4: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    0.976816] usb usb4: Product: UHCI Host Controller
[    0.976818] usb usb4: Manufacturer: Linux 3.13.0-48-generic uhci_hcd
[    0.976820] usb usb4: SerialNumber: 0000:00:1a.1
[    0.976901] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    0.977059] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 5
[    0.977124] usb usb5: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0001
[    0.977127] usb usb5: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    0.977129] usb usb5: Product: UHCI Host Controller
[    0.977131] usb usb5: Manufacturer: Linux 3.13.0-48-generic uhci_hcd
[    0.977133] usb usb5: SerialNumber: 0000:00:1a.2
[    0.977212] hub 5-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    0.977368] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 6
[    0.977432] usb usb6: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0001
[    0.977435] usb usb6: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    0.977437] usb usb6: Product: UHCI Host Controller
[    0.977439] usb usb6: Manufacturer: Linux 3.13.0-48-generic uhci_hcd
[    0.977441] usb usb6: SerialNumber: 0000:00:1d.0
[    0.977522] hub 6-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    0.977684] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 7
[    0.977749] usb usb7: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0001
[    0.977751] usb usb7: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    0.977753] usb usb7: Product: UHCI Host Controller
[    0.977756] usb usb7: Manufacturer: Linux 3.13.0-48-generic uhci_hcd
[    0.977757] usb usb7: SerialNumber: 0000:00:1d.1
[    0.977840] hub 7-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    0.977996] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 8
[    0.978070] usb usb8: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0001
[    0.978073] usb usb8: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    0.978075] usb usb8: Product: UHCI Host Controller
[    0.978077] usb usb8: Manufacturer: Linux 3.13.0-48-generic uhci_hcd
[    0.978079] usb usb8: SerialNumber: 0000:00:1d.2
[    0.978157] hub 8-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    1.616106] usb 1-6: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
[    1.759811] usb 1-6: New USB device found, idVendor=05ca, idProduct=18a0
[    1.759816] usb 1-6: New USB device strings: Mfr=9, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[    1.759819] usb 1-6: Product: Integrated Webcam
[    1.759822] usb 1-6: Manufacturer: CN0TX6137248792RA1R0
[    2.000122] usb 4-1: new full-speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
[    2.177827] usb 4-1: New USB device found, idVendor=046d, idProduct=c52e
[    2.177832] usb 4-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[    2.177836] usb 4-1: Product: USB Receiver
[    2.177839] usb 4-1: Manufacturer: Logitech
[    2.203912] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[    2.203916] usbhid: USB HID core driver
[    2.212306] input: Logitech USB Receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.1/usb4/4-1/4-1:1.0/input/input7
[    2.212406] hid-generic 0003:046D:C52E.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Logitech USB Receiver] on usb-0000:00:1a.1-1/input0
[    2.213991] input: Logitech USB Receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.1/usb4/4-1/4-1:1.1/input/input8
[    2.214977] hid-generic 0003:046D:C52E.0002: input,hiddev0,hidraw1: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [Logitech USB Receiver] on usb-0000:00:1a.1-1/input1
[   24.805857] input: Integrated Webcam as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-6/1-6:1.0/input/input15
[   24.806809] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[   24.806811] USB Video Class driver (1.1.1)
[   25.368044] usb 6-2: new full-speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
[   25.540082] usb 6-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0da4, idProduct=0008
[   25.540087] usb 6-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[   25.540091] usb 6-2: Product: Polar Loop
[   25.540094] usb 6-2: Manufacturer: Polar Electro Oy
[   25.540097] usb 6-2: SerialNumber: 65A0E719
[   25.551215] hid-generic 0003:0DA4:0008.0003: hiddev0,hidraw2: USB HID v1.10 Device [Polar Electro Oy Polar Loop] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-2/input0

At last, I ran lsmod, which showed:

Module                  Size  Used by
ctr                    12905  1 
ccm                    17496  1 
pci_stub               12550  1 
vboxpci                22896  0 
vboxnetadp             25636  0 
vboxnetflt             27291  0 
vboxdrv               299807  4 vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt,vboxpci
binfmt_misc            13140  1 
rfcomm                 53664  0 
bnep                   18895  2 
bluetooth             342208  10 bnep,rfcomm
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     45440  1 
dell_wmi               12665  0 
sparse_keymap          13708  1 dell_wmi
dell_laptop            17808  0 
dcdbas                 14448  1 dell_laptop
uvcvideo               71309  0 
videobuf2_vmalloc      13048  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops       13170  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_core         39258  1 uvcvideo
videodev              108503  2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
arc4                   12536  2 
coretemp               13195  0 
iwldvm                214950  0 
mac80211              546067  1 iwldvm
kvm                   388310  0 
joydev                 17101  0 
serio_raw              13230  0 
r852                   17722  0 
sm_common              16772  1 r852
nand                   58760  2 r852,sm_common
nand_ecc               13136  1 nand
lpc_ich                16864  0 
nand_bch               13067  1 nand
bch                    17197  1 nand_bch
nand_ids                8547  1 nand
r592                   17711  0 
mtd                    52813  2 nand,sm_common
radeon               1420720  4 
memstick               16174  1 r592
snd_hda_codec_idt      48978  1 
snd_seq_midi           13132  0 
snd_seq_midi_event     14475  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi            25135  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_hda_intel          42794  5 
snd_hda_codec         164067  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              13272  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_seq                55383  2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
snd_pcm                85501  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
ttm                    80983  1 radeon
drm_kms_helper         48868  1 radeon
iwlwifi               152049  1 iwldvm
ir_lirc_codec          12869  0 
drm                   244037  6 ttm,drm_kms_helper,radeon
lirc_dev               19324  1 ir_lirc_codec
cfg80211              409394  3 iwlwifi,mac80211,iwldvm
i2c_algo_bit           13197  1 radeon
ir_mce_kbd_decoder     13030  0 
snd_seq_device         14137  3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
ir_sanyo_decoder       12727  0 
snd_page_alloc         14230  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
ir_sony_decoder        12625  0 
snd_timer              28584  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
ir_jvc_decoder         12655  0 
ir_rc6_decoder         12754  0 
snd                    60939  21 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_device,snd_seq_midi
ir_rc5_decoder         12622  0 
shpchp                 32128  0 
soundcore              12600  1 snd
ir_nec_decoder         12787  0 
wmi                    18673  1 dell_wmi
rc_rc6_mce             12454  0 
video                  18903  0 
ite_cir                24704  0 
rc_core                26724  12 
lirc_dev,ir_lirc_codec,ir_rc5_decoder,ir_nec_decoder,ir_sony_decoder,ir_mce_kbd_decoder,ir_jvc_decoder,ir_rc6_decoder,ir_sanyo_decoder,ite_cir,rc_rc6_mce
parport_pc             31981  0 
mac_hid                13037  0 
ppdev                  17391  0 
lp                     13299  0 
parport                40836  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
hid_generic            12492  0 
usbhid                 47070  0 
hid                    87604  2 hid_generic,usbhid
psmouse                91357  0 
firewire_ohci          35529  0 
sdhci_pci              18535  0 
ahci                   25579  4 
libahci                27214  1 ahci
firewire_core          61867  1 firewire_ohci
tg3                   152160  0 
sdhci                  37779  1 sdhci_pci
crc_itu_t              12627  1 firewire_core
ptp                    18445  1 tg3
pps_core               18799  1 ptp

So, I try to mount the USB but I'm not sure this is the way.

I had the same problem with ricoh (but some Ubuntu release later, this is automatically embeded and works well.)

Maybe I need wait but I'm little bit impatient. :(

I do not have the choice to use Windows to see my statistics of my polar loop.

(Ubuntu 14.04, all updates installed, Dell computer.)

Solution 1

As noted by David Foester, wine does not have native support for USB devices. So while the Polar Flow sync can run under wine, it will not see the device, and so it will not be able to function.

Linux can see a USB device has been connected, and identify the type of device, but without driver software, it can do nothing with it.

A virtual machine can be used:

First, you need VirtualBox and a version of windows. I used the version of Windows made available for testing at https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/ and followed the instructions for installation at https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/oldgrub

To summarise:

• Install VirtualBox from Oracle
• download the IE11 for Win7 (x86) from Microsoft developer tools (link above) About 4 GB, so takes a long time
• Add yourself to the vboxusers group (sudo adduser your_own_username vboxusers)
• Run virtualbox, and import the .ova file.
• (optionally make a snapshot of the new virtual machine)
• Install VirtualBox Guest Additions
• Set the windows locale and time to your local timezone.
• Within the VM, install Polar Flow Sync (run IE and go to flow.polar.com/start)
• Reboot everything.
• Attach the Polar Device to the computer through the USB connector.
• Use the Devices->USB menu and select the thing that looks most likely. (My device was called "Polar Oy Electro Polar M200") See How to set up USB for Virtualbox? for more extensive instructions.
• Flow sync recognises the device connects to it and syncs. Then IE opens and you can see your activity,

This was tested with Virtualbox 5.1, Ubuntu 17.04 and an M200 watch.

Solution 2

There is no general support for USB devices in Wine. Every USB device, you can use with Wine, is handled by Linux first and exposed through other, device-type-specific interfaces (HID, printing, file system, audio, video, network, …) to applications running in Wine.

Hence, I wouldn't expect a fitness tracker to work.

Solution 3

It works on Kubuntu 18.04

1. Plug in your watch
2. Open a terminal window
3. type " sudo lsusb" to show the usb devices
4. You See a "Polar Electro Oy Loop" device
5. write "dmesg | grep -i usb"
6. Seach for Polar you see also the serial no of the product later also something like " hid-generic 0003:0E24:0035.0003: hiddev0,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Device [Polar Electro Oy Polar M400] on usb-0000:00:14.0-2/input0"
7. That is good :-)
8. we have to create a rule to allow us to rw the hidraw0 device. If you type "ls -l /dev/" you see hidraw0 is grand to root only
   9. go to "/etc/udev/rules.d" create a new file with the editor "sudo nano hid.rules"
9. add > KERNEL=="hidraw*", SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", MODE="0664", GROUP="dialout" < i use the "dialout" for a test.
10. Save the file
11. We have to reload the rules by typ "sudo udevadm control --reload-rules"
12. to check type "ls -l /dev/" you see dialout as Group by hidraw0
13. We go to the wine cmd by typ "wine cmd"
14. You see the Version of wine Microsoft Windows 6.1.7601 (3.0) (I select in Q4wine windows 7)
15. We start the wine hid bus "net start winebus" see also WineHQ HID
16. We change to the Polar Syc directory and start the flowsync.exe
17. Normal the flow app start and after some seconds you see your watch for sync.
18. you know it from windows the browser will open and you have to login. i disconect my watch and conect it again to sync in my flow account.
19. mybe you have to restart the Flow app if you reconnect your watch.

Comments

[David Foerster]

@JamesK: My answer doesn't even mention virtual machines. If you think you know a different or better answer please write a proper answer and don't write a comment – especially not on a hardly related post. Thanks. :-)

[David Foerster]

Nice answer! +1 Trusty doesn't have VirtualBox 5 or the virtualbox-ext-pack package, so one has to use the package provided by Oracle instead. I also added links to relevant other question that deal with individual steps.

[hookenz]

Works perfectly. I had trouble getting it to work until I added my user to vboxusers.

[user205301]

Worked with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Polar M430 and VirtualBox 6.1.6 installed from Ubuntu repositories. USB support extension installed from Oracle. I used the Win10 / Edge image from Microsoft.