I have CHIRP installed on an Asus C302 Chromebook with Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial) installed with crouton, I live in Washington State but am in Arizona for the winter, and just bought another BaoFeng UV-5R to use here ($24.99 on Amaqzon, how could I not). I had no programming cable, so I borrowed one from a friend here at the RV Park, it is a labelled "TYT." I also have a 2011 MacBook Pro with CHIRP installed which I have used successfully many times before. What is happening is that when I connect the BaoFeng via the cable (turned off), and go toe "Download from Radio," I can put "BaoFeng" and" UV-5R" in the dialog box from the dropdown lists but the in Port dialog, nothing shows up. Naturally, when I turn the radio on and press the button to download, it gives a "Device not found" error. There is a /dev/tty file that I have CHMODed to 777, and I tried typing "/dev/tty" in the box same error. The cable is pushed fully into the radio, so that is not the problem. When I connect to the MacBook, and do the same thing, the only device that shows up is the Bluetooth device.
I have deduced it must be the cable. I have several programming cables back home that I know work - and they were cheap generic cables that would make Windows choke (fake Prolific chips). I don't want to buy a cable on Amazon or Cheapham without knowing whether it will work or not.I don't know if Linux cares about the chip. I don't think MacOS cares.
What cable would you recommend, or what else could I try in Ubuntu if it is not the cable?
Thanks!
Pat Anderson
KD7OAC