Hi.
With recent Linux's, you can use...
dmesg -WH in a command line session...
Where nothing appears to happen but if you plug something in, you'll see what the OS does with it.
If -WH errors, try -wH.. An initial splurge of info, then silence, untill you change what's plugged in.
(Ctrl+C exits the dmesg thing, Ctrl+D will close the terminal session.)
If you have a FTDI based adapter, you can create a udev rule, so it always shows up under a more easily recognizable device name, such as... /dev/ttyMyAdapter! Or other creative name, regardless of were you connect it.
Lesser chipsets without a unique serial number, you can do similar tricks, but you have to decypher the "path" to the device, and as I've recently found, with some OS/PC Hardware combinations, that can change at each boot!
Most application software these days will accept that sort of thing, CHIRP used to, but I've yet to try the latest incarnation.
73.
Dave G0WBX.