This is how I get connection working between Dobot magician and PC (Linux Mint 17.3).
Open Terminal
write lsusb
Connect Dobot and power-on.
write lsusb again
There is a new row looking like:
Bus 007 Device 003: ID 1a86:7523 QinHeng Electronics HL-340 USB serial adapter
1a86 is idVendor and 7523 is idProduct
Create a file /etc/udev/rules.d/01-opendobot.rules with one row looking like this:
ATTRS{idVendor}==“1a86”, ATTRS{idProduct}==“7523”, SYMLINK+=“dobot”
Save file. You might have to change idVendor and idProduct according to your lsusb-listing.
Change permission of the file so your user can access it (chmod 777 /etc/udev … I think)
Restart udev with: sudo udevadm trigger
Start cutecom (download from Software Center if not installed).
Change to Hex output and Hex input
In the box where you choose serial port change to /dev/dobot
Click OpenDevice
In the Input frame write:
aa aa 02 14 00 ec
followed by ENTER
The dobot should answer something like aa aa 12 14 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 eb
Refer to the Dobot Communication Protocol (you can download it from dobot.cc
Now write
aa aa 03 1f 00 00 e1
and watch the dobot make a homing move.
All commands start with aa aa followed by the length of the command (id + parameter), the command ID, command parameters and lastly a checksum. The checksum is 256-the sum of command ID and command parameter.
Be aware of that the command ID in the Dobot Communication Protocol is in decimal but you need to convert it to hex before sending it i cutecom.