Building Switch USB Inspector: What's Next for v0.1?

Draid Corporation — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 18:57:30 +0000

Building Switch USB Inspector: What's Next for v0.1?

I'm developing Switch USB Inspector, an open-source USB inspection tool written in C for Linux using libusb-1.0.

The project started with a simple goal: inspect USB devices and display the information exposed through their USB descriptors.

What I'm working on

For the next version, I'm planning to explore:

Windows support — making the tool available beyond Linux.
Android device diagnostics — investigating what information can be collected through USB and, where applicable, ADB.
Nintendo Switch and Joy-Con identification — adding device-specific recognition.
More detailed USB information — improving the diagnostic output.

These features are planned, and their availability will depend on testing and the interfaces supported by each device.

Development environment

I'm developing and testing the project with C on Debian 13, running inside WSL2 on Windows.

One challenge with WSL2 is USB passthrough: connecting a physical USB device to WSL2 may require usbipd-win.

Help shape the next release

I'd like to hear from other developers and Linux users.

What feature would you prioritize? Have you worked with libusb, USB descriptors, or USB device identification in C?

Share your ideas in the GitHub discussion:

Switch USB Inspector v0.1 — Feature Suggestions

Repository: https://github.com/DraidCorporation/switch-usb-inspector

Feedback, testing, and contributions are welcome!

opensource #linux #c #programming

I Built a USB Inspection Tool in C for Linux — Switch USB Inspector v0.1-beta

Draid Corporation — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 20:23:32 +0000

I Built a USB Inspection Tool in C for Linux — Switch USB Inspector v0.1-beta

Hey everyone!

I'm a beginner developer who enjoys programming, Linux, and open-source software. Recently, I've been working on a project called Switch USB Inspector, a comyymand-line tool written in C that uses "libusb" to inspect USB devices visible to Linux.

This is one of my projects where I'm learning by building something practical, testing it, and improving it along the way.

💡 What is Switch USB Inspector?

Switch USB Inspector is a Linux command-line utility that displays information about USB devices detected by the USB library.

The current beta version displays:

Vendor ID (VID) and Product ID (PID)
USB version
USB device class
Number of configurations reported by the device

The tool is written in C and uses "libusb" to access USB device information.

Despite the name, the project is not limited to Nintendo Switch devices. Its purpose is to inspect USB devices that are visible to Linux.

🖥️ Testing on Debian 13

I tested the program on Debian 13 running under WSL2.

Here is an example of its terminal output:

================================
Switch USB Inspector

v0.1-beta

USB devices found: 2

Device #1
VID:PID: 1D6B:0003
USB Version: 3.16
USB Class: 0x09
Settings: 1

Device #2
VID:PID: 1D6B:0002
USB Version: 2.00
USB Class: 0x09
Settings: 1

In this test, the two IDs correspond to Linux USB root hubs. They do not necessarily represent physical USB peripherals connected to the computer.

This is an important distinction when inspecting USB devices, especially in virtualized environments such as WSL2.

🛠️ Technologies

The main technologies used in this project are:

C — the programming language
libusb — the library used to access USB device information
Linux — the target operating system
Debian 13 on WSL2 — my test environment

I wanted to keep the tool simple and focused on displaying useful USB information directly in the terminal.

📦 Try it out

The project is open source and available on GitHub.

Repository: https://github.com/DraidCorporation/switch-usb-inspector
Beta release: https://github.com/DraidCorporation/switch-usb-inspector/releases/tag/Beta
Linux x86-64 binary: https://github.com/DraidCorporation/switch-usb-inspector/releases/download/Beta/switch-inspector-linux-debian-x86_64
Source archive: https://github.com/DraidCorporation/switch-usb-inspector/releases/download/Beta/sourcecode.tar.gz

The project is licensed under GNU GPL v2.0.

The prebuilt binary targets Linux x86-64 and requires the appropriate "libusb" runtime library.

🚀 What's next?

This is still an early beta, so there is plenty of room for improvement.

Some possible future improvements include:

Better identification of USB devices
More detailed device information
Clearer error messages
Additional testing across Linux environments
Improvements to the command-line interface

These are ideas for future development, not features that are already implemented.

🙌 Feedback is welcome!

This is my first time sharing this project with the DEV Community, and I'm excited to learn from other developers.

I'd appreciate constructive feedback about the code, the interface, the features, and possible improvements.

What additional information would you like to see in a Linux USB inspection tool?

Thanks for reading!

DEV Community: Draid Corporation

Building Switch USB Inspector: What's Next for v0.1?

Building Switch USB Inspector: What's Next for v0.1?

What I'm working on

Development environment

Help shape the next release

opensource #linux #c #programming

I Built a USB Inspection Tool in C for Linux — Switch USB Inspector v0.1-beta

v0.1-beta