FC3 - USB - Ethernet device (gumstix)

[Kevin J. Cummings]

Steve Hobbs wrote:
> I’m new to Linux, and have installed FC3.  I am trying to connect a 
> ‘gumstix’ (sbc running Linux – and yes about the size of a piece of 
> chewing gum) to my FC3 system.  The gumstix has a usb connection and 
> works as an Ethernet device – like a pda.
> 
> I plug the usb connection in, and FC3 recognises a device which appears 
> as System device in the hardware browser, with manufacturer
> 
> Linux 2.6.9-1.681_FC3smp echi_hcd. 
> 
> There are entries in
> 
> /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.1/usb3/3-1
> 
> showing the vendor id, product id & manufacturer fine.
> 
> What I need to do is to enable this device as a network device and then 
> bridge it to my Ethernet card to pick up an IP address and be usable as 
> a networked device.

What kind of a network device?  My Sharp Zaurus (SL5500) talks usbdnet 
over USB.  What does your gumstix expect to talk?

> Can anyone direct me to a set of instructions on how to do this please.

In a nutshell, you'll need an entry in:
	/lib/modules/`uname -r`/modules.usbmap
for your device.  That will tell your hotplug system which module to 
load for your device.  Then you'll need to set up your usb network 
device (mine is usb0) configuration scripts (ifcfg-usb0, ifup-usb0, 
ifdown-usb0, etc) so that the network can come up (and go down) 
properly.  If you want to use your connection computer as an internet 
router, you'll need to make sure that a "default" gateway through your 
connection computer is made on your gumstix device.  Oh yeah, and you'll 
want to make similar changes on your gumstix device as well so its side 
of the network also comes up with hotplug.

This stuff was "somewhat" documented for the 2.4 kernel series for my 
Sharp Zaurus, and the modules.usbmap file was eventually fixed in the 
2.6 kernel series to no longer require manual intervention for each 
newly installed kernel (though usbdnet did become usbnet).  Once you get 
your usb device configured, it becomes a basic problem in IP routing 
configuration, which you can force by hand if you have to.  Whether you 
supply IP addresses statically or via dhcp server is up to you (though 
its generally easier if the dhcp server runs on either your connecting 
computer or your gumstix before you need the default route.  B^)

> Thanks - Steve

YMMV   Good Luck.

-- 
Kevin J. Cummings
kjchome at rcn.com
cummings at kjchome.homeip.net
cummings at kjc386.framingham.ma.us