[Q] Making USB Eternet Adapter work with Acer Iconia A500 Tablet - Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]

I have a local wireless internet company and I am wondering if there is any way to develop a "driver" that would allow me to use a usb ethernet adapter with an Acer Iconia A500 tablet running Andriod Honeycomb.
I know that it has wifi and cellular connectivity, but for my techs in the field, doing installations, this would be a great tool. We are currently using netbooks running windows 7 lite, but a tablet would be much easier to tote around and faster on loading etc.
Does anyone have any idea if this is possible? I know the Iconia A500 has a full size usb port, but I also know that nothing will work without the right driver installed. All we need to be able to do, is open a browser window and input in our ip addresses so we can gain access to the motorola and ubiquity radios that we are trying to provision in the field.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

not sure if it works with honeycomb, but on ICS I have used a usb ethernet adapter with the tablet, mind you that some applications dont work with it, but the browser and market place do. What you'll need to do first is have your tablet rooted, then download either android terminal emulator or Gscript lite (with gscript lite you can save the script for use again.) In the terminal you will want to run netcfg, this will show you all of your interfaces and will tell you if your usb to ethernet adapter is detected. If it is detected there will be an interface called usb and then a number aka usb0 or possibly even eth0. next you will want to take that interface and make sure it is up by running ifconfig usb0 up. next you'll need an ip address, if yours is assigned dynamically then run dhcpcd usb0 then setprop dns1 8.8.8.8 (or use whatever DNS server you wish). Now if you need a static address, such as 192.168.0.2 or something you would run ifconfig usb0 192.168.0.2. Also all of these commands will need root so make sure you type in su beforehand.

Related

How to connect two android devices over USB

First, why:
I own two Coby Kyros tablets that I am using as a part-time car headrest entertainment system. Heck, they are so cheap, buying a dedicated car video just does not make sense.
Tablets work great for that purpose, great resolution (for a car), have games and music. There is only one piece that is missing, simultaneous video playback on both tablets.
Getting this working presents two challenges:
* A fast, stable, always ON connection between the tablets.
* A master/slave video playback software, either streaming or syncing
Glad to report, I've solved the first issue, that I'll describe here. Be warned this is not for the faint of hart and right now is fully manual. If you find it helpful I might work on automating the link.
Tested on Froyo. At least one device has to be rooted and support the USB Host mode.
Now, how:
The idea is simple - use the android debugging bridge to forward TCP ports between two systems over USB. If you do have USB tethering enabled on at least one device (I did not) you could use RNDIS to route all traffic, not just specific ports, over USB.
1. Pick a tablet to be the slave. It must be rooted. Get the adb client compiled for android from here, upload it to the slave /system/xbin ("adb push ...") and make executable (adb shell chmod 755...). Get ConnectBot from the market to access its console.
2. Put the slave into the USB Host mode, disable USB debugging on it. Put the master into the USB device mode and enable USB debugging.
3. Connect the master and the slave using a miniUSB-USBfemale and USBmale-miniUSB combination, a USB hub (make sure it is a high-speed one) or a miniUSBmale-miniUSBmale cord.
4. Now the tough part, typing shell commands on the tablet. You can make it a bit easier by using a USB hub and connecting a keyboard and a mouse together with the other tablet to the slave.
On the slave start ConnectBot for the localhost and type the following
Code:
less /proc/bus/usb/devices
Look for your master's devices BUS# and DEV#. Record both. Note, these numbers change when you re-plug USB.
Now, on the slave:
Code:
su
mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/001/
ln -sf /proc/bus/usb/[BUS#]/[Dev#] /dev/bus/usb/001/001
5. Test. On the slave run 'adb devices'. It should show your master in the list.
6. Forward slave ports to the master as needed. Run 'adb forward tcp:123 tcp:234'. Now you can use localhost:123 on the slave to reach out to the master port 234 over USB.
If your kernel is RNDIS enabled you could route all network connections over the usb0 interface, essentially creating a one-to-one network. Stock Kyros unfortunately does not support RNDIS so I've not tested it.
The ADB USB speed is not bad, averaging 2.5MB/sec after protocol overhead.
I did some research on the second issue, went several routes (mplayer, VLC and UPNP) and, sadly, found nothing that currently works. If you know of any working video source/sink pair or a sync peer for android, let me know.
sicvolo said:
Tested on Froyo. At least one device has to be rooted and support the USB Host mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a guide on getting USB Host Mode to work on this device or if there isn't could you write one?
I have two Galaxy S3. I went through steps 1-3, all fine. But in step 4, there is no '/proc/bus/usb/devices'; there are only '/proc/bus/input' and '/proc/bus/input/devices'.
Is there any other method to get dev# and bus#? Thanks.

How to disable Ethernet service by default in firmware?

I need to reassemble the firmware for my tablet (RK2918) with Ethernet service disabled by default because it is hungry for power and starting automatically on every reboot. So I have to disable it via menu manually every time. Android 2.3.2
build.prop >> ro.ethernet.autoEnable=no
doesn't work at all or works from time to time until WiFi interface wouldn't be disabled.
Googled all over the world but unsuccessful
What could one modify to disable it?
Up
weired, nobody knows
Perhaps you could remove the kernel driver, the nameofdriver.ko file.
Thank You, Jason! But there is only one wlan.ko
Indeed, there is no wired ethernet adapter in the tablet but I think that it's for support USB-Ethernet via USB-OTG port.
But it's provide a great power saving been disabled. Strange.
Maybe the driver is somehow included directly in the kernel.
In that case you could try to recompile the kernel which would be the hard way. Or the easy way would be to write a script that runs sometime during boot that runs:
ifconfig eth0 down
or
netcfg eth0 down
Substituting eth0 with whatever the name of your ethernet interface is. I know this will bring down the interface but I am not sure if it will shut it off at a hardware level. It is just a matter of finding the right opportunity at boot to run the script.
Thank You.
Yes, netcfg command works but only at logical level, the hardware didn't down.
that's awesome...keep it good work

[Q] Android to Android USB tethering

I have been searching on how to tether an Android tablet running ICS 4.03 to a Nexus S running ICS 4.04 and have found lots of ways to tether the phone to Windows or Linux but not how to tether the tablet to the phone using USB. I can tether with wifi no problem and the phone does have a USB tether option that I set to on and it says it is connected. I did see one post and it said on the tablet open terminal and:
su
dchpcd usb1
?? set DNS to 8.8.8.8 (I forgot the command as I never got to it)
it returns no usb1 found, I tried a few other numbers, 0 to 2 with the same results.
wifi hotspot really eats in to the battery so I want to use usb as this would charge the phone as well. oh the tablet does have OTG working as I did hook up a thumb drive to it and browsed it.
Any help would be grateful, how would I go about testing this, any command that will show me my usb config, I am just guessing but I think the problem may be with the tablet (Ainol NOVO7 ELF) and I might have to configure the network interface in the kernel (which I know very little about)
Gazoo222 said:
I have been searching on how to tether an Android tablet running ICS 4.03 to a Nexus S running ICS 4.04 and have found lots of ways to tether the phone to Windows or Linux but not how to tether the tablet to the phone using USB. I can tether with wifi no problem and the phone does have a USB tether option that I set to on and it says it is connected. I did see one post and it said on the tablet open terminal and:
su
dchpcd usb1
?? set DNS to 8.8.8.8 (I forgot the command as I never got to it)
it returns no usb1 found, I tried a few other numbers, 0 to 2 with the same results.
wifi hotspot really eats in to the battery so I want to use usb as this would charge the phone as well. oh the tablet does have OTG working as I did hook up a thumb drive to it and browsed it.
Any help would be grateful, how would I go about testing this, any command that will show me my usb config, I am just guessing but I think the problem may be with the tablet (Ainol NOVO7 ELF) and I might have to configure the network interface in the kernel (which I know very little about)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
**Bump**
Im in the same boat. Ive been researching and researching but no luck. There has to be a simple way of setting it up.
Go google store (market) and download PDAnet or tether lite >>>
I would really like to do this too. Unfortunately PDA Net and tether lite set up a VPN.
Can I do this with terminal commands from both android devices?

Anyone know how to get Freedompop to work?

I have a galaxy tab 2 7.0 wifi version with CM 10.1 on it. I have the ubee freedom stick from freedompop. I brought the otg usb dongle but the 4g stick is not working. It turns on and the middle blue light flash and then it turns off. Anyone got it to work?
joe.stay said:
I have a galaxy tab 2 7.0 wifi version with CM 10.1 on it. I have the ubee freedom stick from freedompop. I brought the otg usb dongle but the 4g stick is not working. It turns on and the middle blue light flash and then it turns off. Anyone got it to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay. Update. I got it to turn on and stay on with signal bars but internet doesn't work.
Yea i need help with this too. I want to get it working on my Galaxy S4.
BTW try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1921928
didnt work for me terminal said no such port or somthing
I tried that link but its a no go there.
Reply to your request for help
sharpknight said:
Yea i need help with this too. I want to get it working on my Galaxy S4.
BTW try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1921928
didnt work for me terminal said no such port or somthing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello Sharpknight,
Although I am not a developer maybe I can help. I'll share some of my learning's with you. The Freedompop dongle I have has a feature called "Diskless Install" It initially acts like a USB Memory Stick and downloads the drivers then it is supposed to switch automatically into the 3G/4G mode and then connects to the web. Every other time it is installed it is supposed to switch back into the Memory stick mode. In case you plug it into another computer.
By the way If you try something and it doesn't work you may wish to unplug and replug the dongle as it may be in the wrong mode? You may even want to try rebooting. That may change the mode on the dongle.
First I did not see if you had rooted your S4. You must root your device before my instructions will work. If it is rooted, plug in your dongle and wait for it to lock onto the signal. You should have two or more bars that indicate the signal is being recv'd by the dongle.
Next launch the terminal mode and enter super user mode by typing "su".
At the next prompt type netcfg (note the port eth0 maybe?)
It will list all of the Mac addresses, ports and the IP addresses connected. If you can match the mac address of your dongle with what is shown in the table it is seeing the dongle.
I am not sure it conflicts but I turn off the WIFI radio also. I read somewhere that it would display the dongle connection in the system WIFI control panel although my Acer never has.
If you can see the dongle in the netcfg listing the next thing you have to do is assign the IP addr. by following these steps:
type: Ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.12 ( Can be any IP address you choose (You can type: netcfg again to confirm the Dongle is seen by the Tablet)
type: dhcpcd eth0 ( Wait for lease to complete and next prompt.)
type: setprop net.dns1 8.8.8.8 (use any dns server - I used Google's free dns server or 8.8.4.4 also Google)
Launch your favorite browser and input 192.168.14.1 (for the FreedomPop PXU1964) for the URL or what ever URL is required by your device.
The FreedomPop setup screen should appear. Click on Network about center screen and it should show how many bytes transferred.
Click on the Advanced Link and insure it's set to NAT Mode.
I hope this helps - I will be out of internet range until Monday if you send me a note when I get back I'll reply if I see another post from you.
By the way I tried to reply to your post and it says you have turned off the reply via email in your profile.
Regards,
- Phil
PBates123 said:
Hello Sharpknight,
Although I am not a developer maybe I can help. I'll share some of my learning's with you. The Freedompop dongle I have has a feature called "Diskless Install" It initially acts like a USB Memory Stick and downloads the drivers then it is supposed to switch automatically into the 3G/4G mode and then connects to the web. Every other time it is installed it is supposed to switch back into the Memory stick mode. In case you plug it into another computer.
By the way If you try something and it doesn't work you may wish to unplug and replug the dongle as it may be in the wrong mode? You may even want to try rebooting. That may change the mode on the dongle.
First I did not see if you had rooted your S4. You must root your device before my instructions will work. If it is rooted, plug in your dongle and wait for it to lock onto the signal. You should have two or more bars that indicate the signal is being recv'd by the dongle.
Next launch the terminal mode and enter super user mode by typing "su".
At the next prompt type netcfg (note the port eth0 maybe?)
It will list all of the Mac addresses, ports and the IP addresses connected. If you can match the mac address of your dongle with what is shown in the table it is seeing the dongle.
I am not sure it conflicts but I turn off the WIFI radio also. I read somewhere that it would display the dongle connection in the system WIFI control panel although my Acer never has.
If you can see the dongle in the netcfg listing the next thing you have to do is assign the IP addr. by following these steps:
type: Ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.12 ( Can be any IP address you choose (You can type: netcfg again to confirm the Dongle is seen by the Tablet)
type: dhcpcd eth0 ( Wait for lease to complete and next prompt.)
type: setprop net.dns1 8.8.8.8 (use any dns server - I used Google's free dns server or 8.8.4.4 also Google)
Launch your favorite browser and input 192.168.14.1 (for the FreedomPop PXU1964) for the URL or what ever URL is required by your device.
The FreedomPop setup screen should appear. Click on Network about center screen and it should show how many bytes transferred.
Click on the Advanced Link and insure it's set to NAT Mode.
I hope this helps - I will be out of internet range until Monday if you send me a note when I get back I'll reply if I see another post from you.
By the way I tried to reply to your post and it says you have turned off the reply via email in your profile.
Regards,
- Phil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those ^ directions work. Only thing you might have to do differently is set the USB stick to NAT mode via your PC. Log in to 192.168.14.1 via your PC browser and put it into NAT mode. Then use those instructions. Worked for me on the Galaxy S4. Thanks Phil.
Awesome - Glad it worked!!
sharpknight said:
Those ^ directions work. Only thing you might have to do differently is set the USB stick to NAT mode via your PC. Log in to 192.168.14.1 via your PC browser and put it into NAT mode. Then use those instructions. Worked for me on the Galaxy S4. Thanks Phil.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good:
Not working with CM10 on Nook HD+
PBates123 said:
If you can see the dongle in the netcfg listing the next thing you have to do is assign the IP addr. by following these steps:
type: Ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.12 ( Can be any IP address you choose (You can type: netcfg again to confirm the Dongle is seen by the Tablet)
type: dhcpcd eth0 ( Wait for lease to complete and next prompt.)
type: setprop net.dns1 8.8.8.8 (use any dns server - I used Google's free dns server or 8.8.4.4 also Google)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, what kernel module / driver is missing if I can light up the stick and see the bare USB device, but netcfg never sees an eth0 device?
I am running CyanogenMod 10.2 on a B&N Nook HD+ (but I tried CM10.1 with exactly the same results).
Thanks in advance...
FreedomPop Dongle w/ CyanogenMod on B&N NookHD+
wanderso said:
So, what kernel module / driver is missing if I can light up the stick and see the bare USB device, but netcfg never sees an eth0 device?
I am running CyanogenMod 10.2 on a B&N Nook HD+ (but I tried CM10.1 with exactly the same results).
Thanks in advance...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello Wanderso,
I was in Dripping Springs & Austin a week ago - for the week.....
Here is a couple of things. CyanogenMod 10.1 or 10.2 should have everything you need.
1. Plug your FreedomPop dongle into a PC or laptop first and follow the instructions with the unit to put it into NAT mode. Open a browser window and type 192.168.14.1 (if my memory is correct) and go from there.
By the way FreedomPop has a couple of dongles. I have never tried this procedure with the newer dongles. But there is no reason I know of that would stop this from working on those.
2. Next in my instructions I used eth0 (thats eth zero, but could be any available port eth1, eth2, or usb0 or usb1, ect)
Also remember that every other time the Dongle is plugged in it acts like a jump drive with a start-up program on it. So if it doesn't respond when you run your script or type it in, unplug it and re-plug it and try the script again. The second time it is installed it acts like the Radio dongle and not like a jump drive. Let me know if that helps.
Good luck! - Phil
Also for a little more history and maybe a few tips check out this thread toward the bottom I documented the steps I took to get my Acer A500 working it might also help.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1921928
PBates123 said:
I was in Dripping Springs & Austin a week ago - for the week.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phil:
Hope you enjoyed your visit to Central Texas, but you missed the great weather we are having now, and ACL :good: but come back anytime...
I've tried your entire procedure, but the issue (I believe) is a issue in the CDC and/or RNDIS drivers on the Nook HD+ (Ovation). I need some diagnostic procedures to understand what the kernel is thinking when I plug in the stick. No "eth0" or "usb0" device shows up when i plug it in, even though it is connecting to the WiMax network (as indicated by the external lights on the stick). I have set the stick to NAT mode on a PC, and have tried to plug / unplug to get it to cycle through its boot modes.
Wanderso
FreedomPop Dongle w/ CyanogenMod on B&N NookHD+
wanderso said:
Phil:
Hope you enjoyed your visit to Central Texas, but you missed the great weather we are having now, and ACL :good: but come back anytime...
I've tried your entire procedure, but the issue (I believe) is a issue in the CDC and/or RNDIS drivers on the Nook HD+ (Ovation). I need some diagnostic procedures to understand what the kernel is thinking when I plug in the stick. No "eth0" or "usb0" device shows up when i plug it in, even though it is connecting to the WiMax network (as indicated by the external lights on the stick). I have set the stick to NAT mode on a PC, and have tried to plug / unplug to get it to cycle through its boot modes.
Wanderso
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanx Wanderso not sure when the next time I'll be there is.
As I am not a developer I had to spend a lot of time researching to come up with the procedure I used. I did a quick google search and found this link among others that seemed to fit the issue your having. What puzzles me with this issue is that the device should be recognized as a USB Drive initially by your Nook HD+, and it doesn't seem to do so. OH! Just had a brain flash! One of the problems many tablets have is that these Dongles draw a lot of power, sometimes more than the ports on the tablets can supply due to the radio. Can you try a powered USB port extension to see if that helps?
Here is the link I ran across in the google search: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12974114/detection-of-plugged-in-usb-device
Could you keep me in the loop as you have me intrigued and I like to see how to solve the problem. I'll keep looking and let you know if I find anything that may help you solve the problem.. We can solve this I'm sure! :good:
Regards,
- Phil
PS. I ran across a thread with what is suspiciously like the problem I refered to the USB ports draw down the voltage and caused connection problems. check it out:
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com...ce-not-recognized-resolved/td-p/813686/page/2

Installing vanilla Debian with console (no X) on my mobile device.

My Goal: To run a small Debian server on my mobile device. Like a raspberry Pi, but no need for Xwindows, So no GUI needed. Like a mini-NAS.
I guess to make my goal, the idea would be to use a USB 3.1 hub with enough USB ports for the following:
1 Gbit Ethernet USB dongle.
1 (or more) SSDs attached by USB
As an extra bonus it would be great to display 'top' or 'vmstat' on the phone screen. The idea is also to use the battery as a UPS. So should the power fail, the 'server' would keep running.
My OS of choice is 'Debian'.
Some assumptions on my part:
I will need to build a custom ROM based on a kernel for my model of phone (or could I get away with a 'generic' kernel for all phones?)
It will need to use DHCP to get an IP on the USB ethernet adapter and start SSH as a minimum (as I won't have the screen working to be able to log in).
Is this possible? Is it 'easy'? Would I need to build a custom kernel? Do I need to do 'special' things to get USB support to work, or is that pretty 'standard'? Initially I don't care about Screen/mic/speakers/lights/vibrate and all of those.

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