Didj Enable Networking

Summary
This how-to outlines the basic steps to enabling networking via the USB gadget Ethernet driver (g_ether) contained in the LF 2009 sources.

Following the steps contained herein should result in a functioning Ethernet connection and the ability to telnet into the device via USB.

The version of g_ether we are using does not support Windows at this time (due to what seems to be a broken RNDIS implementation in this version of ether.c).

To-dos: Investigate and address enabling g_ether connectivity to hosts running recent linux kernels, Windows, OS X...

Software Needed
Source Code (Didj-Linux-4222-20090422-1236.tar.gz)

Hardware Needed
Console Access

Kernel Configuration
Out of the box, neither networking support nor the PTY devices used by busybox/telnetd are enabled in the stock Didj kernel. There are two ways to enable this. You can manually configure the kernel with make menuconfig, or use a configuration included in the Didj sources, lf1000_tt_eth_defconfig.

 Using alternate included config file 

More information on configuring using preexisting config

 On Host  cd SOURCE_CODE/linux-2.6.20-lf1000 $ make lf1000_ff_eth_defconfig

Your config file is now loaded, and you are ready to proceed.

 Using make menuconfig 

More information on configuring using make menuconfig

 On Host  cd SOURCE_CODE/linux-2.6.20-lf1000 $ make menuconfig

When the menu system launches, enable the following:


 * 1) Networking
 * 2) Select: Networking-> Networking Options-> TCP/IP Networking
 * 3) Make sure its selected if not hit Spacebar to select TCP/IP Networking.
 * 4) Exit back to the main menu.
 * 5) USB Ethernet support
 * 6) Select: Device Drivers-> USB Support-> USB Gadget Support
 * 7) Hit spacebar to select USB Gadget Support
 * 8) Select: Ethernet Gadget (with CDC Ethernet support)
 * 9) Hit Spacebar to configure it as a kernel module . Note: RNDIS support is listed, but it is broken, so deselect it.
 * 10) Exit up to device drivers
 * 11) PTY device support (for telnetd)
 * 12) Select: Device Drivers->Character Drivers->Unix98 PTY Support
 * 13) Hit Spacebar to select <*>
 * 14) Select: Device Drivers->Character Drivers->Legacy (BSD) PTY Support
 * 15) Hit Spacebar to select
 * 16) If its not already pre-set, set 'Maximum number of legacy PTY in use' at 256
 * 17) Exit all the way out of the menu application, making sure to save the changes when prompted.

Your config file is now set, and you are ready to proceed.

Building Kernel
Set up your Build Environment and from inside the kernel directory linux-2.6-lf1000/ run. $ ./install.sh

If everything is set up properly, this should fail trying to create some folders, which is after its built the kernel, which is fine, look in your TFTP_PATH directory, and you should see your zImage, which can be used to boot from an SD card or UART for testing purposes.

Didj_Boot_From_UART

Install and Configure
These steps, except for creating the device, will need to be repeated on each boot. If you'd like to make the USB device an Ethernet device permanently, you'll want to look into modifying the start up scripts.

Configure PTY device
Programs like telnetd and dropbear require these devices to be configured in order to run.

If not already created, create the node and directory for PTS  On Didj 
 * 1) mkdir --mode=755 /dev/pts
 * 2) mknod -m=666 /dev/ptmx c 5 2

Mount PTS

 On Didj 
 * 1) mount -t devpts none /dev/pts

You can also add this line to /etc/fstab for it to always mount none           /dev/pts        devpts  defaults                0       0

Installing g_ether.ko
First, boot the device, connect the USB cable, and mount the device as a drive.

You'll find g_ether.ko in your kernel sources directory tree:

SOURCE_CODE/linux-2.6.20-lf1000/drivers/usb/gadget/g_ether.ko

Copy this to your Didj.

Inserting the g_ether.ko kernel module

First, if its still connected, unmount the /Didj partition from your host.

Then, mount /Didj on your Didj:

 On Didj 

Mounting /dev/mtdblock9 on /Didj as rw
 * 1) usbctl -d mass_storage -a disable

remove the g_file_storage kernel module: $ rmmod g_file_storage

and install g_ether.ko: ether gadget: using random self ethernet address usb0: Ethernet Gadget, version: May Day 2005 usb0: using lf1000_udc, OUT ep2-bulk IN ep1-bulk usb0: MAC 46:ac:79:6e:92:e2 usb0: high speed config #1: 100 mA, Ethernet Gadget, using CDC Ethernet Subset ether gadget: set_interface ignored!
 * 1) cd /Didj
 * 2) insmod ./g_ether.ko

Set up TCP/IP
With the USB cable still connected to your host, configure an IP address (make sure this is a different subnet from your existing LAN). To quickly get up and running, use the Temporary Device and Host setups. Later you can make more permanent configurations. Although you can only have one, either Mass Storage or Ethernet operational at any given time.

Networking Setup

Add User
For logging in from remote hosts, you'll need a user. This can cause issues with permissions and what you can do. Some programs may allow root login with some extra configuration.

 On Didj  (this will prompt you for a password, can leave blank by hitting return twice, and ignoring the warnings.)
 * 1) touch /etc/group
 * 2) echo root:x:0:0:root:/root:/ > /etc/passwd
 * 3) mkdir /home
 * 4) adduser didj