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smeathers / lede-pi0w-usb

Getting USB Ethernet working on the Pi0w with an install of LEDE
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lede-pi0w-usb

Enabling USB Ethernet on the Pi0w with an install of LEDE.
It’s a little convoluted and I’m open to learning about optimisations.

Requirements

Flash micro SD card with LEDE image

I use Win32 Disk Imager, I assume you're already familiar with the image flashing process.

Boot Raspberry Pi hooked up to display and with keyboard

Running the commands.

uci set wireless.radio0.disabled=0
uci commit
reboot


*I originally tried this with the aluminium Apple keyboard (A1243) and the Pi0w refused to recognise it.

Connect to the new LEDE WiFi network

The previous commands should have enabled WiFi on the LEDE install and created a new unsecure wireless network called LEDE to connect to.

  1. Once connected to the LEDE WiFi your device should have an IP address in the 192.168.1.x range. Open your web browsers and navigate to http://192.168.1.1
  2. Follow the instructions to set a password for the root user (so you can ssh into the Pi later)
  3. c. Navigate to [Network > Wireless] then click the “Scan” button. Select your local WiFi with an active internet connection and provide the key needed for the router to connect.

  4. Navigate to [System > Reboot] then click the “Perform reboot” button. When the Pi comes back up it should now connect to your local WiFi network and the LEDE network will no longer be visible.

With the Pi0w connected to your host WiFi network

The following commands can either be entered on the keyboard connected to the Pi or via a SSH session. This loads the drivers for USB Ethernet then shut down the Pi.

opkg update
opkg install kmod-usb-gadget-eth
opkg install kmod-usb-dwc2
halt

At this point the keyboard and monitor should no longer be needed.

Editing the config.txt file

With the MicroSD card back in the computer open the config.txt file in the root of the SD card.

At the end of the file add dtoverlay=dwc2 to a new line, save, eject the MicroSD card and reinsert it into the Pi0w.

Power the Pi0w via the USB port connected to a computer


At this point the Computer should detect the Pi0w as a USB Ethernet device. Once the correct drivers are loaded it should receive an IP address from the DHCP server running on the Pi0w allowing further SSH and LuCI configuration.

Done


Before and after. The original Raspberry Pi Model B made a great portable router but the smaller size and single cable to the computer should make the Raspberry Pi Zero W much more practical. Also configured with a USB WiFi adapter you can choose between USB Ethernet and a WiFi hotspot.

References

USB Gadget Support

https://lede-project.org/docs/user-guide/usb_gadget
http://www.circuitbasics.com/raspberry-pi-zero-ethernet-gadget/
https://gist.github.com/gbaman/975e2db164b3ca2b51ae11e45e8fd40a
https://forum.lede-project.org/t/raspberry-pi-zero-w-ethernet-gadget-issue/2609
https://lede-project.org/packages/pkgdata/kmod-usb-dwc2

Additional Reading

I use my Pi-Router as an ad-blocker and a WiFi hotspot, I found these links useful.

Adblocking

https://github.com/openwrt/packages/tree/master/net/adblock/files
https://forum.lede-project.org/t/adblock-support-thread/507

USB WiFi Adaptor

https://www.andrewklau.com/openwrt-and-a-4-usb-wifi-adapter/

Static mac addresses

By default when the device boots the usb mac address is randomly generated. This link explains how to add static mac addresses. https://github.com/adron-s/QCA953x-usb-device-mode The file you need to edit is /etc/modules.d/52-usb-gadget-eth