So - I’m trying to setup my Ubuntu 22.04 desktop machine to connect to a Pi Zero W as an ethernet gadget… it shows up on my device list just fine (usb0)…
But - if I try to enable that “NIC” in the crummy GUI networkmanager frontend piece of crap, it DISABLES the other one! What a diabolical PIECE OF CRAP :
Every time I tried to enable with that STUPID UGLY big BLUE BUTTON, it would disable my real PCIe NIC and drop me off my NFS connection to my NAS (and kill whatever music or video I was streaming / playing over NFS).
DIABOLICAL!
Anyway - at least now I can SSH to my Pi Zero over USB ethernet gadget… But just discovered using USB ethernet gadget disables g_mass_storage gadget …
This URL seems to indicate I can do both USB storage and ethernet gadget simultaneously, but it’s not working for me :
I dont think I ever succeeded in making NetworkManager configure two NIC’s, certainly not with a GUI , perhaps with difficulty using command line. I gave up and now I let NM only run the internet connection and configure the other local NIC by hand.
My solution is sort of against what NM is supposed to be for, but if it actually makes life more difficult why shoild I use it?
Tempted to switch my renderer from NetworkManager to networkd… (using Netplan)…
It’s a desktop machine that’s pretty much left on 24x7… Not sure how well netplan and networkd play with unpluggable NICs…
But anyway - it’s pointless - I’ve pretty much given up using the Pi Zero as a g_multi gadget (i.e. in theory you’re supposed to be able to use it as two gadgets at the same time, from among serial, ethernet or mass storage gadgets)…
It’s just mind boggling that someone would “publish” something so broken, i.e. press the big blue button to enable a NIC, “toggles” the other NIC off? Who even? Seriously WTF?
I’ve deployed and supported Ubuntu (18.04) servers with multiple DMZ NICs, was a PITA to get the routing just right, but got there in the end… Using netplan and networkd…
Its not just your Gui in Ubuntu. I tested one under KDE in MX and it was exactly the same… could not handle 2 NICs.
I suspect the NM underneath the GUI is is either faulty or too difficult to configure.
People used to like Wicd, but it ran into problems with Python3.
I want to try this networkd thing.
Networking in BSD used to be simple. Linux has made a mess of it by setting up things that make too many assumptions about what the user wants.
People bag on Red Hat often, and it’s derivatives like CentOS (now Rocky ?) and also Oracle Linux, and in some cases Fedora (Fedora’s kinda like a DNF/RPM distro that does Ubuntu things and adheres to Gnome stuff like NetworkManager etc)…
But - what I’ll give Red Hat? At least from REL4 - through to REL8, NIC configuration is fairly consistent, text files located in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcg-$NICNAME… Consistency…
But Ubuntu? It’s all over the f–king place! Don’t think I’ve ever built out a Debian system with multiple NICs… I think Debian uses /etc/network/interfaces.d/ correct?
Actually - the point I was trying to make, was I’ve actually done this before, using the Gnome front end to NetworkManager, configured two NIC’s… it worked in either 18.04 or 20.04… I’m sure of it… It also worked in 16.04… I often used “ethernet gadget” mode of various ARM based SBC’s (like RPi and NTC CHIP) from my Ubuntu desktop and it just worked…
This is something new in my experience - and that STUPID BIG BLUE BUTTON!
post script - the solution to my issue (pi gadget) I believe can be hopefully resolved using libcomposite instead of any of the g_* modules (e.g. not g_mass_storage or g_ether) :
I already had something similar setup on my USB Armory II - but that build took care of most of the heavy lifting… As for the USB Armory II, I liked the idea of the thing, but, I really have no use for it, so was a wasted purchase…
Basically - I want a Portable Pi Zero with portable storage I can take anywhere - and if I need to change something, I can SSH to it on USB ethernet, or cu/screen to the TTY console on USB serial… I’ve already got a “USB A Hat” (a hat is an expansion board that sits atop a Pi SBC) so my Pi Zero W looks like a largish thumb drive…
When they’re readily available again, I might replace it with a Pi Zero 2 W - 512 RAM is just enough for a headless, but most times a single core isn’t …
OK - tried so many things I didn’t know what I’d done, and it stopped working completely… i.e. USB thumb drive emulation by pluggin a Pi Zero W into my Ubuntu 22 desktop…
But then I noticed that my USB Armory Mk II wasn’t working either! Unplugged USB hub, tried again, nada, zippo, same number of USB devices output via (“lsusb |cat -n” - yeah I’m sure there’s a better way)… So I rebooted and both working again!
So then I found this URL - followed the steps :
And I now have a working triple gadget…
I now have a pluggable USB thumb drive, a working ethernet gadget, and if I can’t get to the Pi via WiFi or ethernet gadget, I can get a serial console via the serial gadget…
Just to point out that tethering over usb is commonly used by people who don’t know much about computing and shouldn’t need to. An example is numerical control of machinery, which might use a Beaglebone. These people should not be required to look up geek stuff just to be able to use this or that distro or version. I’m beginning to wonder whether Ubuntu is going off the user-friendly rails.
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