Use USB Ethernet (RNDIS host) in iMX8 MEK with Android P(9.0)

[Jinho-Nam]

Hello,

I have been trying to connect Android 9(master, host) in iMX8QuadXPlus MEK board with the Ubuntu board (sub, device) throught the usb port.
To use ethernet function on USB, I rebuilt the Adroid kernel with the configuration CONFIG_USB_NET_RNDIS_HOST.
The Ubuntu board have been installed USB RNDIS gadget driver for usb ethernet.
I already checked to operate the Ubuntu board (other board) successfully to connect the HOST PC. (Windows and Ubuntu both)

When I connected USB between two boards, I saw the debug messages on iMX8 Android machine as below.

[ 7938.107680] usb 1-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 5 using cdns-usb3
[ 7938.212464] usb 1-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=18d1, idProduct=4ee2
[ 7938.219383] usb 1-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 7938.226738] usb 1-1.4: Product: RNDIS Ethernet Data
[ 7938.231652] usb 1-1.4: Manufacturer: RNDIS Communications Control
[ 7938.237789] usb 1-1.4: SerialNumber: RNDIS
[ 7938.258632] rndis_host 1-1.4:1.0 usb1: register 'rndis_host' at usb-xhci-cdns3-1.4, RNDIS device, 3a:86:80:db:1f:cc

# ifconfig -a
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope: Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 TX bytes:0

...

usb1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 3a:86:80:db:1f:cc Driver rndis_host
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 TX bytes:0

I confirmed the new interface was created as usb1 and set the ip address information as below.

# ifconfig usb1 192.168.5.12 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.5.255 up
# ifconfig
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope: Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 TX bytes:0

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:04:9f:05:c8:84 Driver fec
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 TX bytes:0

usb1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 3a:86:80:db:1f:cc Driver rndis_host
inet addr:192.168.5.12 Bcast:192.168.5.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::3886:80ff:fedb:1fcc/64 Scope: Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:9 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 TX bytes:1122

The Ubuntu machine has an ip address 192.168.5.5 so I try to ping
ping 192.168.5.5
connect: Network is unreachable

I met the message "connect: Network is unreachable"
I don't know why it happens and What I will do more.
I hope anyone help me.

Thanks in advance.

[IvanRuiz]

Hello,

This i.MX product does not support USB on the go, reason why the USB module may not be working properly.

BR,

Ivan.

[chadA]

Hi Ivan,

I think you made a mistake.

According to@Jinho-Nam's description, looks like he wants to use a USB-Ethernet first, then connect the 2 board with Ethernet, not USB.

If he want to use USB to connect them directly, OTG is needed. But for ethernet, I think there is no need to consider the USB's OTG function. So now the @Jinho-Nam 's problem should be the USB-Ethernet, it does not work well. For the USB-Ethernet, I think OTG is not the necessary.

Now I meet the same problem with Jinho-Nam, I tried to use a USB-Ethernet on iMX8MM EVK with Android9.0, same result like @Jinho-Nam , ping always prompt "Network is unreachable" . And I am looking for a issue now.

Thanks

Chad

[Jinho-Nam]

Thanks for your reply.

Could you recommend what solution can I use with the USB on the go instead of iMX8?

[IvanRuiz]

Hi,

You may refer to the i.MX 8 products in the following link depending on the features you need from the processor: https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/arm-processors/i-mx-applications-proces...

In order to check the OTG feature, please go to the datasheet, e.g., for the i.MX 8M, OTG is supported according to datasheet: https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/IMX8MDQLQIEC.pdf

Hope it helps!

BR,

Ivan.