Raspberry Pi USB Bridge Question(s)

billvance · 01-07-2014, 11:46 PM

Howdy;

I'm looking into networking over the USB bus, using one of
those powered on one side only, with a networking bridge
jahawtcho of some sort in the middle type cables, and can't
seem to find much RPi info on this. Do these require special
drivers/modules, etc., or do they, "just work?" Are there
any brand-compatability issues?

TIA

Bill

qlue · 01-08-2014, 01:50 AM

You will have to find one that includes software for Linux as far as I can tell. I can't find any evidence of built-in Linux support for these cables, possibly because there is no set standard and every manufacture uses their own recipe.

You could use two bluetooth adaptors instead. (or two Wlan adaptors)
However, since the RPi has an ethernet port, why don't you use an ethernet switch or crossover cable instead?

billvance · 01-08-2014, 03:42 AM

Well, from what I've been reading, usb is a lot faster.

Bill

mostlyharmless · 01-08-2014, 09:24 AM

The Linux kernel has support for the ftdi chip used in those cables, if what you're describing is what I think it is: Should work out of the box without any drivers.

michaelk · 01-08-2014, 10:58 AM

They are marketed as an USB data transfer cable in the windows world and also known as an USB host to host in the linux world.
I do not know what chipset manufactures use currently so I can not recommend one. The following does have it working on a pi using a cable with a PL2302 chip. As stated it should work right of of box.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/vi...55380&p=420697
http://askubuntu.com/questions/20708...ndows-to-linux

billvance · 01-09-2014, 08:29 AM

That's just the info I was looking for.

Thank you one and all.

Bill