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    RNDIS, Bluetooth & HDD issues…

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    25 Posts 3 Posters 9.7k Views
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      All the OpenWRT images use a serial console as far as I know. The default speed is 115200 though.

      If you can ping the Openwrt router from the Diagnostics screen but not LAN then you have a routing problem.
      Is the Openwrt device in a different subnet that the pfSense LAN?
      Do you have a gateway on the pfSense LAN? (you shouldn't)

      Steve

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      • E
        Elludium_Q-36
        last edited by

        Hey Steve,

        Thanks for following this!

        However, I meant the type of terminal console, with keyboard & (S)VGA video, which pfSense uses.  It would seem most "Rube Goldberg", to have a full PC and ignore the keyboard and monitor, to tie to the keyboard and monitor of ANOTHER computer via serial…

        • I tried a couple different things, even direct workstation to OpenWRT "server" ethernet, with static I.P.  It's possible I had the requisite port/protocols blocked by a firewall utility on the WS,  at the time.  Maybe…  I don't recall if it would ping.  I recall trying it on a Virtual Machine...

        • I have each pfSense interface on a different subnet, but I tried static 192.168.1.2 on my WS, direct to the OpenWRT box.

        • I would only have a gateway on the LAN if I were trying to share internet from the WS, which I am not.


        It's possible that the BIOS didn't work with USB boot, with that type of file.

        I could write an image to the HDD, but one compiled with packges, such as a LUCI.  Erstwhile, I tried to compile an OpenWRT image, but it failed, probably due to a lacking a Debian Linux dependency.  It's on "The List".  ::) I have a small stack of old WRT54G routers…


        In the meantime, I bought a cheap "pocket" router, with OpenWRT preloaded.  A protocol bridge, to ethernet, to pfSense.  Rube Goldberg would be proud!  It works, provided that I bought a USB 3.0 hub to put inline, to charge & tether simultaneously.  Ugh!  ::)  All I needed with my linux box was a USB Y cable, to feed the power of two USB 2.0 ports.



        Search the webs, I did, for "bsd rndis".  I found this -> http://sourceforge.jp/projects/bsd-rndis/ and assumed it to be abandonware.

        That is, until I found THIS ->

        FreeBSD Handbook -> Part IV. Network Communication -> Chapter 30. Advanced Networking -> 30.4. USB Tethering

        30.4. USB Tethering

        Many cellphones provide the option to share their data connection over USB (often called "tethering"). This feature uses the RNDIS or CDC protocol.

        Before attaching a device, load the appropriate driver into the kernel:

        # kldload if_urndis
        # kldload cdce
        

        Once the device is attached ue0 will be available for use like a normal network device. Be sure that the “USB tethering” option is enabled on the device.

        Uh, huh…

        I'm running

        pfSense  2.1.2-RELEASE (i386)
        built on Thu Apr 10 05:23:34 EDT 2014
        FreeBSD 8.3-RELEASE-p15

        I tried each:

        
        $ kldload if_urndis
        kldload: can't load if_urndis: No such file or directory
        
        

        $ kldload cdce
        kldload: can't load cdce: File exists

        
        I assume the develpers decided to leave this out.  :-\  Perhaps this was over security concerns.  Yet, they INCLUDED, in the default, main install, something as potentially malicious as UPnP & NAT-PMP.  I'm certainly NOT beholden to Micro$oft'$ products, nor their strongarm tactics.  >:(  But, I have what I have…  :(  Maybe RNDIS could run within a jail, if the issue is security..
        
        I also noticed, in my pfSense 2.1.2 filesystem:
        

        /etc/bluetooth

        
        

        /etc/defaults/bluetooth.device.conf

        
        …
        :-\
        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          It's not part of the FreeBSD tree so you would have to compile the kernel module (if_rndis.ko) yourself. Since the code hasn't been updated since 2010 you might find it requires significant modification to make it compile against FreeBSD 8.3.

          Additionally it currently supports only one device:
          @http://sourceforge.jp/projects/bsd-rndis/scm/svn/blobs/head/rndis/trunk/if_rndis.c:

          #define USB_PRODUCT_SHARP_WZERO3ADES_RNDIS      0x91ad

          Steve

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          • E
            Elludium_Q-36
            last edited by

            I believe that 2.2 will have RNDIS support.  I found that it is contained in a later version of FreeBSD.  Maybe a 9.x or thus-and-such.  I don't have my notes at hand…

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Yep, looks like it's included in FreeBSD 10:
              https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/sys/dev/usb/net/if_urndis.c?view=log
              Don't know whether it made it into 2.2 though, I'll have to re-fire my test box. Also I can't find what devices it supports.

              Edit: Looks like it uses a generic USB vendor/product ID so it should work with a variety of hardware, all Android though  :-. Some older man pages list some known hardware:

              The urndis driver provides support for Ethernet access over Remote NDIS.
                  The urndis driver should work with all USB RNDIS devices, but the
                  following devices are known to work:

              o  Google Nexus One
                        o  HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1 / ADP1
                        o  HTC Hero
                        o  HTC Magic
                        o  HTC Tattoo
                        o  HTC Wildfire

              Steve

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