Networking - TheTechnobear/SSP GitHub Wiki

Netwoking on the SSP

This topic discusses how to connect your SSP to a network.

MOST users do NOT need to have a network connection to the SSP, In live performance scenarios Id advise against networking (esp wifi).

however, its very useful copying files around, or changing seutps - and particularly useful for developers.

General info

out of the box, the SSP allows for ethernet connection (see below), connecting using the ip address 192.168.1.6 you can verify this with ping e.g. ping 192.168.1.6

you can connect to the SSP using SSH, with the 'root' account and the password '123456' e.g. ssh [email protected] , then enter 123456

see gettings started below for more info on reconfiguring this...

Note: USB port usages

you can usb either the left or right USB A port for ethernet and/or wifi dongles. the 'Percussa Quickstart Guide' is out of date, referring to older firmware. However, the left port is HiSpeed USB (so 480 Mpbs) whereas the right port is Full Speed, so limited to 12Mbps. so if you want max throughput (esp. ethernet) use the left USB port.

Disclaimer

The following is going to require you to carefully use the command line.

the SSP is using Linux, so theres a lot of information on the internet about networking on this OS, or using the tool (e.g. vi) so this will not be covered here.

dhcp is not supported at this time.

links for products below are not verified/endorsed, nor the link I used to order ... so just see them as examples ;)

Getting started.

there are two approaches to make the changes Im discussing below:

a) connect via ethernet using 192.168.1.6

b) use a linux computer (or anything that can mount ALL partitions on the sdcard)

for (a) , if your desktop computer is not using subnet 192.168.1.x , or has a confliciting then you will need to (temporarily)

  • disable your network interface
  • configure a manual ethernet interface (no dhcp!) for 192.168.1.x so have your desktop computer as 192.168.1.10, subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and directy connect your SSP,

sorry, Im not describing this step as it varies from OS to OS (e.g. windows/macos/linux ). google setting up manual network for your OS.

once you have done this, you will be able to login with ssh [email protected] from here, we can edit files to put on your 'normal' network on ethernet and/or setup wifi

Ethernet

Requirements

you have read/executed 'getting started' ... so have a way to make the changes Im detailing below.

USB ethernet dongle.

any 'should' work.. but of course, there will be exceptions. but for reference I use/tested with : ASIX AX88179

mine was UGREEN, something like

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Network-Ethernet-Supports-Nintendo/dp/B00MYTSN18

at only around $15, its simple and just works :)

Setup

so the default, is 192.168.1.6, this may not be suitable for your network, but we can easily change this.

note: at this time dhcp is not supported.

network details are held in the file /etc/network/interfaces

edit this,and change address... you may also need to change gateway, if you are moving to a new subnet e.g. mine is now

auto lo 
iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.150
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.1

once you have changed, you should power cycle the SSP to pick up changes.

What to do if its not working?

the first thing to do is to see if the USB device is recognised / supported. this you can see in the boot messages, as the SSP boots up.

if you don't have an ethernet connection, its tricky, as this scrolls past very quickly! best option, I can think of is video it with your phone, and then playback the video slowly,

we are looking for something like:

[  5.276738] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using dwc2
[  5.880393] ax88179_178a 1-1:1.0 eth0: register 'ax88179_178a' at usb-ff540000.usb-1, ASIX AX88179 USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet, 00:0e:c6:a1:76:ca
[  9.215122] ax88179_178a 1-1:1.0 eth0: ax88179 - Link status is: 1

basically we can see something connected to usb, and the ax88179 is the 'model' of my usb ethernet dongle. we can see its been given an address and then link status is 1 = connected :)

Wi-Fi

Requirements

you have read/executed 'getting started' ... so have a way to make the changes Im detailing below. (personally, Id advise getting an ethernet connection working first!)

USB Wifi dongle - not all with work.

if you need to buy one Id recommend a cheap rPI dongle as this is what Ive used :)

something like:

https://www.amazon.com/LOTEKOO-150Mbps-Adapter-Wireless-Raspberry/dp/B06Y2HKT75

easy to identify, as they are kind of unbranded with just the 802.11 on the top, based on the Ralink 5370 chipset.

its possible others will work, but they may not... but given the above is about $12, no brainer really ;)

Setup

as a quick overview, we are going to need to change/add 3 files...

/etc/udev/rules.d/90-usb-wifi.rules
/etc/networking/interfaces
/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

let's get started

for the system, I needed to create a udev rule file, this will allow the wifi dongle to connect automatically on insertion.

create the file /etc/udev/rules.d/90-usb-wifi.rules

its contents should be:

SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", KERNEL=="wlan0", RUN+="/sbin/ifup wlan0"
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="remove", KERNEL=="wlan0", RUN+="/sbin/ifdown wlan0"

edit the network interfaces file: /etc/network/interfaces

add the lines to the bottom, taking care to substitute the 'address' (ip) for one that is suitable for your wifi network. (and also the gateway should match)

allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.0.151
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.1
pre-up wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

now we need to update the file thats going to be used to have your connection details

edit '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' remove the network section, and add the country code (ISO, in Spain this is ES)

(you can probably get away without the country line, but I use it for 'correctness')

so we have :

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ap_scan=1

country=ES

now we need to tell the SSP about your wifi ssid and its password, we do this with

wpa_passphrase yourssid yourpasswd >> /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

this will give you something like:


ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ap_scan=1

country=ES

network={
	ssid="Starlink"
	#psk="mypassword"
	psk=6001af429621f382383ecd269b7037e342598ad412889a027d86273aa4fd5234
}

note: if you don't like your clear text password in this file, you can delete the line with #psk="mypassword", its just a comment

note: if you are editing files, so can't run wpa_passphrase... iirc, you can enter your 'plain text' password. see internet for details ;)

thats it, reboot, and see if it works ;)

What to do if its not working?

the first thing to do is to see if the USB device is recognised / supported. this you can see in the boot messages, as the SSP boots up.

if you don't have an ethernet connection, its tricky, as this scrolls past very quickly! best option, I can think of is video it with your phone, and then playback the video slowly,

if you have a connection and can log in, then its easier log in, then use the command dmesg

you are looking for something like: (edited to remove stuff thats not relevant)

[    4.716008] cfg80211: Loading compiled-in X.509 certificates for regulatory database
[    4.740708] cfg80211: Loaded X.509 cert 'sforshee: 00b28ddf47aef9cea7'
[    4.779329] platform regulatory.0: Direct firmware load for regulatory.db failed with error -2
[    4.791098] cfg80211: failed to load regulatory.db
[    4.996734] usb 2-1: reset high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci-platform
[    5.217414] ieee80211 phy0: rt2x00_set_rt: Info - RT chipset 5390, rev 0502 detected
[    5.258164] ieee80211 phy0: rt2x00_set_rf: Info - RF chipset 5370 detected
[    5.268058] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[    5.269401] usbcore: registered new interface driver rt2800usb
[    5.373878] ieee80211 phy0: rt2x00lib_request_firmware: Info - Loading firmware file 'rt2870.bin'
[    5.388311] ieee80211 phy0: rt2x00lib_request_firmware: Info - Firmware detected - version: 0.36


[    7.300113] wlan0: authenticate with 28:ee:52:9f:6e:6c
[    7.339672] wlan0: send auth to 28:ee:52:9f:6e:6c (try 1/3)
[    7.350299] wlan0: authenticated
[    7.356824] wlan0: associate with 28:ee:52:9f:6e:6c (try 1/3)
[    7.380806] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 28:ee:52:9f:6e:6c (capab=0x1c11 status=0 aid=4)
[    7.414797] dwc2 ff580000.usb: bound driver configfs-gadget
[    7.426923] wlan0: associated

some notes on this...

802.11 is wifi, so we can see it wants to start wifi, here im loading a usb wifi with rt2870 driver, so we can see that is detected and loaded. then the wlan0 shows it connected to my wifi network

you can get more info on what this rt2800 driver supports here

yours may vary, but something similar is to be expected.

beyond this, re-check what you did above, as long as your usb wifi dongle is recognised.

again, this is 'standard' linux, so search the internet might give you some ideas if this is failing.

Random Tips (aka this is what's working for me)

  • I tend to power on the SSP with network hardware connected, so not rely on 'hot swap'. KISS.

  • Be careful when changing network setups, if you do it 'wrong' you may lock yourself out :)

  • you can use scp to copy files to the SSP ;)

  • I'm pretty sure either usb port works for both usb and wifi... but try both

  • I personally would always setup ethernet, even if you use wifi... as a 'fallback'

  • ethernet and wifi can co-exist, useful for testing.