Re: USB host-to-host console

On Mon, 2007-08-20 at 20:43 -0700, David Brownell wrote:
> On Monday 20 August 2007, Steve Calfee wrote:
> > You can buy a single dongle that both hosts connect to (I think as a 
> > network - it just does option 2, with the connection internal to the 
> > dongle). I google'd "net-linq" I think it is supported by the linux usb stuff.
> 
> See drivers/net/usb/Kconfig and look for the host-to-host cables.
> That gives an network type link.  I don't know if that 'net-linq'
> cable has a driver, but I'd assume it does.
> 
> Unfortunately most of those chip vendors haven't provided enough
> specs to support what I'd call rock-solid drivers.  Most of the
> chips have awkward failure/transition modes when one end of the
> cable gets unplugged, even if the end still connected is the one
> used to power the chip inside.  They may even have rude failures
> if you just throw a fat enough network load at them...
> 
> Fullspeed host-host cables with Prolific chips (PL2301/2302)
> have those nasty failures.  So do their high speed ones (PL2501),
> and the high speed ones from ALI (M5632).  Unfortunately that
> means all the widely available cables I've seen are trouble...
> 
> I've got two adapters that have been solid; both are full-speed
> only (nominal 12 Mbit/sec).  I don't think either is sold any
> longer ... one has a Net1080 chip, and I think some LapLink USB
> cables ("gold"?) used them; maybe some Belkin ones too.  The
> other was a predecessor design, an early Belkin adapter, which
> used two separate net2280 chips with an AVR microcontroller; the
> design was licensed by eTEK to several companies.
> 
> Both those adapters have been rock solid "never misbehaved" in
> my use/testing.  If you can get some of those, go for it!
> And there may be some others too ... but be careful, and test
> them aggressively before you start to rely on them.
> 
> - Dave
> 

Dave -

Thanks for the info; I see your footprints through a lot of the code.

First, one question: are the new Vista Easy Transfer cables (e.g. Belkin
F5U258) simply a re-branding effort?  Are they basically the cables you
mention above or is there some different technology involved?

After spending a couple hours researching, I found that almost all USB
host-host cables in the US use either Prolific or PLX/Netchip.  The Ali
M5632 seems to be more available in Europe.  I didn't find any NET1080
devices - which seems to be EOLed.  The NET2280 is used in the Belkin
F5U104, which is still in production and relatively cheap; this seems
like the best choice from your email.

But then it hit me: buying two USB-DB9 dongles and a null modem ($65) is
a good-enough-for-now solution with a couple minutes of configuration.
I'm staring at all these beautiful trees in front of me but I have to
find a way out of this forest soon - the closest exit seems to be at the
end of a DB9 plug.  Cool stuff, though!

Dave



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