Introduction

It is possible to add a number of external USB Ethernet adapters to the slug and make it act like a router. This is a brief HowTo on connecting one directly to the slug, but via a hub one can connect many.

If you do want to connect a USB ethernet adapter, there are various chipsets available:

• Pegasus based (e.g. Philips CPWUE01/00) (kernel-module-pegasus)
• AX8817X based (e.g. Netgear FA120, LINKSYS USB200M-DE) (kernel-module-usbnet)
  (July 2006 - D-Link DUB-E100 upto rev A4 also use this chipset the newer Rev B1 is not working due to chipset changes - see details here http://www.uwsg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0607.0/0738.html)
  (February 2008 - D-Link DUB-E100 rev B1 confirmed working in Debian/lenny with kernel version: 2.6.22-3. Rev B1 is based on AX8877X chipset. The modules "asix.ko" and "usbnet.ko" have to be built from the kernel-source. I built them natively on the NSLU2. e-mail: gamanakis_at_hotmail.com)
• kaweth based (e.g. 3Com 3C19250 USB) (kernel-module-kaweth)
• RTL8150 based (e.g. Sitecom LN-013) (kernel-module-rtl8150)
• MCS7830 based (e.g. delock) (manually build module, see below)

Instructions for most chipsets are similar to the pegasus example below.

specific chipset instructions

Basic example: Pegasus chipset

1. Getting the software: ipkg install kernel-module-pegasus
2. Hook up you USB Ethernet adapter to your slug
3. Go to /opt/lib/modules (Unslung) or /lib/modules (other OSes)
4. find pegasus.o or pegasus.ko in this directory; Do "insmod pegasus.o" or "insmod pegasus.ko" (as appropriate)
5. Now the device eth1 should be created. Do "ifconfig -a" to verify the presence of an inactive network adapter. (eth0 is the built-in network controller)
6. Now you can do things like "ifconfig eth1 up 10.0.1.114" and so on - it is an active Ethernet device.
7. update your routing tables as you see fit
8. Unslung: add a line in /opt/etc/modules : pegasus alias eth1
9. SlugOS: add a line in /etc/modutils/modules (creating the file if needed: pegasus alias eth1; then run update-modules

debianslug and AX8817X

for debianslug and AX8817X based devices you might also need the "asix" module.

ipkg install kernel-module-ax8817x

Also some of the above modules may complain re mii errors on loading. So type

ipkg install kernel-module-mii

delock usb 2.0 ethernet adapter: MCS7830

I got a "delock usb 2.0 ethernet adapter" working on debianslug (http://delock.de/produkte/gruppen/USB+Adapter/USB_20_Ethernet_Adapter_61147.html)

I thought it used the asix chipset when I bought it. But it turns out it doesn't. lsusb shows "ID 9710:7830 MosChip Semiconductor". The chip is a mcs7830 (see http://www.moschip.com/html/MCS7830.html). The moschip site has linux drivers. You need to compile or crosscompile them yourself.

1. You need to have "gcc" and "glibc6-dev" installed on debianslug, as well as the kernel source.
2. Extract the driver downloaded from the moschip site
3. Edit the Makefile that comes with it: change "KDIR := /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build" to "KDIR := /usr/src/<your kernel tree>"
4. Compile the driver: make
5. Load it: insmod mcs7830.ko
6. "ifconfig -a" should show your device appears as "usb0"

Davcom DM9601? USB to Ethernet bridge

This chipset is used in some Chinese "USB LAN" adapters. On Debian etch, I did apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.18-4-ixp4xx and then downloaded www.silencio.ro/DM9601?.GZ (which is actually a .tar.gz file), typed make, and then typed insmod dm9601.ko (while the dm9601.ko file was in the current directory) and it worked.