Raspberry pi Zero and Ethernet USB adapters

Hi,

I just began to introduce myself to Risc OS, and after a few weeks I find it fascinating. I have been playing around with a Raspberry pi 4, however, I find out that Risc OS only use one core, and then came to my mind to use a Raspberry pi Zero. However, I can not make the pi Zero to recognize a USB Ethernet Adapter (Lenovo USB 2 Ethernet, based on the AX88772B chipset). I find this post Supporting the Pi Zero but it is not clear to me if in 5.28 there is anything to be done. I understand that new versions do not have the drivers to support other ethernet adapters that the one in the pi (and the Zero does not have one). So I was wondering if I missing something. Any guidance is welcomed!

The AX88772B chipset should work, but there are a number of things that could have gone wrong.

To start with, I’ll mention what should happen when things are working.

• A new install of RISC OS 5.28 should display the boot-up message “Contacting DHCP server for Ethernet over USB interface” for 10-50 seconds.
• After receiving an IP address (or timing-out the request) it should proceed to the desktop.

Things that can go wrong:

• RISC OS may not recognise the USB-to-Ethernet adapter. In this case it will behave as if no Ethernet adapter is present: boot-up will stall at “Contacting DHCP server” and you will need to press ESC to continue.
• If networking is disabled, it won’t look for an Ethernet adapter at all, proceeding straight to the desktop.
• If you plug in the USB-to-Ethernet adapter after RISC OS has started, it won’t be recognised.

Some questions:

• When you boot up the Pi Zero, does it get stuck at “Contacting DHCP server for Ethernet over USB interface” (wait at least 60 seconds before declaring it “stuck”) or does it go straight through to the desktop without pausing at any such message?

• If you disabled networking, how did you do it? There’s the easy-to-fix way (Configuration > Network > Internet > untick “Enable TCP/IP Protocol Suite”) and there’s the difficult-to-fix way (deleting a specific file inside !Boot).

• What do you get when you visit “Configuration > Network > Internet > Interfaces”? Do you get an error message similar to “There are no Ethernet interfaces present” or is there an “Ethernet Over USB” interface present but unticked?

Stuart, thanks!… here goes the answer to your questions:

• The first time, I used the same card that I used on my Raspberry pi 4. Later I noted my mistake and created a new one. In the new one I got the message “Contacting DHCP server…”, but it timed out.
• I never disabled networking.
• If I go to “Configuration > Network > Internet > Interfaces” I can not see the “Ethernet Over USB” option and no error messages (if I remember correctly, there is an option to enable PPP Networking).

I’m wondering if the adapter may have an incompatible chipset… but the only reference I have is this one… Lenovo USB 2.0 Ethernet Adapter

One other question, if I use my pi 4, and connect the adapter, it should be detected right?

Have a comparable Lenovo adapter for my Pandora.
Needs an Obey in Predesk to work (is an old setting, I never try the newer ROMs without) …

*Set EtherUSB$Product_0b95_772b AX88772
|0b95 is Vendor ID, 772b is Product ID
*RMReinit EtherUSB

Raik, thanks! It took me a while, but I figure it out. I will document just in case anyone faces this issue again:

I created and obey file in predesk (for anyone newby like me, you can follow these references):

• RISC OS Open: Forum: How do I edit !Boot.Choices.Boot.Predesk?
• using the keymap module in risc – Raspberry Pi Forums

I named the file EtherUSB (created a text file, and the changed file type to obey). And included the lines suggested by Raik:

*Set EtherUSB$Product_0b95_772b AX88772
|0b95 is Vendor ID, 772b is Product ID
*RMReinit EtherUSB

And I did not work. But I then thought on checking the vendor and product id for my adapter. I used Raspberry pi OS and follow this guide to identify the vendor and product id for my adapter(https://linuxhint.com/list-usb-devices-linux/), made the changes in EtherUSB, and voila! it worked!

These are the changed I made:

*Set EtherUSB$Product_17ef_7203 AX88772
|17ef is Vendor ID, 7203 is Product ID
*RMReinit EtherUSB

Sounds good and you have right. I should use more words … sorry.
You can use USBInfo to find information about USB devices.