2G-IOT OTG lost

malvcr

First ... it is almost impossible to configure this machine without the USB-TTL cable (I don't have it ... a new one is coming in the mail).

My accustomed configuration method with Orange Pi Zero and other machines without video ports has been to open the SD card image and to pre-configure it by hand before the first boot.  But the 2G-IOT is like a wild horse and this is very difficult to make in this way.
So ... until I have my USB-TTL cable, my only "successful" configuration has been with the Ubuntu image.  In fact, that image is "strange" and difficult to mount in any computer.  What you can do is to tweak the 6th and 7th partitions, and there you can modify WIFI and other mechanisms that work to connect the machine to the outside world.  And I was very happy after three days of failures when I was able to login ... :-)

Oh yes ... after making it to work, each time the machine boot, had a new MAC address ... but this was not an "issue" but a problem.  The solution for this was to make an operating system update.

The next task was to configure the g_ether module.  M mmm ... no g_ether ... and this Ubuntu is like a mixture beetween Ubuntu and Android, so when you download the source code, you obtain the 4.4 version while this works on 3.10 .. and the SDK from Orange is many gigabytes ... maybe another day.  However, I had been trying to check if there is a different method to use the OTG port to connect to different Orange Pi machines (a Zero with the 2G-IOT) ... and after several hours, I realised that the machine is not configuring at all the USB0 port, only the type A USB1.  It works as if the microUSB is an electricity-only port instead of a OTG-Power one.

I don't know if this is an Ubuntu (I really don't like this weird distribution I prefer more plain ones), a problem with the OS mixture, or a physical problem.  I still can't work with the Armbian image because it is difficult to work it without the USB-TTL (and it seems not to be an official but a Xunlong provided one) .. do somebody knows if there is some issue with this USB OTG port?

malvcr

I have been checking the documentation and the system, and I realized something important.

The 2G-IOT computer really only has one USB port.  You can choose between the type A USB host or the micro USB OTG ports (through the jumpers).  You can't have both of them at the same time.  And this is OK ... for that size and cost, this is a natural limitation, very similar to the one we can find in the Raspberry Pi Zero machine.

Then, the real problem is that currently, what we have to work is not really a Linux Ubuntu system but a Linux Android without tools and with an Ubuntu face.

Because the OTG is not available as it is hidden behind the /dev/adb_android device.  Just that the Ubuntu Server lacks all the adb infrastructure to use such device and then the implementation is not complete.  A real complete Ubuntu without adb and including all the USB gadget modules is needed.

I will wait for my USB-TTL cable to work the Armbian version.  At least, Armbian is easier to hack that this Ubuntu-like system.

xkremator

I am not 100% sure, but when I am looking into 2G-IoT schematics - I can see that 8-port DIP switch is controlling the USB D+/D- routing.
So we can  either have microUSB port active, or full size USB, but not both at the same time.