Dual Ethernet Carrier Board for Colibri iMX6

Technical Support
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1

Is it possible to have dual Ethernet interface on carrier board for colibri iMX6 ? I see the colibri vfxx does have 2nd Ethernet interface option available. Not sure if it is also available in iMX6 modules. Thank you.

2

IMX6 Solo and iMX6 DL system on chip used in Colibry module have only one Ethernet interface. You can have second Ethernet on your carrier board using USB interface.

3

I tested an Insignia USB 3.0-to-Gigabit Ethernet Adapter on Colibri Eval board with LXDE Image V2.8 . It did not seem working. The ethernet cable was plugged in. Below is the log of “ifconfig” command:

root@colibri-imx6:~# ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:2D:4F:0F:79
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:93 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:71 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:12166 (11.8 KiB)  TX bytes:10415 (10.1 KiB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1%1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:1198 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1198 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1
          RX bytes:86560 (84.5 KiB)  TX bytes:86560 (84.5 KiB)

usb0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:2D:FF:FF:FF
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
4

hi @wjzhang: Could you share the dmesg log in a text file?
What is the output of lsusb?

5

See below and attachment.

root@colibri-imx6:~# lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

dmesgoutput

6

Which carrier board are you using?

7

Col Evaluation V3.2A board.

8

Thanks for you input. Did you see any messages when you insert the USB Ethernet Adapter? Try to connect the Adapter to USB_OTG Port using a cable similar to this ( Disconnect the cable from USB_CL Port ).

Best regards,
Jaski

9

Below is what I saw when plug the adapter to one of the USB host ports:

root@colibri-imx6:~# [  108.153041] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ci_hdrc

I don’t have the cable you mentioned at this time. I will try to get one and update you later.

10

Thanks. We will wait for you update. Meanwhile, could you try to connect the Ethernet Adapter to your Linux Host and get the lsusb information about this device.
Thanks.

11 
wz@wz-VirtualBox:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:8153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 80ee:0021 VirtualBox USB Tablet
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
12

Hi @wjzhang, I think, you need to compile a custom kernel and include the driver USB_RTL8152 into the kernel as explained here.

Best regards,
Jaski

13

Just updated kernel with Realtek 8152/8153 driver added. “lsusb” does show the device now. But “ifconfig” is still showing non-working usb0 ethernet.

root@colibri-imx6:~# lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:8153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

root@colibri-imx6:~# ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:2D:4F:0F:79
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:234 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:66 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:33177 (32.3 KiB)  TX bytes:9849 (9.6 KiB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1%1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:1370 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1370 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1
          RX bytes:98860 (96.5 KiB)  TX bytes:98860 (96.5 KiB)

usb0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:2D:FF:FF:FF
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
14

Is the usb/ethernet adapter connected to a dhcp server?

15

Yes, I was just switching ethernet cable between regular ethernet jack and this usb ethernet adapter jack. The regular ethernet was working just fine.

16

Could you share the new complete dmesg log in file? Thanks.

17

I just included both "USB RTL8150 based ethernet device support " and “Realtek RTL8152/RTL8153 Based USB Ethernet Adapters” options in kernel menuconfig (I missed the first option previously). Now the usb ethernet adapter is working now!
Thank you Jaski.
William

18

Perfect that it works. Thanks for the feedback

Best regards,
Jaski