Post by: maynard on December 16, 2021, 01:21:29 am
Has anyone managed to get a USB network connection working on a PC running a 3+ kernel after docking their SL6000?
Someone else had a similar issue many years ago:
https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=25159&start=50
Post by: Varti on December 16, 2021, 04:49:22 am
If I have understood the thread you have linked, 6000s don't work anymore with recent kernels, while 5500s still work, since the device is seen as a CDC Ether device, while the 5500 registers itself as a serial one. The workaround described in the thread seems to be to force to register the 6000 as a serial device too.
BTW sdjf has been an active member here in the past, although he hasn't logged in here since some years.
Varti
Post by: maynard on December 16, 2021, 05:17:16 pm
Thank you for moving me out of the Archived section!
I have been looking for a solution to this over the past year or so. There are a few other Zaurii in the cdc_ether.c blacklist such as the SL-5600 poodle, as well as some that were sold only in Japan: SL-A300 / C700 / C750 / C760 / C860. I am guessing that networking via the USB docking station doesn't work for SL-5600 users either.
If you were an Ubuntu user, you might not have encountered this issue until 2012 after it moved to Kernel 3, by which time the SL-6000 was getting quite old.
Anyway, I decided to post here on the slim chance that someone has been able to find a workaround to this problem.
Post by: maynard on February 14, 2022, 03:51:11 pm
Post by: Varti on February 15, 2022, 09:58:44 am
- CE-ST7 (cradle, with an SL-5500)
- CE-ST8 (cradle, SL-A300)
- CE-UA1 (USB interface and cable, with an SL-5500, SL-B500/SL-5600, SL-6000N and an SL-A300)
My laptop is running Void Linux with kernel 5.10.20_1. I have managed to successfully connect the 5500 (with both its cradle and the cable), while the other 3 Zauruses show the same "bad CDC descriptors" error. I have also the SL-C clamshell models, I suspect they'll have the same issues. I guess they'll need a patch too, I'll see if I'll find some time to prepare one myself for them too, it would be very handy to be able to connect to all the Zauruses via USB.
Here's the output of dmesg for all the devices:
Code: [Select]
CE-ST7 (cradle) SL-5500:
[ 256.488449] usb 2-2: new full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[ 256.667755] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=04dd, idProduct=8004, bcdDevice= 0.00
[ 256.667763] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 256.667767] usb 2-2: Product: SL-5500
[ 256.667770] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Sharp
[ 256.667773] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 400002000001
[ 256.722789] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ether
[ 256.744888] zaurus 2-2:1.0 usb0: register 'zaurus' at usb-0000:00:10.0-2, Sharp Zaurus SL-5x00, 4a:71:73:4d:b2:da
[ 256.752775] usbcore: registered new interface driver zaurus
[ 256.761554] zaurus 2-2:1.0 enp0s16u2: renamed from usb0
CE-ST8 (cradle) SL-A300:
[ 3289.448559] usb 2-2: new full-speed USB device number 29 using xhci_hcd
[ 3289.610845] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=04dd, idProduct=8005, bcdDevice= 0.00
[ 3289.610853] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 3289.610857] usb 2-2: Product: SL-A300
[ 3289.610860] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Sharp
[ 3289.634091] usb 2-2: bad CDC descriptors
CE-UA1 (cable)
--------------
SL-B500 (SL-5600):
[ 2318.272523] usb 2-2: new full-speed USB device number 26 using xhci_hcd
[ 2318.433237] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=04dd, idProduct=8006, bcdDevice= 0.00
[ 2318.433246] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 2318.433250] usb 2-2: Product: SL-B500
[ 2318.433253] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Sharp
[ 2318.456418] usb 2-2: bad CDC descriptors
SL-5500:
[ 2387.942100] usb 2-2: USB disconnect, device number 26
[ 2563.752533] usb 2-2: new full-speed USB device number 27 using xhci_hcd
[ 2563.930405] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=04dd, idProduct=8004, bcdDevice= 0.00
[ 2563.930413] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 2563.930418] usb 2-2: Product: SL-5500
[ 2563.930421] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Sharp
[ 2563.930424] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 400002000001
[ 2563.957352] zaurus 2-2:1.0 usb0: register 'zaurus' at usb-0000:00:10.0-2, Sharp Zaurus SL-5x00, 4a:71:73:4d:b2:da
[ 2563.981569] zaurus 2-2:1.0 enp0s16u2: renamed from usb0
SL-6000N:
[ 3186.512562] usb 2-2: new full-speed USB device number 28 using xhci_hcd
[ 3186.674872] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=04dd, idProduct=9032, bcdDevice= 0.00
[ 3186.674880] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 3186.674884] usb 2-2: Product: SL-6000
[ 3186.674887] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Sharp
[ 3186.698092] usb 2-2: bad CDC descriptors
SL-A300:
[ 3289.448559] usb 2-2: new full-speed USB device number 29 using xhci_hcd
[ 3289.610845] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=04dd, idProduct=8005, bcdDevice= 0.00
[ 3289.610853] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 3289.610857] usb 2-2: Product: SL-A300
[ 3289.610860] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Sharp
[ 3289.634091] usb 2-2: bad CDC descriptors
Post by: maynard on February 15, 2022, 04:00:13 pm
Thanks for the reply!
The bug report I created was: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=215361. It took me a few weeks to track down the offending patch using git bisect as instructed by Greg Kroah-Hartman.
[16adf5d07987d93675945f3cecf0e33706566005] usbnet: Remove over-broad module alias from zaurus.
That patch removed the following lines from zaurus.c which were in the 2.6 kernel:
USB_INTERFACE_INFO(USB_CLASS_COMM, USB_CDC_SUBCLASS_MDLM,
USB_CDC_PROTO_NONE),
.driver_info = (unsigned long) &bogus_mdlm_info,
}, {
A quick and dirty fix would be to add the above lines back into zaurus.c and compile the module (I tried that myself over a month ago and it did work for the SL-6000). For future versions of the kernel you could create new bug report(s) for your other Zaurii that have the same issue.
If you just want to try fixing the problem for your SL-6000, just apply the new patch below and re-compile zauruc.c and cdc_ether.c:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/netdev/net.git/patch?id=6605cc67ca18b9d583eb96e18a20f5f4e726103c
By the way, I know for a fact that SL-5600 compatibility was also broken by the offending patch, but I did not create a bug report for that, mainly because I don't use it any more...
Good luck!
Post by: Varti on February 16, 2022, 06:55:59 am
Varti
Post by: maynard on February 16, 2022, 05:22:05 pm
USB_INTERFACE_INFO(USB_CLASS_COMM, USB_CDC_SUBCLASS_MDLM,
USB_CDC_PROTO_NONE),
.driver_info = (unsigned long) &bogus_mdlm_info,
}, {
to the 5.10.20_1 kernel's version of zaurus.c, and see if you can ping your other devices after compiling to the new zaurus.ko...
Those lines should be inserted before:
/* Motorola Rokr E6 */
Post by: Varti on February 17, 2022, 06:30:34 am
Post by: maynard on March 12, 2022, 02:25:19 am
4.9.304
4.14.269
4.19.232
5.4.182
5.10.103
5.15.26
5.16.12
Post by: maynard on March 13, 2022, 07:11:19 pm
If you connect your SL-C1/3xxx devices using a mini B cable, are they recognised by your Linux PC? (The cable for the SL-6000 cradle has a mini B plug.) I found from this website that these devices behave differently depending on whether you use a mini A or mini B plug: www.users.on.net/~hluc/myZaurus/
Another point is that the following line was not added to zaurus.c until well after the patch which broke SL-6000/5600 compatibility:
/* C-750/C-760/C-860/SL-C3000 PDA in MDLM mode */
So I am hoping that support for SL-C1/3xxx as client devices is not broken.
Post by: maynard on March 14, 2022, 02:49:50 am
https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jejb/parisc-2.6/+/15103aa7a033d7d671c75cc3a71d772dbcbae61e
https://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/msg189543.html
Post by: Varti on March 15, 2022, 05:25:40 am
Varti
Post by: maynard on April 22, 2022, 12:06:21 am
Post by: maynard on March 21, 2023, 12:25:56 am
Would you happen to know where I can buy an SL-A300? I purchased two of them from auctions.yahoo.co.jp, but it turns out neither of them worked. I think the batteries were dead as they would not switch on after many hours of charging.
I want to report a bug at bugzilla.kernel.org so that they will fix broken SL-A300 support in recent kernels.
Thanks
Post by: Varti on March 23, 2023, 10:13:43 am
Unfortunately I'm not aware of any other site with Zaurus ads than Auction, except for the few ones on Amazon/Ebay that are sold at premium prices...
https://www.cameronsino.com/searchProduct?keyword=EA-BL06
Varti
Post by: maynard on March 23, 2023, 09:52:32 pm
Thank you for that information. I did not know that the SL-A300 uses the EA-BL06 battery.
I had a look at the Japanese manual, and it says that the customer cannot replace the battery, but should ask the retailer or Sharp customer service (この製品の充電池は、お客様では交換できませんので、お買い上げの販売店、またはもよりのシャープお客様ご相談窓口にお問い合わせください).
I have no experience taking apart electronics, so I guess I might have to take it to an electronics repair shop. Did you ever have to replace your SL-A300's battery?
Post by: Varti on March 24, 2023, 05:26:57 am
Varti
Post by: maynard on March 28, 2023, 02:58:00 am
Post by: maynard on May 08, 2023, 04:33:45 am
I managed to take the back cover off the A300 and remove the battery. It is thinner than the EA-BL06 and does not look like something you could buy online (see attached photo).
I would need access to a working A300 in order to test any patch before it is added to the Linux kernel. Could you possibly lend one of your devices to me? I would pay for international postage and return it as soon as I test the patch...
If you would like to discuss offline, please send me a PM.
Thanks!
Post by: Varti on May 11, 2023, 03:44:22 am
Check also your PM.
Varti
Post by: maynard on May 11, 2023, 05:37:54 am
Post by: maynard on July 03, 2023, 08:04:25 pm
I was finally able to buy a couple of SL-A300s on ebay. Thankfully their batteries are still functional.
Post by: Varti on July 05, 2023, 04:40:51 am
Varti
Post by: maynard on July 09, 2023, 05:42:17 am
I have attached a patch that would add back Linux support for your SL-5600 and A300 (and also the C700 which AFAIK you don't own). I applied the patch yesterday and compiled the kernel, and it worked. I am not sure if this will ever get added to the official Linux kernel though :(
Oh well, at least SL-6000 support was fixed last year :)
Post by: maynard on August 09, 2023, 09:25:54 pm
Post by: Varti on August 10, 2023, 03:15:08 am
Varti
Post by: maynard on August 10, 2023, 04:08:34 am
Post by: greguu on August 15, 2023, 05:43:03 am
The patch has been added to the 4.19.291, 5.4.253, 5.10.190, 5.15.126, 6.1.45, and 6.4.10 kernels, so future Linux distros and kernel upgrades should support USB networking again for the SL-A300, 5600, and C700 models.
Thats great news. Good to see the kernel team still accepting patches for this platform!
Can you confirm if you build any 5.10 - 6.4.10 kernels for these models including your patch and / or any other patches ?
I have not looked into it for a while, but the last kernel building fine for Cxx00 series was 5.4 branch with some ugly patches.
I got a C700 now and would be keen to know if any of these kernels you mention build fine and what works and what not...
Post by: maynard on August 15, 2023, 07:24:30 pm
I tested the patch on 5.4 (Linux Mint 20), but not on the later kernels. I was planning to try connecting the SL-A300/5600/C700 on Ubuntu 23.10 when it is released in October.