I am wondering if there is a way to provide internet via the USB port to allow use of the Meshtastic mqtt module
Hardware type: (ath79/mikrotik) mikrotik (routerboard-952ui-5ac2nd)
Current version: 20241018-1edfae6
if there is, I can not find it or figure it out
the meshtastic device powers just fine from the mikrotik router running aredn
I can not access the meshtastic device when it is connected to the USB port. I can not find a way, using the aredn interface, to see any data activity or connectivity to/from the USB port.
If there is no way to provide internet via the USB port, is there a way to allow serial access via the USB port so I can access the Meshtastic device using a web browser. Normal serial access to the meshtastic device is accomplished with Google Chrome url https://client.meshtastic.org/ with the Meshtastic device connected to Laptop/Desktop/Linux/Microsoft/Android/IOS,Mac
Turning off encryption to/from the meshtastic device is easy, no FCC issues.
Meshtastic Device information
Hardware: RAK19007+RAK11310 LoRaWAN and LoRa Raspberry Pi RP2040 Core with Arduino / US915
Firmware Version: rak11310-2.5.6.d55c08d.uf2
Hardware type: (ath79/mikrotik) mikrotik (routerboard-952ui-5ac2nd)
Current version: 20241018-1edfae6
if there is, I can not find it or figure it out
the meshtastic device powers just fine from the mikrotik router running aredn
I can not access the meshtastic device when it is connected to the USB port. I can not find a way, using the aredn interface, to see any data activity or connectivity to/from the USB port.
If there is no way to provide internet via the USB port, is there a way to allow serial access via the USB port so I can access the Meshtastic device using a web browser. Normal serial access to the meshtastic device is accomplished with Google Chrome url https://client.meshtastic.org/ with the Meshtastic device connected to Laptop/Desktop/Linux/Microsoft/Android/IOS,Mac
Turning off encryption to/from the meshtastic device is easy, no FCC issues.
Meshtastic Device information
Hardware: RAK19007+RAK11310 LoRaWAN and LoRa Raspberry Pi RP2040 Core with Arduino / US915
Firmware Version: rak11310-2.5.6.d55c08d.uf2
AFAIK with current firmware what you describe is not possible. It might be possible with custom firmware which defines the /dev/tty0/ACM0 port as a network interface, or however it appears to the system. We're already using it for gpsd on a selectable basis, so there'd have to be a deconfliction function there to stop gpsd from monopolizing the USB device/port. From an OpenWRT perspective it's the same function which allows USB tethering or hotspots, so it's supported by the base OS.
I think the better question is how else this could be accomplished with cheap hardware and existing firmware, and there are a couple ways:
1. Just use the node WiFi with one band in LAN mode to get internet to the Meshtastic device. It can charge from the USB port for power and would probably just work.
2. Create a virtualized node and pass the GPS device/interface to the AREDN VM or a Meshtastic web server instance. If you really want to suffer: PiMox and trunk all the AREDN VLANs onto the single Pi port. You can make a pretty neat little device this way and even build Meshtastic into it with a LoRa hat. I think you can pass a 40 pin GPIO hat as a PCI device? Someone should try this and let me know if it works.