Internet sharing issue on Pocketbeagle

[Hans Leeuw]

Dear all,

I am trying to get my head around the following network issue:

I am fine connecting the Pocketbeagle through USB to my macbook pro using Mojave (10.14.6).

As soon though when I turn on internet sharing the connection will probably fall away.

I sometimes get the board connected while internet sharing is on, but then the connection will drop out again when I give the command "sudo dhclient usb1". I ping the board and the connection stays active for about 10 seconds (although the console is inactive) and then falls away. This problem occurs both with an updated full image as with a recently installed console image.

On my Mac I use a manual configuration with IP Address 192.168.6.1, Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 or 255.255.255.252 (fiddling around with these to can make or break the connection) and router address 192.168.6.0

I have managed a few times to keep it connected somehow, but the connection is clearly unstable. It would probably help if I could change the IP-address of the Beagle or at least the subnet mask on the beagle.

I hope somebody recognizes this and knows of a solution. Thanks in advance.

Best, Hans.

[Hans Leeuw]

Maybe it helps to add this. If I issue the command:

dhclient -v usb1

[Hans Leeuw]

Sorry,

Maybe it helps to add this. If I issue this command:

dhclient -v usb1

I get this:

root@beaglebone:/# dhclient -v usb1

Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.3.5

Copyright 2004-2016 Internet Systems Consortium.

All rights reserved.

For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/

Listening on LPF/usb1/be:d3:6b:89:ed:64

Sending on   LPF/usb1/be:d3:6b:89:ed:64

Sending on   Socket/fallback

DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.2.14 on usb1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67

DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.2.14 on usb1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67

DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.2.14 on usb1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67

DHCPDISCOVER on usb1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5

DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.2.15 on usb1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67

DHCPOFFER of 192.168.2.15 from 192.168.2.1

DHCPACK of 192.168.2.15 from 192.168.2.1

I have no idea what these 192.168.2.14 and 15 addresses stand for...

[Stuart Longland]

On 28/2/20 8:04 am, Hans Leeuw wrote:
> I have no idea what these 192.168.2.14 and 15 addresses stand for...

These are the IP addresses offered by your DHCP server.
--
Stuart Longland (aka Redhatter, VK4MSL)

I haven't lost my mind...
...it's backed up on a tape somewhere.

[Hans Leeuw]

Dear all,

I am a bit further. I saw that the beagle bone site advices to install HoRNDS. That seems to work on the image that I have upgraded from the standard installation of the BeagleBoard.org WEBsite. 

It does not work flawlessly on the console image that I took from the elinux.org WEBsite. I need a minimal system for my application (high speed UDP packages) so hence the 2nd image for the final application. This second image makes two new BeagleBone devices in the network pane of MACOSX each time the BeagleBone gets connected again. DHCP does not work. Manual IP works for usb1 but not for usb0 (and usb0 is the pipe for internet connection and updates because of its submask, my original dilemma). After it seemed to have worked usb0 now seems broken. It mostly pops up for a number of ping's when I connect it in the SystemPreferences pane of MACOSX (from 1 to 10) and then it stops working. I was looking for a way to fixate the MAC addresses of the usb1 and usb0 virtual network ports like they are fixed on the standard image.

Is there a way to go (back) to the standard USB configuration through (re)installation of certain tools? Maybe RNDIS but what else? And what is the proper way to stop MAC-address randomisation in the newest Debian 9 images and kernels? Linux beaglebone 4.14.108-ti-r127 #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jan 29 04:10:14 UTC 2020 armv7l GNU/Linux

There are a few different methods that are described on the internet but I guess that RNDIS is the current package for USB network connection?

Best, Hans.

[Hans Leeuw]

Ok, I have not solved the problem yet but found a workaround that is very useful in my particular situation. As I am only using wireless in my application on a dedicated wireless router that is through ethernet connected to my computer, I have discovered a way to be able to use internet sharing on the MACBOOK while having a different internet sharing subnet be than the network of the computer itself. Apple should have build that in its GUI but didn't. Anyway, this might also be a solution for mac users that now use horndis. You can define all the parameters of the subnetwork, also the subnet, so you can probably also use ip address 192.168.6.2 from the beagle with subnet mask 255.255.255.252 (which is the standard connection for the BeagleBone on the MAC, if you don't install horndiss (usb1). It might even be that this works on Catalina?

https://www.amsys.co.uk/change-internet-sharing-subnet-on-mac-os-x/

Another advantage on my wireless connection is that I don't need to use dhclient. ssh into the device and I can immediately go to the internet through my macbook.

Spread the word! Mac users will love you!!!