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saibarker
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Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:48 am

Hi,

I'm wondering if its possible to use the on board USB port on a RB851Ui-2ND and similar devices as a console port?

Thanks,
 
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Re: Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Mon Feb 24, 2020 10:28 am

Have you seen the WOOBM-USB?

https://mikrotik.com/product/woobm
 
r00t
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Re: Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:13 pm

You can use any common USB to TTL (or RS232) serial adapter and then spawn console on this port to get console.
Almost all chipsets work (FTDI,Prolific,SiLabs) but from my experience Prolific chips tends to freeze, FTDI seems to be much more reliable.
 
saibarker
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Re: Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Tue Feb 25, 2020 1:20 am

Have you seen the WOOBM-USB?

https://mikrotik.com/product/woobm
No I haven't but it looks very interesting and cheap, I might get a couple to play with :)
 
saibarker
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Re: Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Tue Feb 25, 2020 1:24 am

You can use any common USB to TTL (or RS232) serial adapter and then spawn console on this port to get console.
Almost all chipsets work (FTDI,Prolific,SiLabs) but from my experience Prolific chips tends to freeze, FTDI seems to be much more reliable.
Thanks for the tips!
So I need a USB to RS232 then RS232 back to USB to connect to my laptop?
RB<USB-----------RS232><RS232-------------USB>Laptop
 
r00t
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Re: Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Tue Feb 25, 2020 4:50 pm

yes, that will work. Either USB<>RS232<null-modem-cable>RS232<>USB or get cheap TTL UART modules and connect them together (they are like $1, connect RX to TX on the other one and vice versa).
 
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Re: Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Tue Feb 25, 2020 6:49 pm

Those cheap modules are usually prolific.
 
r00t
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Re: Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:03 pm

Most commonly they are CH340 nowadays (it's so cheap it's everywhere), then Prolific and followed by other brands like FTDI.
I have a good experience with red FTDI boards... but just read the description properly and avoid any seller that doesn't clearly declare what chip they use.
But they are so cheap you can simply buy 2 from each brand and then select the best ones for you specific job (be it form factor, ease of wiring, having all control signals for HW handshaking,overall stability on different OSs, ...)
 
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Re: Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:58 pm

It has been a while since I purchased any, thanks for the information.
 
netflow
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Re: Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Fri Apr 10, 2020 4:56 pm

Did anyone succeeded using a Pi Zero with g_serial overlay ?
 
netflow
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Re: Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Fri Apr 10, 2020 7:00 pm

Did anyone succeeded using a Pi Zero with g_serial overlay ?
Answering myself, it works.
  • On MT:
    /system console
    add disabled=no port=usb1
    
  • On the PI, one need to run (trick is to disable serial USB console to avoid endless ping-pong between serial consoles):
    sudo /bin/sh -c 'echo "dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=otg" >> /boot/config.txt'
    sudo systemctl disable getty@ttyGS0.service
    sudo reboot
    
  • Once the PI rebooted we can connect from Pi to MT using minicom:
    sudo minicom /dev/ttyGS0
    
Remember to call
quit
to properly loggout from serial console before disconnecting or it would remain loggued...
 
proxydummy
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Re: Use USB port as serial console port on RB851Ui-2ND

Fri Jan 27, 2023 5:37 pm

Im tryed with an rb951ui2hnd and not worked, someone knows if its possibly in this model.

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