lvra.gitlab.io/content/docs/other/dongles-over-ip/_index.md

weight	title
300	Dongles over IP

Dongles over IP

This setup uses USB-over-IP to let you plug your Watchman dongles (the ones that comes with Tundra / Vive Trackers) into a different computer (like a Raspberry Pi). These dongles can then be used with trackers as well as index/vive/pimax/etc controllers.

The benefits of this setup

• Dongles can be far away from your computer
• Dongles can be far away from radio interference
• You can conveniently hide the ugly cabling under/behind a piece of furniture

Requirements

• Main PC connected to the same wired network as the dongle host. While you can technically use WiFi, it's not recommended as it has a high chance to interfere with the Bluetooth connection of dongles.

Dongle host setup

1. Install usbip and python3 on dongle host. On Debian/Raspbian it's apt install usbip python3.
2. Put the usbip-bind script (from below) on the dongle host, (e.g. into /root) sudo wget https://gist.github.com/galister/2fbd23cfaff8ba4839efa13184e4e197/raw/13b0b2fd6dee609169b6a98b302f6a6ac5c2d307/usbip-bind -O /root/usbip-bind; sudo chmod +x /root/usbip-bind
3. Set up usbip-bind bind to run on startup. On Debian/Raspbian: echo '/root/usbip-bind bind' | sudo tee -a /etc/rc.local
4. With your dongles plugged in, run sudo /root/usbip-bind bind, to bind them for the first time

Main PC setup:

1. Download usbdongle and put it somewhere safe: wget https://gist.github.com/galister/2fbd23cfaff8ba4839efa13184e4e197/raw/13b0b2fd6dee609169b6a98b302f6a6ac5c2d307/usbdongle; chmod +x usbdongle
2. Edit usbdongle and set the DONGLE_HOST variable to the IP or hostname of your dongle host. (run ip addr on dongle host to find out)
3. Run usbdongle before starting SteamVR/Monado (or on startup/login)

Things to watch out for

• Whenever a new dongle was plugged in or an existing re-plugged, run sudo /root/usbip-bind rebind on the dongle host
• If the dongle host is rebooted, stop steamvr/monado, run usbdongle and then re-start SteamVR/Monado.
• In case there's a network issue and usbdongle can't rebind even after running usbip-bind rebind on dongle host, try rebooting both hosts.
• By default, the Linux kernel supports up to 8 virtual USB devices.
  • If you need more than 8, you can change the CONFIG_USBIP_VHCI_HC_PORTS kernel config option and re-compile your kernel.
• A Pi 3.0 Model A is known to handle 2x Tundra SW4 dongles or 8 Vive dongles without requiring a powered hub

Scripts

You can find the original ones here.

Support

Reach out to @galister on Discord/Matrix