Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
> On 27/06/2023 08:01, Graham J wrote:
> > Java Jive wrote:
> >> On 26/06/2023 18:56, Tweed wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Is this a real problem though? mDNS seems to solve the problem on my
> >>> home
> >>> network.
> >>
> >> But why should you have to resort to a third party service, and
> >> install it, and configure it, to do what the router should be doing
> >> for itself? The very *existence* of third party services like mDNS
> >> proves what I was saying, that the lack of proper local DNS support by
> >> most routers is a problem.  The correct way to solve that problem is
> >> to fix the routers, not introduce a source of other potential problems:
> >
> > But presumably router manufacturers do not see a demand for proper local
> > DNS support which is why it doesn't generally exist.
>
> Because their products are aimed mostly at two markets, businesses that
> have their own DNS servers, homes that use mostly or only Windows
> machines, and in neither of those two situations, for the reasons
> already given, is the lack of proper local DNS so much of a problem.
> It's only a minority, but possibly a significant one nevertheless, who
> need local DNS for Linux machines that notice the problem.

I have used Linux only for a little while (Unix/UNIX for decades) and
haven't used it for a long time, so I should probably mind my own
business :-), but can't/don't Linux systems use DHCP out of the box? (I
can't remember having any trouble when I still had/used my little Linux
'netbook'.)

> > Have you ever found anybody else who shares your view?
>
> Well, a brief search of my sent folder over the last few years found the
> following threads here and elsewhere which weren't started by me, and
> these were just the ones I noticed and bothered to reply to ...
>
> Are there any VDSL routers out there that do proper DHCP/DNS with names?

As to the 'with names' part, my ISPs cable modem/router (Cisco
EPC3928AD) shows 'Host Name' just fine without any doing on my part. And
to answer your earlier question about names for other (than Linux)
non-Windows devices, it reports the 'Host Name' of my (Samsung Galaxy
A51) Android smartphone just fine.

> Routers with USB3 port and SMB2 or (better) SMB3 - are there any?

My modem/router has a USB port for an external disk-drive ('NAS'). I
assume it's USB3 and at least SMB2, but don't know for sure.

IIRC, you use the USB port for a USB mobile-modem 'dongle'. I don't
think my modem/router's USB port can accomodate that.

> ... so it's not just me that has noticed the problem. Remembering that
> these posts are being copied to a Linux group, are you going to claim
> that Linux users are an unimportant minority :-)

Linux users are an unimportant minority! :-)

> But the real point is that, as proven by open builds such as OpenWRT and
> DD-WRT, it would be trivially simple for routers to implement this
> properly, it just needs the will to do it, and I for one am exasperated
> by the perennial failures to do it.

On 27/06/2023 16:31, Frank Slootweg wrote:
>
> Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> Because their products are aimed mostly at two markets, businesses that
>> have their own DNS servers, homes that use mostly or only Windows
>> machines, and in neither of those two situations, for the reasons
>> already given, is the lack of proper local DNS so much of a problem.
>> It's only a minority, but possibly a significant one nevertheless, who
>> need local DNS for Linux machines that notice the problem.
>
> I have used Linux only for a little while (Unix/UNIX for decades) and
> haven't used it for a long time, so I should probably mind my own
> business :-), but can't/don't Linux systems use DHCP out of the box? (I
> can't remember having any trouble when I still had/used my little Linux
> 'netbook'.)

They, the client PCs, do both DHCP and DNS - you seem to be confusing
the two - clients out of the box, the problem is not on the clients
but on most routers that implement DHCP services correctly but DNS
services only partially, so incorrectly.

>>> Have you ever found anybody else who shares your view?
>>
>> Well, a brief search of my sent folder over the last few years found the
>> following threads here and elsewhere which weren't started by me, and
>> these were just the ones I noticed and bothered to reply to ...
>>
>> Are there any VDSL routers out there that do proper DHCP/DNS with names?
>
> As to the 'with names' part, my ISPs cable modem/router (Cisco
> EPC3928AD) shows 'Host Name' just fine without any doing on my part. And
> to answer your earlier question about names for other (than Linux)
> non-Windows devices, it reports the 'Host Name' of my (Samsung Galaxy
> A51) Android smartphone just fine.

I was asked if I was the only person encountering this problem, and to
show in reply that I wasn't listed this thread as one where the DNS
problem was raised again a year or so back.

>> Routers with USB3 port and SMB2 or (better) SMB3 - are there any?
>
> My modem/router has a USB port for an external disk-drive ('NAS'). I
> assume it's USB3 and at least SMB2, but don't know for sure.

Again, this was the subject of a thread in which the DNS problem was
raised a year or so back, so is not relevant now.

> IIRC, you use the USB port for a USB mobile-modem 'dongle'. I don't
> think my modem/router's USB port can accomodate that.

That's correct, landlines around here are nearly or completely useless.

>> ... so it's not just me that has noticed the problem. Remembering that
>> these posts are being copied to a Linux group, are you going to claim
>> that Linux users are an unimportant minority :-)
>
> Linux users are an unimportant minority! :-)

I'll leave lynching to the members of alt.os.linux.

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk

On 27/06/2023 16:31, Frank Slootweg wrote:
>
> Linux users are an unimportant minority! :-)

We are all of us Linux users. Whatever the badge on the phone/tv/router.

Nick Finnigan <nix@genie.co.uk> wrote:
> On 27/06/2023 16:31, Frank Slootweg wrote:
> >
> > Linux users are an unimportant minority! :-)
>
> We are all of us Linux users. Whatever the badge on the phone/tv/router.

That too. And some of us also use Linux-like environments on otherwise
broken OSs (see User-Agent: header)! :-)

Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
> On 27/06/2023 16:31, Frank Slootweg wrote:
> >
> > Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
> >>
> >> Because their products are aimed mostly at two markets, businesses that
> >> have their own DNS servers, homes that use mostly or only Windows
> >> machines, and in neither of those two situations, for the reasons
> >> already given, is the lack of proper local DNS so much of a problem.
> >> It's only a minority, but possibly a significant one nevertheless, who
> >> need local DNS for Linux machines that notice the problem.
> >
> > I have used Linux only for a little while (Unix/UNIX for decades) and
> > haven't used it for a long time, so I should probably mind my own
> > business :-), but can't/don't Linux systems use DHCP out of the box? (I
> > can't remember having any trouble when I still had/used my little Linux
> > 'netbook'.)
>
> They, the client PCs, do both DHCP and DNS - you seem to be confusing
> the two - clients out of the box, the problem is not on the clients
> but on most routers that implement DHCP services correctly but DNS
> services only partially, so incorrectly.

Confused!? Moi!? :-)

But you're right, sloppy reading on my part. As to DNS, also the DNS
part gives no problems because my smartphone (see below), i.e. a
non-Windows Linux-like device, has no lookup problems using the DNS
settings as auto-configured in the router part of my modem/router (see
below). When I use the web-UI of the router-part, I see which DNS
servers are configured/used (the router can handle 3, my ISP uses 2).

I hope this covers what you mean. Otherwise we should probably forget
it (I used to be (professionally) versed in this matter, but now I
hardly need to keep this knowledge/experience current, because it mostly
just works).

> >>> Have you ever found anybody else who shares your view?
> >>
> >> Well, a brief search of my sent folder over the last few years found the
> >> following threads here and elsewhere which weren't started by me, and
> >> these were just the ones I noticed and bothered to reply to ...
> >>
> >> Are there any VDSL routers out there that do proper DHCP/DNS with names?
> >
> > As to the 'with names' part, my ISPs cable modem/router (Cisco
> > EPC3928AD) shows 'Host Name' just fine without any doing on my part. And
> > to answer your earlier question about names for other (than Linux)
> > non-Windows devices, it reports the 'Host Name' of my (Samsung Galaxy
> > A51) Android smartphone just fine.
>
> I was asked if I was the only person encountering this problem, and to
> show in reply that I wasn't listed this thread as one where the DNS
> problem was raised again a year or so back.

Yes, I know that these were other threads, not yours, but thought
their subjects covered their content/context.

> >> Routers with USB3 port and SMB2 or (better) SMB3 - are there any?
> >
> > My modem/router has a USB port for an external disk-drive ('NAS'). I
> > assume it's USB3 and at least SMB2, but don't know for sure.
>
> Again, this was the subject of a thread in which the DNS problem was
> raised a year or so back, so is not relevant now.

Check.

> > IIRC, you use the USB port for a USB mobile-modem 'dongle'. I don't
> > think my modem/router's USB port can accomodate that.
>
> That's correct, landlines around here are nearly or completely useless.
>
> >> ... so it's not just me that has noticed the problem. Remembering that
> >> these posts are being copied to a Linux group, are you going to claim
> >> that Linux users are an unimportant minority :-)
> >
> > Linux users are an unimportant minority! :-)
>
> I'll leave lynching to the members of alt.os.linux.

Well, I'm used to Real UNIX (tm) systems, not toys, so ... :-)

On 27/06/2023 19:01, Frank Slootweg wrote:
>
> Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> They, the client PCs, do both DHCP and DNS - you seem to be confusing
>> the two - clients out of the box, the problem is not on the clients
>> but on most routers that implement DHCP services correctly but DNS
>> services only partially, so incorrectly.
>
> Confused!? Moi!? :-)
>
> But you're right, sloppy reading on my part. As to DNS, also the DNS
> part gives no problems because my smartphone (see below), i.e. a
> non-Windows Linux-like device, has no lookup problems using the DNS
> settings as auto-configured in the router part of my modem/router (see
> below). When I use the web-UI of the router-part, I see which DNS
> servers are configured/used (the router can handle 3, my ISP uses 2).

So you're using your ISP's DNS servers to handle your local DNS, but ...

- That is an unnecessary loading on your ISP's DNS servers to do
something that should be being done by your router's DNS service.

- In principle that's a security vulnerability for you, but one which
many accept because of convenience or because they don't know any
better. Although I've got nothing much to hide, on principle I'd
rather my ISP's systems didn't know the details of my LAN which
might then be exposed to the world if they get hacked.

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk

Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
> On 27/06/2023 19:01, Frank Slootweg wrote:
> >
> > Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
> >>
> >> They, the client PCs, do both DHCP and DNS - you seem to be confusing
> >> the two - clients out of the box, the problem is not on the clients
> >> but on most routers that implement DHCP services correctly but DNS
> >> services only partially, so incorrectly.
> >
> > Confused!? Moi!? :-)
> >
> > But you're right, sloppy reading on my part. As to DNS, also the DNS
> > part gives no problems because my smartphone (see below), i.e. a
> > non-Windows Linux-like device, has no lookup problems using the DNS
> > settings as auto-configured in the router part of my modem/router (see
> > below). When I use the web-UI of the router-part, I see which DNS
> > servers are configured/used (the router can handle 3, my ISP uses 2).
>
> So you're using your ISP's DNS servers to handle your local DNS, but ...

No, I'm using my ISP's DNS servers to handle *remote* lookups, i.e.
google.com. But I think we've now come to the point that I don't know
what your DNS needs are, because I have a setup (two Windows systems, a
(Synology) NAS (i.e. Windows Network Shares) and Android phones), which
does not have the problems/needs which you have. So my comments are no
longer helpful (if they ever were :-)), Sorry.

(AFAICT,) EOD.

On 27/06/2023 20:45, Frank Slootweg wrote:
>
> Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> So you're using your ISP's DNS servers to handle your local DNS, but ...
>
> No, I'm using my ISP's DNS servers to handle *remote* lookups, i.e.
> google.com. But I think we've now come to the point that I don't know
> what your DNS needs are, because I have a setup (two Windows systems, a
> (Synology) NAS (i.e. Windows Network Shares) and Android phones), which
> does not have the problems/needs which you have. So my comments are no
> longer helpful (if they ever were :-)), Sorry.
>
> (AFAICT,) EOD.

FYI, some routers avoid the hassle of running a local DNS service by
acting as a relay and passing local DNS data up to the ISP's DNS
service. Obviously I can't be sure because every router seems to
implement DNS slightly differently, but it sounds to me as though that
is what yours is doing.

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk

On 27/06/2023 16:17, Java Jive wrote:
> On 27/06/2023 12:58, MikeS wrote:
>>
>> This alleged DNS issue is a mystery to me as I have never noticed it.
>>
>> I am using a bog standard BT HomeHub6 with various devices connected.
>> A quick check of the web UI shows all with correct name, IP and MAC.
>> All names are obtained from the devices some of which were default,
>> others I edited (on each device).
>
> Do you use a Linux PC with NFS networking?  That's a rhetorical question
> because the answer is obviously not, otherwise you'd certainly notice
> the problem and have had to have solved it in some way, usually by
> editing the 'hosts' file.
>
> Just because you haven't experienced this problem doesn't mean that it
> doesn't exist.  Linux may only be 3% of the global market PC share, but
> that still means a hell of a lot of people across the world are getting
> unnecessary problems because router manufacturers seem only to test
> their kit with Windows PCs.
>
Which goes right back to my earlier comment.
Flashing a HH5a, installing and configuring OpenWRT, and trying to find
dongles which work with it is vastly more trouble than using a 4G router
and, if necessary, configuring a few addresses in a hosts file. Or
installing a DNS server locally if you have a large Linux network.

On 27/06/2023 21:23, MikeS wrote:
> On 27/06/2023 16:17, Java Jive wrote:
>> On 27/06/2023 12:58, MikeS wrote:
>>>
>>> This alleged DNS issue is a mystery to me as I have never noticed it.
>>>
>>> I am using a bog standard BT HomeHub6 with various devices connected.
>>> A quick check of the web UI shows all with correct name, IP and MAC.
>>> All names are obtained from the devices some of which were default,
>>> others I edited (on each device).
>>
>> Do you use a Linux PC with NFS networking?  That's a rhetorical
>> question because the answer is obviously not, otherwise you'd
>> certainly notice the problem and have had to have solved it in some
>> way, usually by editing the 'hosts' file.
>>
>> Just because you haven't experienced this problem doesn't mean that it
>> doesn't exist.  Linux may only be 3% of the global market PC share,
>> but that still means a hell of a lot of people across the world are
>> getting unnecessary problems because router manufacturers seem only to
>> test their kit with Windows PCs.
>
> Which goes right back to my earlier comment.
> Flashing a HH5a, installing and configuring OpenWRT, and trying to find
> dongles which work with it is vastly more trouble than using a 4G router

And also vastly more expensive, especially if it turns out that the 4G
router doesn't last any longer than any of the dongles.

> and, if necessary, configuring a few addresses in a hosts file.

Several hosts files. Been there, done that, and it's a PITA.

> Or
> installing a DNS server locally if you have a large Linux network.

Or reflashing a router so that it works properly, and saves the
electricity consumption of another box.

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk

On 27/06/2023 21:56, Java Jive wrote:
> Or reflashing a router so that it works properly, and saves the
> electricity consumption of another box.

I was under the impression that you started this thread because you
cannot rely on your home brew solution working properly. ✌️

On 27/06/2023 22:12, MikeS wrote:
>
> On 27/06/2023 21:56, Java Jive wrote:
>>
>> Or reflashing a router so that it works properly, and saves the
>> electricity consumption of another box.
>
> I was under the impression that you started this thread because you
> cannot rely on your home brew solution working properly. ✌️

No, I started this thread to find out how to get an E3372h to work with
an OpenWRT router, and your irrelevant interventions haven't helped at
all with that.

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk

On 27 Jun 2023 12:58:31 +0100 MikeS wrote:
>
>This alleged DNS issue is a mystery to me as I have never noticed it.
>
>I am using a bog standard BT HomeHub6 with various devices connected. A
>quick check of the web UI shows all with correct name, IP and MAC. All
>names are obtained from the devices some of which were default, others I
>edited (on each device).

I also have a BT HH; I don't know what version: it's 2 years old. (And I
just noticed the f/w updated yesterday and it now has 'Hybrid Connect -
not configured'.)

When I got the HH I discovered - by accident - it could 'resolve' local
device names. For example, on this Android tablet I can access the
webserver on my RPi with
http://pi:8080/ --- 'pi' being the network name I gave it.

I don't think my earlier routers (Netgear, Plusnet) could do that, but I'm
not certain.

I don't know if it's necessary for this 'router resolution' but despite
the pi having a fixed ip4 address the HH says it's dhcp. To achieve that I
temporarily extended the dhcp range down to include it, then specified
'always use this address'.
--
(Remove numerics from email address)

MikeS wrote:

> Which goes right back to my earlier comment.
> Flashing a HH5a, installing and configuring OpenWRT, and trying to find
> dongles which work with it is vastly more trouble than using a 4G router
> and, if necessary, configuring a few addresses in a hosts file. Or
> installing a DNS server locally if you have a large Linux network.

There is a certain satisfaction from going the openWRT way, one box that
handles many functions, exactly as you want them, the only ongoing
weakness was that it didn't support the hardware flow offloading, so
heavy wifi throughput would clobber the CPU.

On 2023-06-28 09:25, Dave Royal wrote:
> On 27 Jun 2023 12:58:31 +0100 MikeS wrote:
>>
>> This alleged DNS issue is a mystery to me as I have never noticed it.
>>
>> I am using a bog standard BT HomeHub6 with various devices connected. A
>> quick check of the web UI shows all with correct name, IP and MAC. All
>> names are obtained from the devices some of which were default, others I
>> edited (on each device).
>
> I also have a BT HH; I don't know what version: it's 2 years old. (And I
> just noticed the f/w updated yesterday and it now has 'Hybrid Connect -
> not configured'.)
>
> When I got the HH I discovered - by accident - it could 'resolve' local
> device names. For example, on this Android tablet I can access the
> webserver on my RPi with
> http://pi:8080/ --- 'pi' being the network name I gave it.

But this can be a trick of the router or a trick of your computer or tablet.

>
> I don't think my earlier routers (Netgear, Plusnet) could do that, but I'm
> not certain.
>
> I don't know if it's necessary for this 'router resolution' but despite
> the pi having a fixed ip4 address the HH says it's dhcp. To achieve that I
> temporarily extended the dhcp range down to include it, then specified
> 'always use this address'.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

In uk.telecom.broadband Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
> MikeS wrote:
>
> > Which goes right back to my earlier comment.
> > Flashing a HH5a, installing and configuring OpenWRT, and trying to find
> > dongles which work with it is vastly more trouble than using a 4G router
> > and, if necessary, configuring a few addresses in a hosts file. Or
> > installing a DNS server locally if you have a large Linux network.
>
> There is a certain satisfaction from going the openWRT way, one box that
> handles many functions, exactly as you want them, the only ongoing
> weakness was that it didn't support the hardware flow offloading, so
> heavy wifi throughput would clobber the CPU.

I'm upgrading from a BT Homehub 5a to a Fritzbox 7530, whose VDSL is now
supported in the 23.05-rc1 release of OpenWRT.

I haven't done the swapout for the HH5a yet so it's not handling the load
(in particular I want to configure it differently from the HH5a) but first
impressions are very promising. It's a 700MHz quad core ARMv7 rather than
the HH5a's 500MHz single core MIPS, the wifi is better and it has USB 3.
OpenWRT doesn't support the VOIP or DECT features through. I haven't tested
VDSL yet, that will have to wait for the swapout.

I know Zen are giving them out to their customers, so perhaps worth trying
if you have one lying around? Otherwise they go for £30-40 on ebay.

Theo

Theo wrote:

> a Fritzbox 7530, whose VDSL is now
> supported in the 23.05-rc1 release of OpenWRT.

interesting, I might have jumped to fritz rather than vigor of it had
been supported at the time

> rather than
> the HH5a's 500MHz single core MIPS

I remember it as dual? but initial LEDE version only supported one core?

> OpenWRT doesn't support the VOIP or DECT features through.

Shame.

I think I'm happy with vigor and its mesh wifi.

On 28 Jun 2023 10:50:02 +0200 Carlos E.R. wrote:
>On 2023-06-28 09:25, Dave Royal wrote:
>> When I got the HH I discovered - by accident - it could 'resolve' local
>> device names. For example, on this Android tablet I can access the
>> webserver on my RPi with
>> http://pi:8080/ --- 'pi' being the network name I gave it.
>
>But this can be a trick of the router or a trick of your computer or tablet.

It's not the Android tablet. It works on all computers in the house.
Before I discovered this I used to put the RPi in resolv.conf on my Linux
boxes, now I don't. On an unrooted Android tablet, like this one, or an
iPad I'd have to use the IP address.

But it's possible that I could have done this with previous routers; I
never tried.
--
(Remove numerics from email address)

On 6/28/2023 6:36 AM, Dave Royal wrote:
> On 28 Jun 2023 10:50:02 +0200 Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> On 2023-06-28 09:25, Dave Royal wrote:
>>> When I got the HH I discovered - by accident - it could 'resolve' local
>>> device names. For example, on this Android tablet I can access the
>>> webserver on my RPi with
>>> http://pi:8080/ --- 'pi' being the network name I gave it.
>>
>> But this can be a trick of the router or a trick of your computer or tablet.
>
> It's not the Android tablet. It works on all computers in the house.
> Before I discovered this I used to put the RPi in resolv.conf on my Linux
> boxes, now I don't. On an unrooted Android tablet, like this one, or an
> iPad I'd have to use the IP address.
>
> But it's possible that I could have done this with previous routers; I
> never tried.
>

The router could be using one or more nameservers on the LAN.
To resolve to an IP. Your example is not a fully qualified domain name,
it's just a short name, and that makes it more likely to be
coming from a service on the LAN that "collects" local names.

If your HH has storage (SAMBA or FTP or something), the HH may
participate as a client to the nameserver and "advertise" itself
so other nodes know about it.

Paul

[Followup-To: comp.mobile.android]

Dave Royal <dave@dave123royal.com> wrote:
[...]
> For example, on this Android tablet

[Headers:]
> User-Agent: PyKiN 0.4 (Android)

Can you tell us a little bit about this newsreader (perhaps in a new
thread)?

Over time, many people have been looking for a good/reasonable
newsreader and found there are few and none of them good.

I don't think 'PyKiN' ever came up in those discussions, hence the
interest.

(N.B. *I* am not really interested in an Android newsreader, but I know
other are.)

On n 2023 15:13:44 GMT Frank Slootweg wrote:
>[Followup-To: comp.mobile.android]
>
>Dave Royal <dave@dave123royal.com> wrote:
>[...]
>
>[Headers:]
>
> Can you tell us a little bit about this newsreader (perhaps in a new
>thread)?

I wrote it, in Python using Kivy, to handle Mozilla's news server, now
closed down. It's incomplete, and _v e r y_ slow. I recently started using
it again because my previous Android newsreader could no longer quote
properly. It's far too slow for release.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kivy_(framework)

--
(Remove numerics from email address)

On Wed, 28 Jun 2023 13:01:31 -0400, Dave Royal <dave@dave123royal.com> wrote:

> On n 2023 15:13:44 GMT Frank Slootweg wrote:
>> [Followup-To: comp.mobile.android]
>>
>> Dave Royal <dave@dave123royal.com> wrote:
>> [...]
>>
>> [Headers:]
>>
>> Can you tell us a little bit about this newsreader (perhaps in a new
>> thread)?
>
> I wrote it, in Python using Kivy, to handle Mozilla's news server, now
> closed down. It's incomplete, and _v e r y_ slow. I recently started using
> it again because my previous Android newsreader could no longer quote
> properly. It's far too slow for release.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kivy_(framework)

It would probably be a good idea to change the name.

https://pypi.org/project/pykin/

Regards, Dave Hodgins

More info now available

On 26/06/2023 12:19, Java Jive wrote:
>
> On 26/06/2023 11:14, Theo wrote:
>>
>> In uk.telecom.broadband Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>> Deliberate X-Post for reasons that will become apparent.
>>>
>>> Back in February 2019 in uk.telecom.broadband I began a thread entitled
>>> 'Routers' asking for advice about what routers would match a given list
>>> of criteria, the result of which was that it was suggested to me, by
>>> Andy Burns I think, that I should flash OpenWRT onto a BT Home Hub 5a.
>>> This I did, and have been using it satisfactorily since with a mobile
>>> dongle plugged into the USB port, so, if you're reading this, thanks
>>> again Andy.
>>>
>>> I have also a BT 4G Assure dongle, which a rebadged Huawei E3372h (h =
>>> 'HiLink' type).  I appear to have managed to unlock it, and have had it
>>> working in a PC, where I was also able to access its control page at
>>> 192.168.8.1, but I can't get it to work with the BTHH5a.
>>>
>>> So my first question is:  Can anyone help me get the BT-Badged Huawei
>>> E3372h working?
>>
>> Instead of ... [Theo's advice moved to later in this post]
>
> Thanks, I'll have a go at this next time the ZTE breaks down, which it
> may well do this afternoon during the hottest part of the day.

Well, the weather's been cooler, and the ZTE has been working alright,
but given I had some free time this weekend, I decided to have another
go at this problem. Following are the results of my work, including
working through Theo's advice, which correspondingly has been moved down
there ...

First, the dongle is definitely unlocked. Inserting it into a PC for a
second-time with a SIM does not cause a repetition of the unlock page
that came up first time. Immediately the admin page came up in the
browser and it just worked.

>> Unless you can find someone who has already got it to work and written up
>> the exact instructions what to do, which is possible I suppose.
>
> I have found some instructions as below but they didn't work for me ...
>
> https://protyposis.net/blog/using-the-huawei-e3372-hi-link-lte-dongle-with-openwrt/
>
> https://gist.github.com/bjoern-r/1345e8a17f4acf41006330e688af1441
>
> .... so, I guess one of two things is happening:
>
>  :-(  I have a number of other modules installed from using the router
> with other devices, and one of these, most probably the one that works
> with an E3372s, is interfering with the E3372h.

This is not the cause of the problem. I tried returning both the
modules and the configuration back to OpenWRT's 'factory' state,
installed the minimum modules specified by various sources - 2 in the
ones above, 4 in another - and tried again. In both cases, the result
was the same as the first attempt already described, some activity on
the connection in the router admin, but pings to the dongle's IP
192.168.8.1 don't answer and the web admin at that address doesn't load.

>  :-(  There are different generations of the E3372h and only some of them
> work.

I suspect now that this at least part of the problem. Certainly, there
is historical talk online about some of these Huawei E3372h dongles
remaining in storage mode, showing that modeswitch is not working
correctly with them, though the dmesg excerpts below suggest that that
is not the problem here.

So then it seemed time to try Theo's advice ...

>> Instead of randomly fiddling with the router config, I'd first see if you
>> can get a link up on the device. For this you'll need to know how to use
>> the 'ip' command (successor to 'ifconfig'):
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iproute2

Here are the anonymised results of Theo's suggested work, the dongle is
eth1 ...

root@OpenWrt:~# ping 192.168.8.1
PING 192.168.8.1 (192.168.8.1): 56 data bytes
ping: sendto: Network unreachable

root@OpenWrt:~# ip link show
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN qlen 1
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state
UP qlen 1000
link/ether [BT HH5a's MAC Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: eth1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state
UP qlen 1000
link/ether [Dongle's MAC Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
link/ether [BT HH5a's WiFi 1 MAC Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: wlan1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
link/ether [BT HH5a's WiFi 2 MAC Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
6: br-lan: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue
state UP qlen 1000
link/ether [BT HH5a's Switch Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
7: eth0.1@eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue
master br-lan state UP qlen 1000
link/ether [BT HH5a's Switch Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

root@OpenWrt:~# ip addr show
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN qlen 1
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 ::1/128 scope host
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state
UP qlen 1000
link/ether [BT HH5a's MAC Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet6 [IP6 Address] scope link
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: eth1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state
UP qlen 1000
link/ether [Dongle's MAC Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet6 [IP6 Address] scope link
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
4: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
link/ether [BT HH5a's WiFi 1 MAC Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: wlan1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
link/ether [BT HH5a's WiFi 2 MAC Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
6: br-lan: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue
state UP qlen 1000
link/ether [BT HH5a's Switch Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 192.168.7.1/24 brd 192.168.7.255 scope global br-lan
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 [IP6 Address] scope global
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 [IP6 Address] scope link
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
7: eth0.1@eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue
master br-lan state UP qlen 1000
link/ether [BT HH5a's Switch Address] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

root@OpenWrt:~# udhcpc eth1
udhcpc: started, v1.28.3
udhcpc: sending discover
udhcpc: sending discover
udhcpc: sending discover [Ctrl-C pressed after some delay]

root@OpenWrt:~# ip route show
192.168.7.0/24 dev br-lan scope link src 192.168.7.1

root@OpenWrt:~# ip route show
192.168.7.0/24 dev br-lan scope link src 192.168.7.1

> If your suggestions above don't yield an answer, I'll try and
> include some tail from dmesg as I unplug and plug back in the dongle.

So here goes ...

root@OpenWrt:~# dmesg | grep -i usb
[ 0.486079] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[ 0.486229] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[ 0.486369] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[ 4.020739] dwc2 1e101000.ifxhcd: new USB bus registered, assigned
bus number 1
[ 4.048552] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 10.637233] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_wdm
[ 10.815229] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ether
[ 10.823643] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ncm
[ 10.849024] usbcore: registered new interface driver huawei_cdc_ncm
[ 11.829053] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using dwc2
[ 13.034951] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
[ 13.455742] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 3 using dwc2
[ 13.927632] cdc_ether 1-1:1.0 eth1: register 'cdc_ether' at
usb-1e101000.ifxhcd-1, CDC Ethernet Device, [valid MAC Address]

Noticing the messages about dwc2, I wondered if that was all that was
needed to make the dongle work, so I tried uninstalling the cdc modules,
leaving just the dwc2 module, but actually that made things worse, I
didn't even get the physical device eth1

In case the above is insufficient, the full dmesg log is as follows:

root@OpenWrt:~# dmesg
[ 0.000000] Linux version 4.9.120
(buildbot@builds-03.infra.lede-project.org) (gcc version 7.3.0 (OpenWrt
GCC 7.3.0 r7102-3f3a2c9) ) #0 SMP Thu Aug 16 07:51:15 2018
[ 0.000000] SoC: xRX200 rev 1.2
[ 0.000000] bootconsole [early0] enabled
[ 0.000000] CPU0 revision is: 00019556 (MIPS 34Kc)
[ 0.000000] MIPS: machine is BT Home Hub 5A
[ 0.000000] Determined physical RAM map:
[ 0.000000] memory: 08000000 @ 00000000 (usable)
[ 0.000000] Initrd not found or empty - disabling initrd
[ 0.000000] Detected 1 available secondary CPU(s)
[ 0.000000] Primary instruction cache 32kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32
bytes.
[ 0.000000] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, VIPT, cache aliases,
linesize 32 bytes
[ 0.000000] Zone ranges:
[ 0.000000] Normal [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[ 0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
[ 0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[ 0.000000] Initmem setup node 0 [mem
0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[ 0.000000] On node 0 totalpages: 32768
[ 0.000000] free_area_init_node: node 0, pgdat 80542640, node_mem_map
81009560
[ 0.000000] Normal zone: 256 pages used for memmap
[ 0.000000] Normal zone: 0 pages reserved
[ 0.000000] Normal zone: 32768 pages, LIFO batch:7
[ 0.000000] percpu: Embedded 12 pages/cpu @8110c000 s17488 r8192
d23472 u49152
[ 0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s17488 r8192 d23472 u49152 alloc=12*4096
[ 0.000000] pcpu-alloc: [0] 0 [0] 1
[ 0.000000] Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.
Total pages: 32512
[ 0.000000] Kernel command line: console=ttyLTQ0,115200
[ 0.000000] PID hash table entries: 512 (order: -1, 2048 bytes)
[ 0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536
bytes)
[ 0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[ 0.000000] Writing ErrCtl register=0000aa12
[ 0.000000] Readback ErrCtl register=0000aa12
[ 0.000000] Memory: 122860K/131072K available (4305K kernel code,
173K rwdata, 900K rodata, 1260K init, 244K bss, 8212K reserved, 0K
cma-reserved)
[ 0.000000] SLUB: HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=2, Nodes=1
[ 0.000000] Hierarchical RCU implementation.
[ 0.000000] NR_IRQS:256
[ 0.000000] Setting up vectored interrupts
[ 0.000000] Setting up IPI vectored interrupts
[ 0.000000] CPU Clock: 500MHz
[ 0.000000] clocksource: MIPS: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles:
0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 7645041786 ns
[ 0.000011] sched_clock: 32 bits at 250MHz, resolution 4ns, wraps
every 8589934590ns
[ 0.007884] Calibrating delay loop... 332.54 BogoMIPS (lpj=665088)
[ 0.042381] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[ 0.047258] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 0.053796] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096
bytes)
[ 0.065582] Primary instruction cache 32kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32
bytes.
[ 0.065594] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, VIPT, cache aliases,
linesize 32 bytes
[ 0.065782] CPU1 revision is: 00019556 (MIPS 34Kc)
[ 0.116509] Synchronize counters for CPU 1:
[ 0.116511] done.
[ 0.123013] Brought up 2 CPUs
[ 0.130710] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles:
0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 7645041785100000 ns
[ 0.140374] futex hash table entries: 512 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
[ 0.146601] pinctrl core: initialized pinctrl subsystem
[ 0.153098] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[ 0.165952] pinctrl-xway 1e100b10.pinmux: Init done
[ 0.171945] dma-xway 1e104100.dma: Init done - hw rev: 7, ports: 7,
channels: 28
[ 0.284676] dcdc-xrx200 1f106a00.dcdc: Core Voltage : 1016 mV
[ 0.290482] Can't analyze schedule() prologue at 8043158c
[ 0.317221] PCI host bridge /fpi@10000000/pci@E105400 ranges:
[ 0.322903] MEM 0x0000000018000000..0x0000000019ffffff
[ 0.328172] IO 0x000000001ae00000..0x000000001affffff
[ 0.452204] PCI host bridge /fpi@10000000/pcie@d900000 ranges:
[ 0.484574] random: fast init done
[ 0.486079] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[ 0.486229] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[ 0.486369] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[ 0.486844] PCI host bridge to bus 0000:00
[ 0.486873] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [mem
0x18000000-0x19ffffff]
[ 0.486891] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [io
0x1ae00000-0x1affffff]
[ 0.486908] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [??? 0x00000000 flags 0x0]
[ 0.486926] pci_bus 0000:00: No busn resource found for root bus,
will use [bus 00-ff]
[ 0.487039] pci 0000:00:0e.0: [168c:ff1d] type 00 class 0x020000
[ 0.487088] pci 0000:00:0e.0: reg 0x10: [mem 0x00000000-0x0000ffff]
[ 0.487588] pci_bus 0000:00: busn_res: [bus 00-ff] end is updated to 00
[ 0.487629] pci 0000:00:0e.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0x18000000-0x1800ffff]
[ 0.487884] PCI host bridge to bus 0000:01
[ 0.487909] pci_bus 0000:01: root bus resource [mem
0x1c000000-0x1cffffff]
[ 0.487926] pci_bus 0000:01: root bus resource [io
0x1d800000-0x1d8fffff]
[ 0.487943] pci_bus 0000:01: root bus resource [??? 0x00000000 flags 0x0]
[ 0.487960] pci_bus 0000:01: No busn resource found for root bus,
will use [bus 01-ff]
[ 0.488033] pci 0000:01:00.0: [1bef:0011] type 01 class 0x060000
[ 0.488052] ifx_pcie_rc_class_early_fixup: fixed pcie host bridge to
pci-pci bridge
[ 0.499634] pci 0000:01:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D3hot
[ 0.500015] pci 0000:01:00.0: bridge configuration invalid ([bus
02-00]), reconfiguring
[ 0.500355] pci 0000:02:00.0: [168c:003c] type 00 class 0x028000
[ 0.500427] pci 0000:02:00.0: reg 0x10: [mem 0x00000000-0x001fffff 64bit]
[ 0.500511] pci 0000:02:00.0: reg 0x30: [mem 0x00000000-0x0000ffff pref]
[ 0.500676] pci 0000:02:00.0: supports D1 D2
[ 0.501022] pci_bus 0000:02: busn_res: [bus 02-ff] end is updated to 02
[ 0.501058] pci_bus 0000:01: busn_res: [bus 01-ff] end is updated to 02
[ 0.501117] pci 0000:01:00.0: BAR 8: assigned [mem 0x1c000000-0x1c1fffff]
[ 0.501144] pci 0000:01:00.0: BAR 9: assigned [mem
0x1c200000-0x1c2fffff pref]
[ 0.501176] pci 0000:02:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem
0x1c000000-0x1c1fffff 64bit]
[ 0.501225] pci 0000:02:00.0: BAR 6: assigned [mem
0x1c200000-0x1c20ffff pref]
[ 0.501242] pci 0000:01:00.0: PCI bridge to [bus 02]
[ 0.501269] pci 0000:01:00.0: bridge window [mem 0x1c000000-0x1c1fffff]
[ 0.501293] pci 0000:01:00.0: bridge window [mem
0x1c200000-0x1c2fffff pref]
[ 0.501420] ifx_pcie_bios_map_irq port 0 dev 0000:01:00.0 slot 0 pin 1
[ 0.501431] ifx_pcie_bios_map_irq dev 0000:01:00.0 irq 144 assigned
[ 0.501473] ifx_pcie_bios_map_irq port 0 dev 0000:02:00.0 slot 0 pin 1
[ 0.501482] ifx_pcie_bios_map_irq dev 0000:02:00.0 irq 144 assigned
[ 0.668491] clocksource: Switched to clocksource MIPS
[ 0.674950] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[ 0.680339] TCP established hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096
bytes)
[ 0.687179] TCP bind hash table entries: 1024 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[ 0.693590] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 1024 bind 1024)
[ 0.700108] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[ 0.705975] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[ 0.712591] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[ 0.716934] PCI: CLS 0 bytes, default 32
[ 0.720513] gptu: totally 6 16-bit timers/counters
[ 0.725390] gptu: misc_register on minor 63
[ 0.729695] gptu: succeeded to request irq 126
[ 0.734080] gptu: succeeded to request irq 127
[ 0.738619] gptu: succeeded to request irq 128
[ 0.743124] gptu: succeeded to request irq 129
[ 0.747617] gptu: succeeded to request irq 130
[ 0.752155] gptu: succeeded to request irq 131
[ 0.757011] phy-xrx200 gphy-xrx200: requesting
lantiq/xrx200_phy11g_a22.bin
[ 0.764559] phy-xrx200 gphy-xrx200: booting GPHY0 firmware at 7E60000
[ 0.770925] phy-xrx200 gphy-xrx200: booting GPHY1 firmware at 7E60000
[ 0.878386] No VPEs reserved for AP/SP, not initialize VPE loader
[ 0.878386] Pass maxvpes=<n> argument as kernel argument
[ 0.889764] No TCs reserved for AP/SP, not initializing RTLX.
[ 0.889764] Pass maxtcs=<n> argument as kernel argument
[ 0.902583] Crashlog allocated RAM at address 0x3f00000
[ 0.908307] workingset: timestamp_bits=30 max_order=15 bucket_order=0
[ 0.931203] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
[ 0.936964] jffs2: version 2.2 (NAND) (SUMMARY) (LZMA) (RTIME)
(CMODE_PRIORITY) (c) 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
[ 0.952498] io scheduler noop registered
[ 0.956337] io scheduler deadline registered (default)
[ 0.962857] 1e100c00.serial: ttyLTQ0 at MMIO 0x1e100c00 (irq = 112,
base_baud = 0) is a lantiq,asc
[ 0.971784] console [ttyLTQ0] enabled
[ 0.979109] bootconsole [early0] disabled
[ 0.990439] nand: device found, Manufacturer ID: 0x01, Chip ID: 0xf1
[ 0.995414] nand: AMD/Spansion S34ML01G1
[ 0.999380] nand: 128 MiB, SLC, erase size: 128 KiB, page size: 2048,
OOB size: 64
[ 1.007518] Bad block table found at page 65472, version 0x01
[ 1.013520] Bad block table found at page 65408, version 0x01
[ 1.018664] 4 fixed-partitions partitions found on MTD device
14000000.nand-parts
[ 1.025854] Creating 4 MTD partitions on "14000000.nand-parts":
[ 1.031782] 0x000000000000-0x0000000a0000 : "u-boot"
[ 1.038841] 0x0000000a0000-0x0000000c0000 : "uboot-env"
[ 1.044942] 0x0000000c0000-0x000000100000 : "unused"
[ 1.050854] 0x000000100000-0x000007f80000 : "ubi"
[ 1.061518] libphy: Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
[ 1.169052] libphy: lantiq,xrx200-mdio: probed
[ 1.177117] net-xrx200: invalid MAC, using random
[ 1.251188] Intel XWAY PHY11G (PEF 7071/PEF 7072) v1.5 / v1.6 0:00:
attached PHY driver [Intel XWAY PHY11G (PEF 7071/PEF 7072) v1.5 / v1.6]
(mii_bus:phy_addr=0:00, irq=-1)
[ 1.335167] Intel XWAY PHY11G (PEF 7071/PEF 7072) v1.5 / v1.6 0:01:
attached PHY driver [Intel XWAY PHY11G (PEF 7071/PEF 7072) v1.5 / v1.6]
(mii_bus:phy_addr=0:01, irq=-1)
[ 1.419151] Intel XWAY PHY11G (xRX v1.2 integrated) 0:11: attached
PHY driver [Intel XWAY PHY11G (xRX v1.2 integrated)]
(mii_bus:phy_addr=0:11, irq=-1)
[ 1.503151] Intel XWAY PHY11G (xRX v1.2 integrated) 0:13: attached
PHY driver [Intel XWAY PHY11G (xRX v1.2 integrated)]
(mii_bus:phy_addr=0:13, irq=-1)
[ 1.587166] Intel XWAY PHY11G (PEF 7071/PEF 7072) v1.5 / v1.6 0:05:
attached PHY driver [Intel XWAY PHY11G (PEF 7071/PEF 7072) v1.5 / v1.6]
(mii_bus:phy_addr=0:05, irq=-1)
[ 1.704762] ltq-cputemp cputemp@0: Current CPU die temperature: 25.0 °C
[ 1.710420] wdt 1f8803f0.watchdog: Init done
[ 1.720616] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[ 1.725866] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[ 1.729060] bridge: filtering via arp/ip/ip6tables is no longer
available by default. Update your scripts to load br_netfilter if you
need this.
[ 1.741885] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8
[ 1.750189] UBI: auto-attach mtd3
[ 1.752159] ubi0: attaching mtd3
[ 1.894890] ubi0: scanning is finished
[ 1.911805] ubi0: attached mtd3 (name "ubi", size 126 MiB)
[ 1.915895] ubi0: PEB size: 131072 bytes (128 KiB), LEB size: 129024
bytes
[ 1.922768] ubi0: min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048/2048, sub-page size 512
[ 1.929440] ubi0: VID header offset: 512 (aligned 512), data offset: 2048
[ 1.936236] ubi0: good PEBs: 1012, bad PEBs: 0, corrupted PEBs: 0
[ 1.942343] ubi0: user volume: 4, internal volumes: 1, max. volumes
count: 128
[ 1.949571] ubi0: max/mean erase counter: 1244/923, WL threshold:
4096, image sequence number: 918029805
[ 1.959043] ubi0: available PEBs: 0, total reserved PEBs: 1012, PEBs
reserved for bad PEB handling: 20
[ 1.968410] ubi0: background thread "ubi_bgt0d" started, PID 375
[ 1.970296] block ubiblock0_1: created from ubi0:1(rootfs)
[ 1.970309] ubiblock: device ubiblock0_1 (rootfs) set to be root
filesystem
[ 1.992825] VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly on
device 254:0.
[ 2.002423] Freeing unused kernel memory: 1260K
[ 2.005572] This architecture does not have kernel memory protection.
[ 2.601946] init: Console is alive
[ 2.604401] init: - watchdog -
[ 3.793803] kmodloader: loading kernel modules from /etc/modules-boot.d/*
[ 3.912116] dwc2 1e101000.ifxhcd: requested GPIO 495
[ 4.017031] dwc2 1e101000.ifxhcd: DWC OTG Controller
[ 4.020739] dwc2 1e101000.ifxhcd: new USB bus registered, assigned
bus number 1
[ 4.027969] dwc2 1e101000.ifxhcd: irq 62, io mem 0x00000000
[ 4.033492] dwc2 1e101000.ifxhcd: Hardware does not support
descriptor DMA mode -
[ 4.040925] dwc2 1e101000.ifxhcd: falling back to buffer DMA mode.
[ 4.048552] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 4.051072] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[ 4.056298] kmodloader: done loading kernel modules from
/etc/modules-boot.d/*
[ 4.072713] init: - preinit -
[ 5.114676] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[ 5.119445] lantiq,xrx200-net 1e108000.eth eth0: port 1 got link
[ 5.125537] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[ 5.151604] random: procd: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[ 8.398729] UBIFS (ubi0:2): background thread "ubifs_bgt0_2" started,
PID 439
[ 8.436958] UBIFS (ubi0:2): recovery needed
[ 8.531834] UBIFS (ubi0:2): recovery completed
[ 8.535079] UBIFS (ubi0:2): UBIFS: mounted UBI device 0, volume 2,
name "rootfs_data"
[ 8.542727] UBIFS (ubi0:2): LEB size: 129024 bytes (126 KiB),
min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048 bytes/2048 bytes
[ 8.552644] UBIFS (ubi0:2): FS size: 120508416 bytes (114 MiB, 934
LEBs), journal size 6064128 bytes (5 MiB, 47 LEBs)
[ 8.563240] UBIFS (ubi0:2): reserved for root: 4952683 bytes (4836 KiB)
[ 8.569889] UBIFS (ubi0:2): media format: w4/r0 (latest is w4/r0),
UUID 98C9272D-95B9-4EAE-AD17-96AB8413C967, small LPT model
[ 8.584080] mount_root: switching to ubifs overlay
[ 8.621506] urandom-seed: Seeding with /etc/urandom.seed
[ 8.859074] procd: - early -
[ 8.860670] procd: - watchdog -
[ 9.226743] lantiq,xrx200-net 1e108000.eth eth0: port 1 lost link
[ 9.541523] procd: - watchdog -
[ 9.543849] procd: - ubus -
[ 9.797070] random: ubusd: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[ 9.821109] random: jshn: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[ 9.913675] random: ubusd: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[ 9.921948] procd: - init -
[ 10.533835] kmodloader: loading kernel modules from /etc/modules.d/*
[ 10.542827] IFXOS, Version 1.5.19 (c) Copyright 2009, Lantiq
Deutschland GmbH
[ 10.553648] NET: Registered protocol family 8
[ 10.556662] NET: Registered protocol family 20
[ 10.566881] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
[ 10.575842] ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[ 10.598237] Lantiq (VRX) DSL CPE MEI driver, version 1.5.17.6, (c)
2007-2015 Lantiq Beteiligungs-GmbH & Co. KG
[ 10.615669]
[ 10.615669]
[ 10.615669] Lantiq CPE API Driver version: DSL CPE API V4.17.18.6
[ 10.623376]
[ 10.623376] Predefined debug level: 3
[ 10.637233] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_wdm
[ 10.643248] Loading modules backported from Linux version
wt-2017-11-01-0-gfe248fc2c180
[ 10.649886] Backport generated by backports.git v4.14-rc2-1-31-g86cf0e5d
[ 10.659457] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[ 10.668257] Infineon Technologies DEU driver version 2.0.0
[ 10.674454] IFX DEU DES initialized (multiblock).
[ 10.679295] IFX DEU AES initialized (multiblock).
[ 10.683219] IFX DEU ARC4 initialized (multiblock).
[ 10.687709] IFX DEU SHA1 initialized.
[ 10.691358] IFX DEU MD5 initialized.
[ 10.694912] IFX DEU SHA1_HMAC initialized.
[ 10.699005] IFX DEU MD5_HMAC initialized.
[ 10.710384] nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (2048 buckets, 8192 max)
[ 10.761868] PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:0e.0 (0000 -> 0002)
[ 10.771851] owl-loader 0000:00:0e.0: fixup device configuration
[ 10.776527] NET: Registered protocol family 24
[ 10.778793] pci 0000:00:0e.0: [168c:002d] type 00 class 0x028000
[ 10.778849] pci 0000:00:0e.0: reg 0x10: [mem 0x18000000-0x1800ffff]
[ 10.778975] pci 0000:00:0e.0: PME# supported from D0 D3hot
[ 10.779421] pci 0000:00:0e.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0x18000000-0x1800ffff]
[ 10.810502] xt_time: kernel timezone is -0000
[ 10.815229] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ether
[ 10.823643] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ncm
[ 10.849024] usbcore: registered new interface driver huawei_cdc_ncm
[ 10.937185] PCI: Enabling device 0000:01:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
[ 10.941585] PCI: Enabling device 0000:02:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
[ 10.947444] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: pci irq legacy oper_irq_mode 1
irq_mode 0 reset_mode 0
[ 11.168749] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/pre-cal-pci-0000:02:00.0.bin failed with error -2
[ 11.178103] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[ 11.308953] firmware ath10k!pre-cal-pci-0000:02:00.0.bin:
firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[ 11.318499] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-6.bin failed with error -2
[ 11.327909] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[ 11.580110] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!firmware-6.bin:
firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[ 11.829053] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using dwc2
[ 11.835902] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: qca988x hw2.0 target 0x4100016c
chip_id 0x043202ff sub 0000:0000
[ 11.843797] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: kconfig debug 0 debugfs 1
tracing 0 dfs 1 testmode 1
[ 11.859242] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: firmware ver 10.2.4-1.0-00033
api 5 features no-p2p,raw-mode,mfp,allows-mesh-bcast crc32 c41417d0
[ 11.902808] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/board-2.bin failed with error -2
[ 11.911919] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[ 12.044265] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!board-2.bin:
firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[ 12.052681] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: board_file api 1 bmi_id N/A
crc32 bebc7c08
[ 12.882000] dwc2 1e101000.ifxhcd: Not connected
[ 13.034951] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
[ 13.254083] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: htt-ver 2.1 wmi-op 5 htt-op 2
cal file max-sta 128 raw 0 hwcrypto 1
[ 13.378469] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x833a
[ 13.378567] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code
[ 13.378589] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[ 13.378605] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x37
[ 13.378617] ath: Country alpha2 being used: GB
[ 13.378624] ath: Regpair used: 0x37
[ 13.455742] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 3 using dwc2
[ 13.499103] PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:0e.0 (0000 -> 0002)
[ 13.516767] ath: phy1: Ignoring endianness difference in EEPROM magic
bytes.
[ 13.524362] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x833a
[ 13.524376] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code
[ 13.524396] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[ 13.524408] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x37
[ 13.524418] ath: Country alpha2 being used: GB
[ 13.524426] ath: Regpair used: 0x37
[ 13.543655] ieee80211 phy1: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[ 13.549867] ieee80211 phy1: Atheros AR9287 Rev:2 mem=0xb8000000, irq=30
[ 13.563114] kmodloader: done loading kernel modules from /etc/modules.d/*
[ 13.927632] cdc_ether 1-1:1.0 eth1: register 'cdc_ether' at
usb-1e101000.ifxhcd-1, CDC Ethernet Device, [valid MAC Address]
[ 20.706646] random: crng init done
[ 20.708597] random: 6 urandom warning(s) missed due to ratelimiting
[ 27.211945] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[ 27.238391] device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
[ 27.250751] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered blocking state
[ 27.254867] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered disabled state
[ 27.261029] device eth0.1 entered promiscuous mode
[ 27.279744] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): br-lan: link is not ready
[ 27.323307] cdc_ether 1-1:1.0 eth1: kevent 12 may have been dropped
[ 30.408492] lantiq,xrx200-net 1e108000.eth eth0: port 1 got link
[ 30.422852] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[ 30.429123] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered blocking state
[ 30.433250] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered forwarding state
[ 30.443061] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): br-lan: link becomes ready

In uk.telecom.broadband Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
> root@OpenWrt:~# udhcpc eth1
> udhcpc: started, v1.28.3
> udhcpc: sending discover
> udhcpc: sending discover
> udhcpc: sending discover [Ctrl-C pressed after some delay]

That suggests it's not responding to DHCP.

It seems that it's possible to disable DHCP on the stick. Does it get an
address if you plug it into a PC? If not, maybe you need to work out how to
enable it.

> Noticing the messages about dwc2, I wondered if that was all that was
> needed to make the dongle work, so I tried uninstalling the cdc modules,
> leaving just the dwc2 module, but actually that made things worse, I
> didn't even get the physical device eth1

dwc2 is the driver for the USB controller, so messing with that is likely to
break things. cdc_ether is the driver for USB ethernet, which the stick
pretends to be.

It sounds like the ethernet device is coming up, so I don't think you need
any shenanigans with usb_modeswitch, which is used for some sticks which
first pretend to be DVD devices with the Windows software on them.

If you have a Linux PC, I'd see if you can get it to work from there, as
that will give confidence that everything is in order. I think on some of
them there's a web interface where you set the APN, and it would make sense
if that can be set up from a PC.

Theo

Theo wrote:

> In uk.telecom.broadband Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
>> root@OpenWrt:~# udhcpc eth1
>> udhcpc: started, v1.28.3
>> udhcpc: sending discover
>> udhcpc: sending discover
>> udhcpc: sending discover [Ctrl-C pressed after some delay]
>
> That suggests it's not responding to DHCP.

These "NIC-on-a-stick" models fake it, the DHCP server that they appear
to talk to is internal to the stick, not on the far side of the 4G radio