Developer Ben Hardill has penned a information to utilizing the brand new Raspberry Pi 5 as a USB Kind-C Gadget — after the discharge of each the brand new {hardware} and the Debian Bookworm-based Raspberry Pi OS rendered previous guides out of date.
The USB Kind-C port on a Raspberry Pi 5, launched late final 12 months as a serious improve for the favored single-board laptop household and boasting a significantly extra highly effective processor and new PCI Specific connectivity for high-speed peripherals, is usually used to supply energy to the board — however hides a secondary perform: the flexibility to work in USB Gadget mode, connecting the Raspberry Pi to a bunch laptop over USB.
The performance has existed in Raspberry Pi fashions for years, however the Raspberry Pi 5 {hardware} coupled with the brand new model of Raspberry Pi OS launched on the similar time means current guides for configuring USB Gadget mode do not apply. That is the place Hardill’s new information, dropped at our consideration by Adafruit, is available in.
If you happen to’ve received a Raspberry Pi 5 in your desk, Ben Hardill’s new information will get it up and operating in USB Gadget mode very quickly. (📷: Ben Hardill)
Hardill’s up to date information gives full step-by-step directions on utilizing USB Gadget mode on any Raspberry Pi 5 mannequin utilizing the official Debian Bookworm-based Raspberry Pi OS software program — beginning with updating the firmware and together with configuring the kernel and configuring libcomposite. A Bash script is supplied for creating two USB Ethernet interfaces, that are then managed utilizing NetworkManager — the brand new OS having moved away from dhcpd.
“I am engaged on updating my script that routinely updates Raspberry Pi OS SD Card pictures with these adjustments earlier than they’re flashed to the cardboard,” Hardill notes, “however I am having issues getting the brand new pictures in addition within the dockerpi containers (this runs the picture in an Arm emulator so we will run the set up scripts correctly for dnsmasq). I am going to most likely publish once more if/once I get it working.”
Hardill’s full information is accessible on his web site.
