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