Finders, Keepers
Caveats
Although USB/IP is pretty awesome, there are some disadvantages you may want to consider before deploying it for everyday use. For starters, as it is underused, many distributions have scatty support for the USB/IP tools usbip
and usbipd
. Many distros include old versions, and different versions have different parameters. Some versions don't work at all.
Secondly, you have to attach and detach devices as root, which makes it inconvenient and a bit dangerous. Also, while a device is attached, it is blocked for other clients, and you have to remember to detach it when you have finished using it.
If you have a large number of client machines, by using USB/IP, you will have to install drivers onto each and every one of them. If you want to share a printer, CUPS may be the way to go, as you only have to install and maintain drivers on the server. If your scanner plays well with SANE's network system, this would also be the best way of cutting back on installing, configuring, and maintaining drivers.
Make It Better
That said, you can make USB/IP much friendlier if, for example, you load modules at boot time both on the server and client and turn usbip
into a service on the server.
USB/IP also allows you to use a Raspberry Pi as a server for devices – even if the Pi doesn't understand them. You see, many vendors with proprietary drivers only provide drivers for Intel-based machines and do not supply any for the Pi, since it is an ARM-based computer. This is the case of the printer/scanner that kicked all of this off. With USB/IP, however, you can still use the Pi as a printer/scanner server because it doesn't actually have to load any drivers: The Pi just has to forward the whole USB connection to the client machine, where the driver is installed.
Is that cool or what?
Infos
- XSane: http://xsane.org/
« Previous 1 2
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
![Learn More](https://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/misc/learn-more/834592-1-eng-US/Learn-More_medium.png)
News
-
NVIDIA Released Driver for Upcoming NVIDIA 560 GPU for Linux
Not only has NVIDIA released the driver for its upcoming CPU series, it's the first release that defaults to using open-source GPU kernel modules.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 24.07 Released
If you’re into rolling release Linux distributions, OpenMandriva ROME has a new snapshot with a new kernel.
-
Kernel 6.10 Available for General Usage
Linus Torvalds has released the 6.10 kernel and it includes significant performance increases for Intel Core hybrid systems and more.
-
TUXEDO Computers Releases InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 Laptop
Sporting either AMD or Intel CPUs, the TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 is an extremely compact, lightweight, sturdy powerhouse.
-
Google Extends Support for Linux Kernels Used for Android
Because the LTS Linux kernel releases are so important to Android, Google has decided to extend the support period beyond that offered by the kernel development team.
-
Linux Mint 22 Stable Delayed
If you're anxious about getting your hands on the stable release of Linux Mint 22, it looks as if you're going to have to wait a bit longer.
-
Nitrux 3.5.1 Available for Install
The latest version of the immutable, systemd-free distribution includes an updated kernel and NVIDIA driver.
-
Debian 12.6 Released with Plenty of Bug Fixes and Updates
The sixth update to Debian "Bookworm" is all about security mitigations and making adjustments for some "serious problems."
-
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.