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Multiple Ethernet ports on the raspberry pi

Former Member

Hi all,

i'm interested in getting an additional Ethernet port hooked up to the raspberry pi.

the project is to create a home server (nas) and router from a raspberry pi, and I don't want wifi.

 

the final box should have both USB ports free for attaching multiple drives, or a drive and a printer(these are externally powered, not to be taken into account powerwise, the Ethernet port is the main issue).

the pi should be powered by an external power supply (although managing to power it from a pc's USB port will be awesome (using the console cable)

 

future upgrades might include replacing the second Ethernet port with an adsl modem or with a 3G modem.

 

i'm have experience with Linux. the electronics is the part I don't remember much.

 

I've searched and can't find an Ethernet add on board. I can't even find a USB Ethernet adapter.

I reckon it's because lack of interest though, and not cause it's not possible.

 

to make a long story short, is it at all possible?

 

thanks

Parents

  • I don't know what the status of RasPi USB is nowadays, but early on there were fairly severe limits on how many USB devices you could attach and still get reliable operation.  I believe it was a limitation of the BCM2835 SoC, which has a rather limited USB controller.  The BCM2835 is a media processor designed a few USB devices and may not be able to support lots of Ethernet dongles and disk drives.  I don't know what RasPi operating systems are able to support today, but I suspect you'd be better off with a SoC that has native Ethernet (instead of through USB) and SATA.

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  • I don't know what the status of RasPi USB is nowadays, but early on there were fairly severe limits on how many USB devices you could attach and still get reliable operation.  I believe it was a limitation of the BCM2835 SoC, which has a rather limited USB controller.  The BCM2835 is a media processor designed a few USB devices and may not be able to support lots of Ethernet dongles and disk drives.  I don't know what RasPi operating systems are able to support today, but I suspect you'd be better off with a SoC that has native Ethernet (instead of through USB) and SATA.

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