The Linux foundation seems ready to finally axe a Microsoft-made remote network protocol for USB that is still a part of modern Windows operating systems.
  • LiveLM@lemmy.zipEnglish
    27·
    20 days ago

    Wait, isn’t RNDIS what’s used when you tether your Android’s connection via USB? Or am I mistaking it for something else?

    • einlander@lemmy.worldEnglish
      161·
      20 days ago

      Yes, and it’s still in new phones. They’re being disingenuous saying that it’s android phones don’t use it.

        • Laser@feddit.orgEnglish
          12·
          19 days ago

          That’s different protocols. This is only about the one being used when you share your phone’s connection via USB (tethering). Neither adb nor fastboot make use of this.

          Also, starting with Android 14, there should be an alternative available with NCM.

          • GolfNovemberUniform@infosec.pubEnglish
            1·
            19 days ago

            Well a14 is not that common but I’ve never heard of tethering before (except for WiFi tethering that improves connection) so I guess it’s not important.

            • Laser@feddit.orgEnglish
              8·
              19 days ago

              It’s not about improving a connection, but making your phone’s network connection available to other devices. USB tethering creates a network device at /dev/usb... that behaves like an any ordinary network device, allowing you to create a connection using it. Wi-Fi tethering creates a hotspot similar to what your router at home does.

              • GolfNovemberUniform@infosec.pubEnglish
                14·
                19 days ago

                So now you can’t use USB hotspots on Linux? Yea mainstream has gone pretty evil then tbh. They didn’t even stop at the previous drama.

                • Laser@feddit.orgEnglish
                  5·
                  19 days ago

                  There’s no such thing as USB hotspots, that’s a term for WiFi. Also you can still use the NMC protocol if your Android version is recent enough. Just not RNDIS anymore. It’s an insecure Microsoft protocol, though this probably wouldn’t have mattered for a lot of people.

    • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      2·
      18 days ago

      Yes, with the exception of some that switched to USB CDC NCM already. I seem to be lucky, the Pixel 6 is one of the first to have made the switch.

      • argarath@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        18 days ago

        So if my mint install updates I won’t be able to use USB tethering? Is there a way to update my phone to use USB CDC NCM? Or would I have better luck recompiling my mint install to add the standard they just removed? I’m pretty new to Linux (literally made the switch last November) and I sadly have to use USB tethering when my ISP shits the bed with routing to the US

        • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          2·
          17 days ago

          First you will have to find out about your specific phone model. It seems that different chipset vendors implement different things for tethering.

          Someone in the raspberry pi forums checked what his Pi Zero was doing with lsusb -t and someone in an old reddit thread checked his dmesg while connecting the phone and turning on tethering, maybe you can try those things while tethering to see whether currently the RNDIS or the USB CDC driver gets loaded for your phone.

          Then we will have to see in which kernel version Greg’s change finally lands. At the earliest it will land in Kernel 6.14 because 6.13 is already on the fifth release candidate so new changes shouldn’t be added anymore. Then you have to find out when your Mint install will move to that kernel. If you are currently on Mint 22 Wilma (supported until 2029), then that’s based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, which is based on the Ubuntu LTS Kernel 6.8.

          I’m guessing now, based on past regularities, that Mint 23 will be based on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, and that Ubuntu will choose a fresh kernel for their LTS in the beginning of 2026, so probably one that will contain this change by Greg. So it seems to me, that if 1) your phone still needs RNDIS for tethering and 2) you still have that phone in the middle of 2026 and 3) you still have that Mint install you should probably not upgrade to Mint 23, but stay on Mint 22 until its support ends in 2029.

          But projecting that far into the future is kind of difficult, maybe distro maintainers will reenable RNDIS if they see it’s still needed, or maybe a future Android Update will force OEMs to use USB CDC.

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldEnglish
    246·
    20 days ago

    Good on them, I guess.

    This kind of thing can never be removed from Windows because somewhere there is a Fortune 500 company whose entire IT infrastructure is precariously balanced such that it relies on this obscure feature – or some other equally rickety legacy Win32/16 API crap – and if it ever goes away their business will collapse and they’ll sue Microsoft for a billion dollars.

    • nesc@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      203·
      20 days ago

      What are you talking about? Microsoft constatntly removes and adds features to their software and OS, no one can sue them for it.

  • Ketata Mohamed@mastodon.tn
    113·
    20 days ago

    @cm0002 eh, does that mean I can’t anymore tweak my Lumia? Fuck (yes I still have a Lumia, even many years after their death, it is still my best phone, android can’t compete, an android, and I mean all of them, lags like hell on 2Gb RAM, the Lumia runs super smoothly with 1 Gb RAM)

  • riodoro1@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    18 days ago

    So mamy cellular modems are going to break. That’s what you get for sticking to a shitty „standard” made by a corpo known from their shitty work.