Watchman 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

Setup#

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:

    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. Setup a script or something that runs usbip-bind bind on startup. On Debian/Raspbian:

    echo '/root/usbip-bind bind' | sudo tee -a /etc/rc.local

  4. With your dongles plugged in, run the command to bind them for the first time:

    sudo /root/usbip-bind bind

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 the dongle host.

    • Tip: Run ip addr on the dongle host to determine its IP.

  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 one was 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 the 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.
    • However, this option can go no higher to 15, see Linux source.
  • 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 reference the original usbdongle and usbip-bind scripts.

Support#

Reach out to @galister on Discord/Matrix.