Pi Zero W Rev 1.1 HID keyboard with newer kernels /distributions not working

Question

Please comment if you think I can improve my question (like rephrase, add other tags) . I'm really at a loss at the moment.

There are many online instructions explaining how to make a raspberry pi zero behave like a USB keyboard / mouse / etc.

A few years ago I used my pi as a USB keyboard by just following instructions, that I found on the net everything was working fine.

Example: https://randomnerdtutorials.com/raspberry-pi-zero-usb-keyboard-hid/

I installed a new OS (Raspbian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)), which has a more recent kernel (6.1.21+) and all the instructions that I find don't work anymore. Whenever I perform the final command
ls /sys/class/udc > UDC
I get an error message:

ls: write error: Device or resource busy

Summary of what I tried.

• add "dtoverlay=dwc2" to /boot/config.txt
• add dwc2 and libcomposite to /etc/modules
• add modules-load=dwc2,g_ether at the end of /boot/cmdline.txt

I created a script that shall be called after bootup to setup your usb device:

Example version:

#!/bin/bash
cd /sys/kernel/config/usb_gadget/
mkdir -p isticktoit
cd isticktoit
echo 0x1d6b > idVendor # Linux Foundation
echo 0x0104 > idProduct # Multifunction Composite Gadget
echo 0x0100 > bcdDevice # v1.0.0
echo 0x0200 > bcdUSB # USB2
mkdir -p strings/0x409
echo "fedcba9876543210" > strings/0x409/serialnumber
echo "Tobias Girstmair" > strings/0x409/manufacturer
echo "iSticktoit.net USB Device" > strings/0x409/product
mkdir -p configs/c.1/strings/0x409
echo "Config 1: ECM network" > configs/c.1/strings/0x409/configuration
echo 250 > configs/c.1/MaxPower

# Add functions here
mkdir -p functions/hid.usb0
echo 1 > functions/hid.usb0/protocol
echo 1 > functions/hid.usb0/subclass
echo 8 > functions/hid.usb0/report_length
echo -ne \\x05\\x01\\x09\\x06\\xa1\\x01\\x05\\x07\\x19\\xe0\\x29\\xe7\\x15\\x00\\x25\\x01\\x75\\x01\\x95\\x08\\x81\\x02\\x95\\x01\\x75\\x08\\x81\\x03\\x95\\x05\\x75\\x01\\x05\\x08\\x19\\x01\\x29\\x05\\x91\\x02\\x95\\x01\\x75\\x03\\x91\\x03\\x95\\x06\\x75\\x08\\x15\\x00\\x25\\x65\\x05\\x07\\x19\\x00\\x29\\x65\\x81\\x00\\xc0 > functions/hid.usb0/report_desc
ln -s functions/hid.usb0 configs/c.1/
# End functions

ls /sys/class/udc > UDC

If my web searches are correct it seems that some things changed in newer kernels and therefore the old instructions don't work anymore. However I didn't find any article guiding me to a solution.

Does anyone have a raspberry pi zero W with a halfways recent distribution, that can act as a USB keyboard / mouse and have Wifi enabled at the same time?

I don't insist on Raspian.

In fact all that I want is a device, that can simulate mouse movements / clicks and be controlled via Wifi. in fact the major use case is even more simple.

I just want to be able to wake up a laptop, that is in standby mode and that doesn't have a working wake on lan feature. Send a command over Wwifi to the pizero and let it do a keyboard press / mouse click to wake it up would be all I really need.

Answer 1

I have a RPi Zero W connected to a RPi Zero 2W in gadet mode for ethernet only through a powered usb hub. I never understood it as a keyboard. The cmdline.txt should also include modules-load=dwc2,g_ether modules-load=dwc2,g_hid. But this is my only configuration on the RPi Zero W, (if that is of any help):

pi@RPi0:~ $ cat /boot/cmdline.txt
console=serial0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p8 rootfstype=ext4 fsck.repair=yes rootwait modules-load=dwc2,g_ether quiet splash plymouth.ignore-serial-consoles

pi@RPi0:~ $ cat /boot/config.txt | grep -v -E '^$|#'
hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080
hdmi_cvt 800 480 60 6 0 0 1
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=87
hdmi_blanking=1
hdmi_drive=2
[cm4]
otg_mode=1
[pi4]
arm_boost=1
[all]
dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=peripheral
dtparam=act_led_activelow=off
gpu_mem=32

pi@RPi0:~ $ pinfo
RPi0  Raspberry Pi Zero W Rev 1.1 32bit
Raspbian 11.9 bullseye 6.1.21+
Mem 461M Swap 1,412M Gpu 32M
usb0 UP 192.168.9.10 wlan0 UP 192.168.0.10

My display is different and pinfo is my script to display pi info.

$ dmesg | grep -E 'g_hid|g_ether'

[ 0.000000] Kernel command line: coherent_pool=1M 8250.nr_uarts=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_headphones=0 bcm2708_fb.fbwidth=800 bcm2708_fb.fbheight=480 bcm2708_fb.fbswap=1 smsc95xx.macaddr=B8:27:EB:08:6D:9A vc_mem.mem_base=0x1ec00000 vc_mem.mem_size=0x20000000 console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p8 rootfstype=ext4 fsck.repair=yes rootwait modules-load=dwc2,g_ether modules=dwc2,g_hid quiet splash plymouth.ignore-serial-consoles [ 0.000000] Unknown kernel command line parameters "splash modules-load=dwc2,g_ether modules=dwc2,g_hid", will be passed to user space.

[ 2.930752] modules-load=dwc2,g_ether

[ 2.930762] modules=dwc2,g_hid

[ 11.119180] g_ether gadget.0: Ethernet Gadget, version: Memorial Day 2008 [ 11.119211] g_ether gadget.0: g_ether ready [ 11.119383] dwc2 20980000.usb: bound driver g_ether