IP over USB (usbnet) for devices without wifi/ethernet

[seagull9000]

Currently, as I understand it, when connecting a meshtastic device to a server/desktop an ethernet port or wifi is required on the meshtastic device.

There are a couple of downsides to this limitation:

• devices with wifi or ethernet are typically more expensive, or you may have some devices at hand that don't have this capability but want to use them,
• you still have to separately power the device

I'd like to raise a discussion re the possibility of using the ubiquitous USB port on meshtastic devices for ip traffic.

This provides

• power for the device
• more flexible use of devices without ethernet/wifi

The idea is that this provides access to an mqtt broker and time services. Other uses may be arise.

In linux, usbnet can be used to set up a network link on the usb port. I haven't tried this myself but others may comment.

Would this be a difficult thing to implement?

EDIT: I think the USB serial option might do what I need. An agent on the linux server (node-red?) could do the rest.