I feel the same way (that ethernet is a perfectly good way of moving data around), so I created this a while back as a side project:<p><pre><code>  https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;mfassler&#x2F;eFirmata
</code></pre>
Basically, I wanted USB, but I wanted much longer cable-lengths than USB, so I used ethernet.