Linux - HOWTO (With Stats)
 

The following cards/phones works 100% with my scripts/configs:

• Novatel U630
• Option Fusion
• Option Quad
• Motorola E1000
• Nokia 6680 (just don't set the speed/service - no 3gonly and 384k configs)
• Option HSDPA Card
• Novatel HSDPA Card
• Huawei Card E620
• Huawei Card E220

I use Gentoo Linux which compiles everything from source. As a result of things might be a bit different but we can work around it. Firstly, we need to get Linux to detect your card, start your PCMCIA services - normally this can be done using (most distros do this for you):

Before you insert your card, open a console/switch to an open console and as root run the following

This will allow you to "see" what Linux is doing :)

Right, now insert your card and you should see some stuff happening. I have included log traces of what the two cards "look" like under /var/log/messages in the attachment section.

If you see only the option_insert_nousb.txt messages using an option card run the following command:

If you had to run the above command, you will need to save the vmc_g file attached into /etc/modules.d

Now we need to find out where your card is - you will see in the messages where the card is - /dev/ttyS? for novatel or /dev/ttyUSB? for option

Should show /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS1 for a Novatel Card.

Should show /dev/ttyUSB0 and USB1 and USB2 for an Option Card. (or /dev/tts/ttyUSB0-2 for udev)

Once we found that, we need to change /etc/wvdial.conf to match your settings, attached is my working wvdial.conf. Now we can start dialing up

For Novatel:

For Option:

If you need to send your PIN, add "pin" infront of all the commands, e.g.

Once your connection is up - surf away :) Now you can setup things like KPPP and Gnome's Modem Lights to do your dialing for you.

Extra Steps for the HSDPA card:

Download the kernel module from the link below. Extract it to a directory somewhere safe. If you are *still* running the 2.4 series of kernels, you need to change the Makefile to reflect this.

Compile the driver using the following commands:

Once this is done, run the following command to insert the module into the kernel

Once you have done that, use the following command to setup the connection:

Extra steps for the Novatel U740 Card

Until I get time to update the files etc. our Novatel Linux Users out there can just type this command before using the normal dialing command:


Using lsusb will show you the Vendor and Product ID's or cat /proc/bus/usb/devices will do the same.I will still add them into the FAQ but atleast this should help for now ;)

This will add the USB's like the 3G Option did - am I seeing a swap here ? - so just dial /dev/ttyUSB0 or so - check the logs

Extra Steps for the Huawei Cards:

None really - just make sure usbserial is loaded and the card will come up on /dev/ttyUSB0 - check the logs again to confirm

If the card doesn't come up, unload usbserial and reload with the following command:

I am still trying to work on the USB only card, so at the moment, I don't know if it will work under Linux.

Huawei E220:

I have found that this modem will only work with the short cable supplied...not the long one with two plugs...*shrug*

Same as the E620, except use the following modprobe command:After that, you will notice only one USB serial coming up, then, remove the device and re-attach it, you shouldn't need to re-insert usbserial.

Notes:

I have only seen 3G speeds on this device, but I think it is because of my RF conditions and location. More on this to follow...

Attachments:

wvdial.conf
novatel_insert.txt
option_insert_nousb.txt
option_usbserial.txt
vmc_3g
Option HSDPA Driver

FAQ:

Q) How do I enable "Internet Connection Sharing"

A) Since the 2.6 kernel is main stream etc. I will only cover IPTables and Kernel 2.6. I am also assuming that ppp0 is your dialup and eth0 is your lan

Firstly - we need to add some rules to iptables - run the following commands:

iptables -F (This will CLEAR ALL RULES !!!)
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o ppp0 -j MASQUERADE

then we need to enable routing:
echo "1" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

That should do it - from here you can add rules to block incomming connections etc.

Q) My card is broken/replies "ERROR" to all the commands

A) You didn't send your PIN to the card - either add the "pin" command or disable the PIN on the SIM

Q) My Novatel card is very slow - +-800 bytes per second

A) Try running "setserial -a /dev/ttyS1 low_latency spd_warp" - replace /dev/ttyS1 with your port
Once you have your setserial command, insert it into /etc/ppp/ip-up.local - this will cause the command to be ran everytime a connection is made.

Q) What does all the wvdial sections do/mean?

A)

Defaults - What to do if nothing is selected (Always included)
pin - send your pin to the card
novatel - select the novatel card
option - select the option card
hsdpa - Option HSDPA card
e1000 - select the E1000 via USB
onboard - select the onboard modem of my notebook
internet - select the internet APN
internetvpn - select the internetvpn APN
myapn - select your apn
384k,144k,64k - select the speed of your 3G connection
2gonly - select GPRS only
3gonly - select 3G only

Q) How do I see the usage under Linux

A) Linux Usage

TODO:

• Make the Option card call "modprobe usbserial" by itself
• Make the Novatel card register the second port under Linux
• Do some research into the signal levels reported via +CSQ
• Get the PIN to work with wvdial and Novatel

Correct me if I'm wrong :
If you use devfs, the device will be either /dev/usb/tts/n (where n in usually 0) or /dev/? for the PC card device...

Hey nicroets,

I also thought this, but running devfs and udev I havn't been able to get that to work - I will keep trying and update the thread as needed :)

EDIT: Corrected wvdial.conf settings - /dev/tts/USB0 :)

Laterz !

Update:

Changed the wvdial.conf file on the server to correctly insert the PIN command - Init1 was getting replaced by ATZ :)

TazzTux - thanks for all this useful info. One more request .... do you know of a way to query the signal strength (3G and/or GPRS) from the card? Is there an AT command for this?

Howzit,

The command that I know doesn't seem to work on the Novatel cards which is:

Laterz !

I noticed in the Novatel documentation +CSQ is 'optional' so not to sure if it is implemented.

What is your firmware version?

Hey v3g,

I sport the latest rev14 under the hood :D

Laterz !

Not surprised :)

Hey Tazz_Tux,

Have you any experience in using dial-on-demand with the 3g card under Linux? I have a plan that involves an old PC, a 3G card and an 802.11 AP as a homebrew gateway device, and it strikes me that dial-on-demand is crucial to safeguard precious bundled MBs against nasty unsolicited incoming connections :)

Howzit TheCynick,

Why bother - Vodacom issues private IPs so no connection - except from another 3G is open. But if you really wanna - just run iptables and make some rules to block all incoming traffic - except est. and related.

Download webmin and config it via that - VERY nice tool :)

Laterz !!!

Ok, here's a little hickup in my linux setup.

At work I use LAN (eth0) for my internet access. eth0 is configured with static address (no DHCP)
At home I use my Novatel 3G card.

I connect fine with the 3G card using the wvdial.conf above, but it seems like Linux is still trying to use my LAN for Internet access. I can't ping or do DNS lookups or anything.

If I run,

ifdown eth0

and then connect with wvdial then everything works just fine.

What am I missing?

Oh, I'm currently on Ubuntu 5.04

Run this command before you connect:

Paste the result :) You might need to delete your default route since pppd will not replace it, something like:

Laterz !

Ok,

This is what I get from: route -n

Ok,

You have a default route - delete it with:

Laterz !!!