Integration of 3G Wireless Modem Detection - 4.1.2 & 4.2.1

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Aitch
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#331 Post by Aitch »

Rich - just found
Wpa_Gui: Finally a real network manager for puppy
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=47838

Maybe some people here can test this?

Also wikihow Wifi setup

http://www.wikihow.com/Set-up-a-Wireles ... uppy-Linux

found in this thread

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 599#351599

HTH

Aitch :)

darwinev0lved
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#332 Post by darwinev0lved »

rerwin wrote:darwinev0lved,
Thanks for your straightforward how-to for you modem and provider. I am taken by your mention that ubuntu figures out the APN. I have a hunch how it might do that, and I think we can do that at least manually. There is a command to display the APN stored in the phone/modem's memory. I have provided the command in wvdial.conf as a comment that a user can edit to remove the "#":

Code: Select all

#Init8 = AT+CGDCONT?
Try doing that before running pupdial (because it overwrites during its operation), then try to connect. The APN should appear in the pupdial log of the connection. I am open to ideas on using that info to make pupdial smarter.

Assuming the APN is in the modem, you might try changing the phone number to *99***1# (I think that's the right number of asterisks). That says to use the first number in the internal list of APNs. If yours is second in the list, use "2" instead of "1".

Idea: How about pupdial activating the Init8 line for a connection if no APN is entered? Your experimentation with Init8 would move that idea along. Thanks.
Richard


Hi Richard, I'm happy to try to help. Emphasis should probably be on the 'try' :D

OK. I deleted wvdial.conf, then ran wvdialshell (hope this is right, I'm really only a linux user).
wvdial.conf then looked like this

[Dialer Defaults]
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Baud = 9600
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0

ISDN = 0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
; Phone = <Target Phone Number>
; Username = <Your Login Name>
; Password = <Your Password>


So I added the Init8 = AT+CGDCONT? line

Ran PupDial. Used the *99***1# phone number and wap for user and password again. Left the APN blank.

PupDial connected just fine. :D

Save pupdial.log to see if that would help

--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.53
--> Initializing modem.
--> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
--> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
OK
--> Modem initialized.
--> Sending: ATDT*99***1#
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT*99***1#
CONNECT
--> Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.
--> Starting pppd at Fri Oct 16 11:04:47 2009
--> pid of pppd: 22494

So it doesn't look like the APN does appear in the pupdial.log

However, my wvdial.conf does have this line in it

[Dialer isp1apn]
Init5 = AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP",""

is that what's doing the trick?

Happy to try something else if that would help.

Regards,
Jon

zygo
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#333 Post by zygo »

Rerwin,

I have a Huawei E1550 (vendor 12d1 product 1446). USB mode switch does not work with or without the -H parameter -- the device remains mass storage. Do I have to permanently switch it through ms (AT+ZCDRUN=8 )? (If so I'll wait a couple of weeks when my 30 day voucher will be almost expired)

Thanks for leading this project. I'd be gratefull for any advice.

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smokey01
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Optus Wireless Broadband

#334 Post by smokey01 »

I'm having some problems getting the Blink modem to work with Optus Wireless Broadband. The modem is a HUAEWEI E169 HSDPA USB Stick. I see other people in this forum have managed to get it to work in Puppy 4.3.1. I haven't been so lucky, not yet anyway.

When using wvDial it requires 4 bits of information:
The dial number. Optus tell me this is *99#
UserName: Optus tell me this is not required since August 09
Password: Optus tell me this is not required since August 09
APN: Optus tell me this is splns888a1

I select stupid mode.
Uncheck the three check boxes carrier etc.
When I press connect it complains there is no UserName or Password.

When I look at Hardinfo the modem can be seen and the probe works from wvdial.

Any suggestions welcomed.

zygo
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#335 Post by zygo »

rerwin,

Thanks, for this thread I got my e1550 working with three in Puppy 431. No additional software just the switch command from http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch/bb/ -- the forum of the maker of usb_modeswitch.

smokey01,

I don't need username and password either. Put anything for them eg anything and anything. Wvdial waits about a minute for the isp to ask for these details. When it doesn't it simply starts the connection and blinky pipes up. All is well. :o :lol: :D

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smokey01
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#336 Post by smokey01 »

Thanks Zygo but it doesn't want to connect. I have let it continue until it times out and then it tries again and continually times out.

Unfortunately the people on the Optus help desk are not all that helpful as they are used to dealing mainly with Windows installations.

Could you post a screen shot of your settings please?

Has anyone else manage to connect to Optus Broadband?

Thanks

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smokey01
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#337 Post by smokey01 »

Well I finally got it to work after a lot of head scratching and time.

The laptop I setup was a Dell Inspiron 1501, Turion 64 x 2.

Anyway, with the suggestions in this forum from darwinev0lved and zygo I was eventually successful.

This setup is for Optus Broadband using the HUAWEI E169 USB modem, also known as a Blink modem.
Dial number:*99#
Username: Anything you like, I left the default
Password: Anything you like, I left the default
APN: splns888a1

It was difficult determining the field requirements.

OK, next problem.

The laptop had an internal modem and the dialer kept finding it instead of the wireless modem. I changed the the config file but it still couldn't find the wireless modem. I removed the internal modem.

I tried a fresh boot from a clean DVD with pfix=ram. Now bugger me this worked so I saved the pupsave file.

I then copied the new pupsave file into the /puppy431/ directory and booted from the previous frugal install. Obviously I removed the older pupsave file first. Guess what? No go, couldn't find the modem.

Next test was to boot with the fresh DVD and load the new pupsave file, no pfix=ram this time. It worked.

It didn't seem to matter what I did, unless I used the DVD it would not find the modem.

Test three, probably thirty three really. In the Grub line where the kernel is loaded, I removed the nosmp switch. Bugger me again this time it worked perfectly. I have absolutely no idea why I even tried this but it worked.

Hope this helps someone save some heartbeats.

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Aitch
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#338 Post by Aitch »

Good link, Zygo

I found this useful page there, on usb modeswitch

http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch/#intro

Aitch :)

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rerwin
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#339 Post by rerwin »

smokey01, zygo,
Sorry to have neglected this thread for a week or so, But I have something that should help with the E1550. I attach an updated set of modeswitch rules that includes a file for the E1550 and a similar model. However, it requires you to uncomment the rule that pertains to the E1550. The file is /etc/udev/rules.d/51-usb_modeswitch-option-0x12d1-0x1446.rules. You should not have to edit or reconfigure wvdial.conf to make it work; please help me get pupdial to handle it automatically, by posting a diagnostic file (see below) for me to analyze.
The laptop had an internal modem and the dialer kept finding it instead of the wireless modem.
Smokey01, regarding the conflict with the internal modem: My intent is for Puppy to handle that by detecting the USB modem in preference to the PCI modems. In working with my new DGC USB modem on my 400 MHz PC, I find that Puppy does not wait long enough for the driver to load. I have added a wait loop to the init scripts for cdcacm, hso, dgcmodem, and sierra modems. Option-driver modems already have a wait loop that waits up to a minute, so that should be sufficient.

But before attempting workarounds, have you tried "erasing" the detected internal modem and rebooting? Once a modem has been selected/detected, that setting will remain until you "probe > ERASE" it in pupdial and reboot with the USB modem plugged in.

If that doesn't work, we need to find out why. To find out why the internal modem is detected with the USB modem plugged in, could you create a fresh pupsave with the pmodemdiag tool installed, obtained from here?: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... h&id=22470
In the reboot following the tool installation, please run it (./pmodemdiag) and post the generated file as an attachment.

Thanks.

UPDATE 11/19/09: The original dotpet omitted the renaming of the usb_modeswitch.sh script to match the name used in the rules. The "-2" version corrects that and also names it back if you uninstall the dotpet. Those who have downloaded the old ("-1") version can simply rename the script to:
/usr/sbin/pusb_modeswitch.sh
instead of reinstalling with the new version. Thanks, zygo.
Richard
Attachments
usb_modeswitch_rules_update_to_431-2.pet
This should also work for 4.1.2, 4.2.1, and 4.3.
(10.69 KiB) Downloaded 1036 times
Last edited by rerwin on Thu 19 Nov 2009, 23:11, edited 1 time in total.

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smokey01
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#340 Post by smokey01 »

Richard,

The computer is mine but my son uses it. He has since collected it so I'm not sure when I will see it again now that it is working. If I can borrow it back I will try what you asked. He mainly uses it to play cards on PokerStars which runs quite nicely through Wine.

I must admit I'm pretty disappointed with the wireless modem as the speed is quite poor. I'm not too sure what speed my son has signed up to but it only gets about 32k throughput, is that normal?

Grant

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rerwin
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#341 Post by rerwin »

smokey01,
So we have a "breather" before continuing with the laptop. Your speed seems unusually slow. Unfortunately at the moment, my knowledge is mainly in getting the modem detected and usable by pupdial. I don't have a reason to own a wireless modem, so have no firsthand experience with them. That is why I depend on those with the modems to help me get pupdial to handle them.

My means of working on users' problems is to have them run the pmodemdiag (downloadable) tool to collect the information I need to analyze. I then provide "fixes" for them to try and feed back the results with that tool. We can try that when/if ever you want to go that route.
Richard

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smokey01
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#342 Post by smokey01 »

rerwin wrote:smokey01,


My means of working on users' problems is to have them run the pmodemdiag (downloadable) tool to collect the information I need to analyze. I then provide "fixes" for them to try and feed back the results with that tool. We can try that when/if ever you want to go that route.
Richard
Always happy to help. When I get the laptop back I will run the pmodemdiag tool over it and send you the information.

Grant

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Aitch
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#343 Post by Aitch »

Smokey/Rich

My experience/albeit limited with 3G wireless keys is that they only run at full speed with a very strong aerial signal, so moving close to a window helps, otherwise they switch down to below HS to edge/gsm speeds - or if connecting to a router on wifi, moving the aerials closer/making cooking foil parabolic reflectors helps to boost signals

I have posted links to aerial boosted wifi keys on ebay, but I'm not aware of any for HSDPA/3G

HTH

Aitch :)

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#344 Post by smokey01 »

Aitch, thanks for the hint. I think I remember reading somewhere that if reception is not good one should use the supplied USB cable between the dongle and USB port as it acts like an aerial. I might tell my son to give that a try and see if the speed improves.

Thanks

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richard.a
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#345 Post by richard.a »

smokey01 wrote:Has anyone else manage to connect to Optus Broadband?

Thanks
I'm trying slowly :)

Trying to fit it around everything else I do in my 30-hour days, 8-day weeks :)

BTW what is the pmodemdiag tool? Is this a puppy thing? Or a wireless thing? And is it in a repository somewhere?

And thankyou folks for your sterling work here. The support team at Internode are waiting, chewing fingernails to hear. They are now aware of a couple of these threads, starting with the one I opened.

Let you know if I get anywhere.

I have got the Gnome version 2009.2 of PCLinuxOS almost working with the 3G dongle :) Sadly I don't understand it or wireless well enough to push it over the edge and complete the handshake it seems to start.

I'm in Adelaide, the home of many many wifi hotspots - which is giving me a little more understanding of the vagaries of wireless. But, in the words of Sergeant Schultz "I know nuthing" lol

Portable equipment:
Toshiba Satellite 1800, native XP SP2, now on a 40Gb HDD and three other systems to compare... and an older one (2140) with a 30Gb HDD now with several systems but I can't do a comparison because it no longer has windows on it - because the 3G currently doesn't work except on Windows.

AspireOne AOA150-Bw with 6cell battery (decent life) 120Gb HDD, native XPsp3 (3G works well by default even though there is regular wireless) with puppy 4.21 and 4.3 as well as LinpusLite. The 3G only works on Windows.

A bunch of older and more recent desktops and towers with various Linuxes (mostly Puppies) all waiting to be checked...

Another Richard
[i]Have you noticed editing is always needed for the inevitable typos that weren't there when you hit the "post" button?[/i]

[img]http://micro-hard.dreamhosters.com/416434.png[/img]

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rerwin
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#346 Post by rerwin »

richard.a,
BTW what is the pmodemdiag tool? Is this a puppy thing? Or a wireless thing? And is it in a repository somewhere?
It is a tool I wrote to compensate for the fact that I cannot test the wireless modems myself, to debug my 3G-wireless effort and other dialup-modem problems. It pertains only to puppy and its modem support implementation.

It is available in the package manager's puppy4 repo under utilities. But that version is incomplete. My latest version is in another thread to help with a problem. Eventually I will post it at the start of this thread and for inclusion in 4.4. It is still evolving.

It collects all the files and information I need to understand what the user is experiencing and why. The newest version is here: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... h&id=23553
but that can change. I have just added to it, so it may be buggy. The older versions install to the /root directory and are invoked by ./pmodemdiag. But the newest installs to /usr/sbin and is invoked without the initial "./".
Richard(.e)

zygo
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#347 Post by zygo »

rerwin,

your e1550 action in 51-usb_modeswitch-option-0x12d1-0x1446.rules refers to /usr/sbin/pusb_modeswitch.sh. This is not in Puppy 431. Should the filename start with p? Should I install something first that includes the p version? I lost track of which of your works made it into the official release. With the p removed it works.

There would appear to be 2 switch messages -- one in the usb_modeswitch.conf that you used and another one on the forum (dated about 12 July) which also works.

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rerwin
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#348 Post by rerwin »

zygo,
Thanks for pointing out the "p" problem. For my next update to 431 I will be changing the name of the script, to add the "p". This is necessary because the developer of usb_modeswitch has now added a script of the same name as I have been using, so I need to differentiate puppy's, to avoid confusion. I do not plan to use the new script because it requires supporting programs that puppy does not include. It is part of an extended automatic detection scheme that is not fully implemented (and crashed when I tried it). But I will see what I can learn from it for maintaining our puppy method of running the mode-switcher.

So, removing the "p" from the rule is OK for your instance, but the more generic fix is to change the script name to add the "p" (/usr/sbin/pusb_modeswitch.sh)). That way, all of the rules will work. I neglected to make that change in the dotpet. I have now updated the download to include the rename of the script, so others will be OK.
Richard

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swiatmar
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#349 Post by swiatmar »

Hello!!
I have some problem after installing3g on my puppy. I am missing following things:
lsusb
and comgt.
I was searching in the forum but can't find anything. I found only this:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/comgt/
can somebody help me:)
thanks:)

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rerwin
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#350 Post by rerwin »

swiatmar,
Welcome. This thread is for my project to get puppy to use 3G modems automatically, so the user need not be concerned about lsusb, comgt, and all the other ways people attempt to get their modem to work.

Puppy does not have those two commands. But I can help you to make your modem work with the puppy dialup modem function, if you would give me more information about your setup. Since puppy 4.3.1 contains the latest version of 3G support, please use that puppy (but not the 2.6.21 or 2.6.25 alternatives).

The simplest way to collect all the relevant information is to install the pmodemdiag tool using this direct download link: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... h&id=22470
and rebooting 4.3.1, then attempting to set up the dialup option and using pupdial to connect. When you have gone as far as you can, run the tool. To run, in a console type: ./pmodemdiag, Then find the pmodemdiag-20....tar.gz in /root and attach it for analysis.

However, if your modem "just works" when you boot up in 4.3.1, no need to send a diagnostic file. Anyway, could you tell me which modem you are using? And what Puppy does about it? Thanks.
Richard

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