How to use ZTE 3G USB dongle modem?

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davelectronic
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#16 Post by davelectronic »

Hi Fossil.
Ive removed and reinserted the dongle, it see's it as a mass storage devise as it does have a 4 GB micro SD card in it, that all comes up and files i have stored on it.

The mount and unmount thing ive not tried yet, no its not leaving two icons on the desk top just one usb devise icon, it is the dongle as i can access the micro SD card from it.

As i say i just don't want to screw up a perfectly good 3G dongle where ive done it wrong or cant reverse the process, i am tempted to buy a new one, dongle that is, as the one i have has a driver missing, during install windows auto updates this, but Linux can't.

I do have a second ZTE 3G dongle, but not totally sure the drivers not missing on that, if my kids can't get a connection at busy internet traffic the kids think uninstall and reinstall this removes the drivers if its connected, well one driver called bird step, the dongle wont connect to windows with out it.

Ive tried to think how can i put the single driver back in its proper place in the dongles memory flash drive or what ever it uses for its software storage.

To cut a long story short puppy is telling me on the screen in a window that one single driver string is missing, i think it might connect if it was there.

The whole Linux thing is totally different in it lay out and the way it works, i am so use to windows its going to take time to get the fundamentals right, anyway i will try it with the second dongle, it will either work or it wont, if that driver is missing it might have to be a new dongle. :)

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tallboy
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#17 Post by tallboy »

Hi davelectronic; my symphaties!
I have a ZTE MF636 USB modem of the type that doubles as a memory stick, that I use on a remote old linuxbox, and the only distro I find to operate satisfactory regarding that modem, is dpup485.

The modem have to be plugged in after startup, and then comes up as a CD-drive. I then click on the CD icon to mount it, and then immediately right-click on the icon, and choose unmunt in the menu. The icon then disappears, and after some time reappears as a USB-stick symbol.

Beware, when I say in the text that I have to wait for a minute, it is because I have to, maybe my linuxbox is too slow! If I do follow up too soon, I get a message 'The modem is busy' or similar! Yeah, right! :roll:

In the Internet connection wizard, I choose 'Internet by dialup analog or wireless modem', where the window happily inform me that modem is selected and is available on /dev/ttyUSB0. I set all the fields requiring necessary info, and I finish off by testing the ttyUSB0, which now reports: Sorry, no modem is found!

I then have to close the internet connection window, and then open the /etc/wvdial.conf file, and set the first line to start with /dev/ttyUSB2 instead of /dev/ttyUSB0, and save. I don't know if this is universal, or just my ttyUSB setup. The wizard reads the /etc/wvdial.conf file when it opens.

After giving the system a minute ot two to think things through, I open the internet connection window again, and Hey Presto! I now have a modem at ttyUSB2. Choose stupid mode, click the connect button, and wait and see what happens! It usually comes up with a pid, but that disappears, and it refuses to connect - I cannot remember the exact text. Then I click the 'Disconnect, or stop trying' button. After another minute or so, this time without shutting the window, I try connecting again, and again if necessary, until I succeed.

The problem with many of the late puppys, like squeezed 499.2, slacko 5.3 something lucid 5.xxx, wary5xx, racy5xxx - god knows how many I tried - is that some have some kind of builtin automatic modem detection, that of course don't detect those modems, and don't have any alternative ways to get the modem recognized, either as a CD-drive or USB stick. The modem simply don't show on the desktop at all! Those puppys that can detect manually, don't! Very frustrating!

BTW, I always run off a live CD/DVD, nothing stored on harddisk.

I also asked in an earlier post, if having USB1 or USB2 is significant in this matter, but as far as I recall, got no reply.

Image

tallboy

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davelectronic
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#18 Post by davelectronic »

Hi there Tallboy.
A lot of your post sounds familiar, i don't know if you mean your USB 1 / USB 2 in this thread, i can't see a post on it, for my connection on the said machine its USB 1.

I don't know why more support in the operating system does not exist, as wireless is popular now days, if all fails ive a plan B, its to try a wireless router that supports USB 3G dongles, there is a glitch there, the WiFi end in the PC if USB or Ethernet often uses Windows drivers in its set up, so it could in theory pose the same problems.

Yes as you say all very frustrating, i have seen others say they use 3G internet dongles fine in puppy, what is it there doing i am not ? i don't know not sure at this stage.

Ive googled loads of web pages looking for a way forward, all from unlocking dongles to AT commands to halt auto runs from the dongle.

How hard could it be to add software like a universal installer that recognizes all dongle software / hardware, it probably will catch up at some point, but the question is when.

Until then its keep looking for a fix to get connected, ive always used wireless connectivity and don't plan on running out to sign up to a contract internet connection, portable lap top users of Linux must want to use wireless, but hit the same wall.

I will keep trying, including disabling auto run and other idea's, on another machine blank at the moment i had planned another distro Ubuntu or mint, but not doing yet as i would need to install a graphics card driver, but no internet connection equals no driver for it, any way if i get a result i will post update progress on the issue. :)

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Fossil
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#19 Post by Fossil »

Dave,
Just to recap.
To cut a long story short puppy is telling me on the screen in a window that one single driver string is missing, i think it might connect if it was there.
Windows drivers are not necessary when using the dongle under Linux. A 'single driver string is missing'. What do you mean? Is this an AT command? Can you please post a screen capture of this command using Puppy Linux.
Using Lupu 528.
Go to, Menu.
Graphic.
Mtpaint-snapshot screen capture.
Screen - choose 10 seconds or Now. Choose and click.
MTpaint will show the captured desktop image.
Go into MTpaint. Image. The image needs to be resized.
Scale image. New. Input, 800
Okay.
Save As (call it what you like).
Change PNG to JPG. JPEG quality 70.
This ain't a work of art, just a way of verifying whatever is on the screen.
Attach image to your next post.

With regard a 3G dongle attached to a wired/wireless router. I'm using a TP-LINK, TL-MR3220.
The dongle is attached to a four metre powered USB2 cable located in the attic. The cable snakes down the attic stairs to the TP-LINK router. From there, the connection is hard wired, by ethernet cable, to the computer.
To clarify setup. There is no need for Windows drivers to setup the router. Most routers can be initiated by going into a browser and inputting a web address. In the case of the TP-LINK it's, http://192.168.1.1. Press Enter, a new screen appears, then input the User name and Password - usually admin, and again, admin. A series of menus follow. Fill in the boxes with the details - and that's it. With the dongle inserted it works like a normal setup.

muggins
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#20 Post by muggins »

I don't know why more support in the operating system does not exist, as wireless is popular now days
Dave,

googling linux MF627 throws up in excess of 300,000 hits. So why is it that the wifi dongle makers are so reluctant to make their devices work transparently with linux? Instead it's up to volunteer hackers, to reverse engineer their software, enabling it to work with linux.

Anyway, as you're aware, these devices need to switch from being storage devices, to modems. Rereading the first page of this thread, I'm still unclear whether you've tried pupdial?

Menu>Setup>Internet Connection Wizard>Internet by dialog analog or wireless modem

Forum member Rerwin has done heaps of work to try & make these devices work better with pupdial. Yet there can still be some problems with them being detected wrongly.

With my Usb modem, some puppies will see it as using the wrong ttyUSB port, so I need to click under the Test/Select button to get the right port detected. Also, sometimes you may need to click Choose>Erase...then Probe to properly detect your modem.

Another problem getiing these devices working with linux is correct ID. If you go to Menu>SystemHardInfo>USB, then select your modem, what does HardInfo say the device's VendorID & ProductID is?

( Note: Most of these devices will have one set of vendor & product ID's for their mass storage mode, and another when in modem phase. )

Another thread, where Superchook got an mf627 working with puppy, is here.

Lastly, I'm not sure whether the Sakis3G-Gui pet, by reckrhodes in this thread is relevant to your device.
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davelectronic
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#21 Post by davelectronic »

Hello again Fossil and Muggins.
I don't fully understand the AT command thing, ive only input a search on ZTE in general, i thought if i can find info on getting connected via 3 network it would work as all ZTE 3G dongles work in the same way.

The picture posted of the connection screen shot ive got that far, and clicked choose, as ive not had it running for a day or two due to illness ive forgot some of the screen detail on installation, any way i do remember being offered a list of drivers to choose from.

Today the misses bought a new ZTE 535 3G today on 3 network again, so its never seen a machine yet, the first it see's will be the puppy OS.

As far as windows drivers go when installed on XP or Vista nothing about the installer shows a windows installer if that makes sense, the spec of this dongle supports Mac OS as well, and that's not windows, ive no doubt good people blazing the trail are working on software to get this incompatibility 3G issue resolved.

As there are a far few distro's of Linux it will take a while, so i get it totally, so next day or two i will get all the screen shots for you to view.

Today ive looked in to it a bit more and found dongle unlocking etc as well, i found a store that sells unlocked dongles and in the description of sale it supports Linux, a Wiki store i think, so update on progress soon. :)

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Fossil
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#22 Post by Fossil »

Dave,
I'm confused! The pictures 'posted on the connection screen' look very much like Windows, not Puppy. Can you please answer Muggins question: Have you tried, Puppy's, Connection Wizard>Internet by dialup, analog or wireless modem? What was the result?
With regard 'unlocking' 3G modems. This process allows the individual to use any network on their wifi dongle (rather than one locked to the device by the provider) by simply changing the SIM card, ie: O2, Virgin, T-Mobile, 3G, whatever. This 'unlocking' has nothing to do with starting up the wifi dongle under Linux.

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davelectronic
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#23 Post by davelectronic »

I have tried wireless, dial up, gprs to access a connection, yes i used the puppy connection wizard for all the attempts.

The user interface of the dongle when installing on windows does not look like a windows installer, in puppy there is just a windows opening prompting me for the next step, the wall i hit is as follows: Puppy has detected your devise, but there is a problem there is a driver string missing.

The above is the exact stopping point for which i can go no further, i explained my daughter wiped a driver off the dongle, but when installing it on windows XP Vista it updates on first connection to the internet.

Could the driver not be generic ? Linux puppy see's the dongle, but connection not possible as a driver string is missing, hope this explains and answers Muggins question, i will do screen shots soon and you will see the missing driver message in a window puppy is giving me. :)

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davelectronic
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#24 Post by davelectronic »

Sorry if i missed a question put to me, not thick just ill.
Anyway ive googled lots of terms regarding hits through Google, just tried another, usb mode switch for ZTE 3G Dongle, second hit this thread, don't wont to sound flippant but not cutting edge if all Google can spit out is this thread A.

So if i missed some thing its not intentional, but me not getting it first time.
I will follow this up to a conclusion even if i have to draft in help, a few mates are IT Tech's with the know how more so than me, but once shown i will get it, some thing Tallboy said about no reply, if i find a fix for one or more model of ZTE dongles the results will end up here.

As i said progress is only a bit slow due to other problems, illness etc.
But as i say i will follow it up to a conclusion be it slightly slower than normal. :)

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tallboy
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#25 Post by tallboy »

Muggins, not much use in the connection wizard if you cannot use it on a modem. In some of the puppys I list, there is nothing coming up on the desktop when the modem is connected. The wizard need to see a modem to work! It cannot be mounted manually, because to 'mount' it is nonexistent!

davelectronic, have you tried to perform my recipe to get online?

You can also look for your modem by browsing all the files /etc/udev/rules.d. (or run find)
Why all? It may have been sold under a different name. You can also try to add your modem to the lines where MF626 and MF628 modems are listed, and see what happens!

tallboy

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davelectronic
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#26 Post by davelectronic »

Hi again to you all.
I have been pulling my hair out so to speak with this wireless connection issue with puppy, i see other Linux distro's have success with wireless dongle connections.

Although i like puppy, ive given enough time to a problem i cant fix, so for the time being ive shelved puppy and moved on.

Since my last post ive found what i am looking for, an operating system for a pair of old Pentium III machines.

Its not puppy for now, until the experts find a fix for us wireless users, but another Linux distro, if all you've known is Windows you cant go far wrong with the link below, its just what i needed right now, and there are two versions, standard offering and a lite offering for older hardware.

The links below if any one's interested, fir me its ticked all the boxes and works a treat, for info of the hardware i am running it on look back to page one and earlier posts.

I will follow puppy and or until the fix comes will install it again then, the other optional system i chose wont appeal to every one, but i think its really good.

Thanks to you all for your help and ideas. :)
Regards,
Dave.

Link below.

http://zorin-os.com/index.html

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tallboy
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#27 Post by tallboy »

davelectronic, I haven't seen a single detailed step-by-step description from you, on what you actually did to improve the situation.

Even if you did not make it work, it would be valuable information for future development and for giving assistance, to know exactly what you actually did, or did not, do, and what happened then!

tallboy

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Semme
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#28 Post by Semme »

Dave- this is all you had to forward...
"Another problem getiing these devices working with linux is correct ID. If you go to Menu>SystemHardInfo>USB, then select your modem, what does HardInfo say the device's VendorID & ProductID is?

Note: Most of these devices will have one set of vendor & product ID's for their mass storage mode, and another when in modem phase..

Philh
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#29 Post by Philh »

Ive just tried a ZTE MF627 vendor 0x19d2 Product id 0x31.
This is on a pc with a usb2 port. Dont know about usb1.
Wary522 Racy522 Slacko531p all worked ok.
By plugging in after bootup,let it get detected.
Internet connection
Dialup analog or wireless modem
Phone *99#
apn 3internet
Tick Stupid mode

But with Lupu528.002 there was no modem detected.
Probing found the modem.
But it always picked the wrong port.
I had to edit wvdial.conf to make it work.

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davelectronic
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#30 Post by davelectronic »

Sorry for the lack of screen shots, i don't know how to do it through Linux, all i could do is take pic's with a camera and upload.

You and others would glean nothing from that anyway, its plastered all over the web what others have tried, i am not different as in the things ive tried, so whats the point in keep mowing the lawn ? as i said i am not a computer programer, command line etc, i am a electronics engineer, well that's my back ground attributes, not pc programer, i see me as the end user.

USB 1.0 on these machines, so that might be an issue, but its working with Zorin, my screen shots are no different from what's all ready available, why clutter the web with more failures, hope that explains it for you.

Good luck with all your ventures, what ever they may be.

Regards,

Dave. :)

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tallboy
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#31 Post by tallboy »

Philh, that was very interesting. Those distros you mention did not find my MF628. I shall try them all again, just so I don't make more of a fool of myself, than I already am! :lol: I only have old machines with USB-1 here, I wonder if that may be the reason, I guess I'll have to do some serious specs. reading... :(

tallboy

EDIT: My modem is a ZTE MF636, not a 628, sorry, brainfart!

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nilsonmorales
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#32 Post by nilsonmorales »

menu--setup--internet conection wizard
by dialup
choose
probe
then ttyUSB
and fill
phone number
mine is *99# depends country
username claro
apn ba.amx
password internet
check in stupid mode
and conect

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=68086

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davelectronic
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#33 Post by davelectronic »

Hi again guys.
Just a quick update, Ive still not managed a 3G connection with Puppy Linux, i still have it on two machines be it old ones ( see start of thread ) so i will keep searching for an answer / solution.

But in the mean time Ive been trying Zorin lite, no problem with 3G there and its requirements are fairly modest, also at the moment Ive totally took the plunge and dumped my Vista business OS for Linux mint 12 Lisa using the LXDE desktop 32 bit edition, again lite on system resources, and again no problems with huawei or ZTE dongles.

So i will continue to look for solutions to 3G connectivity problems, i just don't get why such a nice distro as Puppy cant make life easier for wireless users, oh well i hope for a simple solution soon.

In the mean time Linux mint Maya looks very good and LTS for it as well.

BYE BYE to Windows, on the Linux road now, great stuff. :D


http://linuxmint.com/

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davelectronic
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#34 Post by davelectronic »

Oh Tallboy, i don't feel stupid at the usb 1.0 comment, or silly, just a speed observation might have been an issue, i don't know what program software Puppy uses to see 3G hardware, also nothing wrong with old machines, P 3 USB 1.0 etc, there meant for the kids to use, Compaq Ipaq light legacy machines 500 MHZ CPU 512 Ram in each one, rather than kill my duel core system.

If you cant find any distro that can see your dongle your doing something wrong, or your dongles nakered. :lol:

jontyuk
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this works for mf112

#35 Post by jontyuk »

Fossil wrote:Hi Dave,
Welcome. I see you are using Lucid: more info on your computer system does help - laptop, desktop, etc. Your locality in the world might give a slightly different result depending upon local providers, but I've had success using a ZTE MF112 3G modem using this method. I'm in the UK.
Click on 'Connect'.
Internet Connection Wizard. Choose 'Internet dialup, analog or wireless modem'.
Pupdial test. The modem should be detected.

Account 1.
Phone Access number. *99# (that's, star 99 hash, no spaces )
Username. 3g
Wireless APN. 3internet
Password. 3g

Tick box Auto Reconnect.

A short USB extension lead with the modem clear of the computer and of any obstructions, preferably close to a window or higher in the house/loft, gives a stronger signal.
This is my first post on the forum. Basically I want to thank fossil for this information, as it has just worked to get my mf112 dongle working, using samba mobile (on the 3 network) in the UK.
tested so far and works with
slacko-5.5-4G.iso
Puppy_Crypt_528.iso
Dongle pluged in before boot, don't know if that makes a difference yet on a dell latitude C600, usb 1.1 (I think) 256mb ram 800mhz PIII no HD just booting from cd.
I'm also curious if I can use this dongles micro sd card as a bootable usb stick with either iso mentioned above, and still use the dongle as a modem (I don't have a micro sd to test yet) but if possible I would have a very usefull little doofer to plug in and get online on just about any system with usb boot capabilitys.
Thank you to all involved with this project, I discovered puppy a couple of months ago and I love it, once I get used to navigating the file system I will probably ditch windoze for good!
Cheers!
Jonty

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