novatel evdo

[Davy]

i went and got myself one fo these: (it's an ev-do modem for sprint)
http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/30/fcc-find-novatel-u720-usb-ev-do-modem-for-sprint/

I'm running this: http://www.elivecd.org/ (it's based off of debian etch)

over at linuxquestions.org, i found someone who has been able to get it to work. he says to:

( I recommend that you another terminal open with tail -f /var/log/messages while you do this for debuging)

Now, with the info we just need to tell usbserial kernel module to use this device:

modprobe usbserial vendor=0x1416 product=0x1110

( You should see a message flash through your tail saying something like blah blah /class/dev/usb/ttyUSB0 and /class/dev/usb/ttyUSB1 )

Holy crap, your in.... now you just have to set pppd to allow the paramets to connect and then call it and your on the net:

/etc/ppp is were we are going to go, you need two files one under /etc/ppp/peers/<your ppp> and one under /etc/ppp/<your chat script>

mine looks like this:
vi /etc/ppp/peers/verizon

connect '/usr/sbin/chat -v -t3 -f /etc/ppp/verizon-chat'

debug
/dev/ttyUSB0
230400
user="<your#>@vzw3g.com"
password="<your passwd>"
defaultroute
usepeerdns
ipparam rtt

vi /etc/ppp/verizon-chat

'' 'AT'
'OK' 'ATDT#777'

now add this to your /etc/ppp/pap-secrets

<your#>@vzw3g.com * <your passwd>

Also, Suse users, or others that get disconnect after 2.1->2.6 minutes
vi /etc/ppp/options

Comment out all the LCP lines in the file, wq, and restart your ppp dialing


pppd call verizon


of course i use my own vendor and product id. /var/log gives me back ttyUSB0 ttyUSB1 and ttyUSB2

then when i try to use this guy's scripts, the command line keeps giving me back error messages telling me that each line in the script is not recognized. specifically, it tells me that "connect '/usr/sbin/chat -v -t3 -f /etc/ppp/verizon-chat'" is not recognized; so i comment it out and then it tells me that "debug" is not recognized; so i comment it out and then it tells me that /dev/ttyUSB0 is not recognized; so on and so on.

elive has a ppp config utility, but it wants the phone number that my evdo modem dials. this is a problem, because i have no way of finding out what number it dials.

naturally, the card works in windows, but i really REALLY wanna go back to using linux. anyone have any ideas on how i can get it to work?

[Davy]

UPDATE:

i kept looking to make sure that this evdo moden is linux compatible and, indeed, it is. i'm actually using this person's instructions to post using knoppix and my machine with the evdo modem attached.

why-o-why won't it work for my distribution!!!???


I am posting under knoppix 5.01 (dvd) using a novatel u720. I am assuming this is the same as the merlin u720 since the product and vendor id's are the same.

connecting on this system is very easy once you know what to do.

First, make sure that there is no other routing info. I had a wireless router connected for a lan and this was preventing the peerdns from working properly.

next activate usbserial using the same command as above

Quote:
sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0x1410 product=0x2110


knoppix includes a script for sprint by default, but you must edit it to point to the correct modem. you need to be root or use sudo. I suggest the following

sudo kwrite /etc/ppp/peers/sprint
Quote:
# You usually need this if there is no PAP authentication
noauth
# The chat script (be sure to edit that file, too!)
connect "/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/sprint"
# Set up routing to go through this PPP link
defaultroute
# Use remote DNS
usepeerdns
# Default modem (you better replace this with /dev/ttyUSB0!)
/dev/ttyUSB0 # I changed this line only
# Connect at high speed
230400
local


next run the pon command
Quote:
pon sprint


since knoppix is a boot cd you need to do this after every boot

[Davy]

okay, so i copy the ppp and chat scripts from knoppix. i try them on my elive and i don't get an error message in /var/log/messages. it still doesn't work, so i check out the routing table with route. it's blank, so i try to manually create a route identicle to the one in knoppix. it type in

route add -net <the ip address> netmask 255.255.255.255 dev ppp0

and it gives me error

Usage: inet_route [-vF ] add {host|-net} target [gw GW] [metric M] [netmask N] [mss MSS] ...

But if I do
inet_route add -net <ip address> netmask 255.255.255.255 dev ppp0
I get

bash: inet_route command not found

i know that route is in my system (it's sitting at /sbin/route and /proc/net/route gives me a printout)

and even if I use the whole path for the route:

/sbin/route add -net <ip address> netmask 255.255.255.255 dev ppp0

I still get the bad usage error

[Davy]

i got it to work!

this is for those of you that run into the same problem into the future:

unless you're really willing to learn some really arcane network know-how switch over to unbuntu. there's documentation a-plenty to show you how to connect.

what i did was switch over to ubuntu edgy eft (6.10) and use the knoppix scripts to get it to work.

the usbserial module listed earlier in this thread will work, but your speed will be slow. instead use the modified airprime module that you can get from here: http://samat.org/weblog/20070127-high-speed-cellular-wireless-modems-in-ubuntu-linux-6-10.html

the webpage also gives you instruction on how to compile it and get it to work and it works awesomely!!!