Follow us on TwitterAfter a bit of a struggle, I am online with my Linux-based Aspire One via a Verizon UM175 USB Modem using EVDO.
My wife has been hospitalized for the past week. (She had surgery and is doing well.). I have only been home to shower and return to to the hospital. I had planned to stay online via the hospital’s WiFi network. But the visitor WiFi point that I had noted is only open to visiting doctors, not patients.
So I ran out to Verizon and bought a UM175 USB modem. I got a little worried when the sales clerk had no idea what a netbook was. When I asked whether it worked with Linux, she gave me that blank look again. Then the light came on “Windows or Mac only.” I bought it after she told me it could be returned for refund within 30 days.
It took three days of innovation before I figured it out. But I’m finally live.
I did so many things that I’m not sure I could document the steps. I took pieces from many different places.
If you are trying to do the same and are stuck, drop me a comment below and we’ll figure it out together.
Anyway, it is great to be back.
Update 9/24/08: After reviewing my command history, here is what I believe were the magic steps.
While over my three-day implementation, I tried lots of different things from many different websites, most of what I describe below is taken from this article on wosten.com.
Step 1. Download (or compile) the module cdc-acm.
Jungo.com provides an overview of this module:
The CDC ACM driver exposes the USB device as a virtual modem or a virtual COM port to the operating system. The driver enables sending both data and AT commands, either through ACM (separating data and AT commands over different channels) or through Serial Emulation (passing the AT commands as is and as part of the data stream).
While you could compile your own executable version of cdc-acm, it is much simpler to download a copy from here [box.net] or here [adrive.com].
Step 2. Install the cdc-adm module
Open a terminal session:
Press “Alt+F2″
Type “terminal” and press <ENTER>
Change to the directory where you saved the downloaded cdc-acm module.
$ cd /path/to/downloaded/module
$ sudo mkdir -p /lib/modules/2.6.23.9lw/usb/class
$ sudo cp cdc-acm /lib/modules/2.6.23.9lw/usb/class/
Create a device file for the modem
$ sudo mknod /dev/ttyACM0 c 166 0
Add the cdc-acm module to the kernel
$ sudo depmod -a
$ sudo modprobe cdc-acm
Step 3. Install gnome-ppp application.
$ sudo yum install gnome-ppp (answer Y to all questions)
Step 4. Configure gnome-ppp
Start gnome-ppp
Press “Alt+F2″
Type “sudo gnome-ppp” and press <ENTER>. Configure by entering the information described below.
- Username: your-modem’s-phone-number@vzw3g.com
- Password: vzw
- Phone number: #777
- Click on the <Setup> button
- Under the Tab: “Modem”
- Device: /dev/ttyACM0
- Type: USB Modem
- Speed: 460800
- Under the Tab “Networking”
- Check: Manual DNS (Automatic does not seem to work)
- DNS 1: 66.174.92.14
- DNS2: 69.78.96.14
- Under the Tab: “Options”
- Check “Dock in notification area”
- Click on <Close> button
Step 5. Connect via gnome-ppp.
Click on the <Connect> button. Gnome-ppp will display a series of messages. When a connection is made, the gnome-ppp screen disappears. If a connection is not made, then the log file will contain detailed information.
I hope that this is all that is required. If you try this, please provide comments below to let us know if this works or not. If not, please post the messages from gnome-ppp’s log file, so we can troubleshoot together.
Good luck!
since many distros limit USB speeds, i’m curious what you get when you do a test at speedtest.net?
are you happy with the speed?
I tested my connection speed at speedtest.net. Here are the results:
Am I happy? I’m overjoyed at having any access to the Internet from virtually any of the places I frequently travel.
Is it fast enough? Yes. Not bad. Would I be happy if it were faster? Of course!
I’d love to know how you did it. I can’t find any advice on the web.
Andy,
I have updated the article above with what I believe are the magic steps to make this work.
Please try this and advise.
Thanks.
Tom
Awesome, thanks Tom. I’ll give this a shot over the next day or two–many thanks for compiling the list.
An early glitch.
When entering:
$ sudo cdc-acm /lib/modules/2.6.23.9lw/usb/class/
I get:
sudo: cdc-acm: command not found
Any ideas?
Me again. I’m new to Linux, but I’m guessing the problem is that the module won’t move to the newly created file. When I open up the File Manager and try to copy the file that way, the file won’t move.
OK, all fixed and working. I had to change the file owner from “root” to my username. After that, all steps worked perfectly and my Verizon USB connects!!!!
You rock! Thank you!
Andy,
I’m glad you got it working.
The one command on which you received an error:
sudo cdc-acm /lib/modules/2.6.23.9lw/usb/class/
Should be:
sudo cp cdc-acm /lib/modules/2.6.23.9lw/usb/class/
I’ve fixed the text in the article.
Also, the sudo prefix on each command makes you the superuser (same as root). So that should not have been necessary. But your technique works as well.
I’m glad you are up and running.
This works perfectly on my new Verizon setup also. The only suggestion I’ll add is to set “stupid mode” in the gnome-ppp options. Doing this (in my environment at least; Acer Aspire One D250 running Ubuntu Jaunty) prevents a longish delay with gnome-ppp sitting on “waiting for prompt.”