Mobile Broadband

[timewarp78]

Hi,
Ive seen on the web that 3 mobiles, mobile broadband dongle is compatible with Linux.
Does anyone know if this means it will work on the Pandora, if there is a usb convertor cable available?

 

[lulzfish]

The Pandora has a USB 2.0 port.
IF the drivers for these are open-source, they should be able to be ported.
If they are closed-source, they won't work unless the hardware manufacturer explicits compiles them for the Pandora.

Bluetooth tethering with a Bluetooth-compatible phone is also expected to work.

 

[darkowl]

the huawei 220 chipset is compatible with linux, this chipset is the one that most USB 3g devices use. These devices do not appear to require any kind of binary blob (I could be wrong) and so it should be possible to compile the drivers for these devices under the arm architecture. As for the hardware side I'm at a loss, I'm not sure if the pandora can power these. the socket at the back looks like a usb connnector too me;

 

[lulzfish]

Yes, the rear port there is definitely the USB 2.0 port, there's a label for that image somewhere that says so.

As long as the dongle stays within standard USB 2 power requirement [5V, 500mA], the Pandora should be able to power it, though it will obviously reduce the battery life a little.

 

[MiniSinisterMinister]

I would like to have a UMTS modem built in the Pandora. Using a stick is a little awkward and partly destroys the convenience of the handheld. Do you think it would be possible to mod the Pandora?

 

[pelrun]

The E220 uses something like 300-400mA when the transmitter is on, rather a pain when my Zaurus only sourced 150mA max without modification! :rolleyes:

The Pandora shouldn't have a problem though.

It doesn't need any special drivers (basic usbserial is sufficient) however there is an issue with how the dongle activates the modem side - usually only the mass-storage driver starts up. I'm pretty sure most recent linux kernels sort it out automatically; earlier ones needed to use an app and/or udev rules to force the modem to initialise.

 

[Tor]

On my laptop the E200 doesn't even work unless I use the dual-plug cable and two USB sockets. It should work with the Pandora but I wouldn't like to try unless it's also on AC. I'll stick to my 3G phone and bluetooth for those situations where there's no wi-fi nearby.

 

[DJWillis]

I'll try and do a demo with my E220 sometime.

Had it going before, in fact I started to write a blog post on it but it is lost in my drafts somewhere .

 

[hobbyman II]

e220 on 3 is my sole net connection, works fine under the newest Linux kernels, no external driver needed since it was promoted to default kernel (built into kernel), running under Ubuntu 8.10 its as hard to use as right clicking on the network icon and selecting "3" ,setting up was just a matter of using the wizard to select country and service provider......easy peasy

 

[Etinin]

The best option is to buy some 3G phone and just do Wi Fi or Blutetooth tethering.

 

[emcp]

well dont know if this will be of any use

but virgin media is offering 3G adapter for £5 month for 1gb, if you have XL broadband package

im considering this option, on the other hand i saw one for £99 for 12gb

i just dont want to exceed the usage limit and end up paying twice as much
is there a prepay option anywhere or can i allow the pandora to manage the amount of data sent to keep it under 1gb a month

also i bet theyre referring too, Japanese GB

 

[benjymous]

i just dont want to exceed the usage limit and end up paying twice as much
is there a prepay option anywhere or can i allow the pandora to manage the amount of data sent to keep it under 1gb a month

Vodaphone UK do a prepay mobile broadband:

http://shop.vodafone.co.uk//shop/catalog/c...kuIds=sku690026

£15 gets you 1gb, which doesn't expire (so if you only use 100mb a month, that'll last 10 months before you need to topup again)

Assuming their modem works on the Pandora, that's the one I'll be going for (as I don't imagine I'll need much bandwidth on the go for a bit of light web browsing - any serious downloading can wait till I get home!)

 

[gibberish]

my phone contract runs out in april, so i intend to get a new one that supports hsdpa and has bluetooth 2. most networks will give you unlimited bandwidth for an extra £5 per month. problem solved!

 

[craigix]

I always thought those USB sticks just used the standard modem protocol? If so they should all work. By 'modem protocol' I'm not sure if we are talking the ancient AT one, things might have changed since then).

ATX3D (any old, um, PBX fans... remember the use of that command?)

 

[Tor]

At least for the Huawei sticks (e.g. e220) they are more than just an AT-compatible serial protocol device. The same USB device tries to support two different serial channels as well as a CD-ROM device. The CD-ROM part contains a driver which is automatically installed when you plug it in to a Windows- or Mac computer.

A Linux kernel without support/patches for those USB sticks will get confused by the different personalities and may decide to only show your stick as a CD-ROM (which it can't even properly support). But with patches, or the latest kernels it will handle it as either one or two serial channels. Only one of them is really important because that's where you send your AT commands. The other serial channel is for monitoring and may need some additional software. The CD-ROM part can be completely ignored as it's useless for Linux anyway.

 

[craigix]

Ah that's great, we will probably try to make a list of what works and what does not before we start shipping.

 

[DJWillis]

If anyone is interested I posted some stuff on Mobile Broadband with the Pandora on my weblog (blogs.distant-earth.com).

I am even posting this from my Pandora connected via 3G/GPRS.

John

 

[WizardStan]

If anyone is interested I posted some stuff on Mobile Broadband with the Pandora on my weblog (blogs.distant-earth.com).

I am even posting this from my Pandora connected via 3G/GPRS.

Don't you mean "F1RST P0ST!!"?
http://www.xkcd.org/269/

 

[DesktopMan]

At least for the Huawei sticks (e.g. e220) they are more than just an AT-compatible serial protocol device. The same USB device tries to support two different serial channels as well as a CD-ROM device. The CD-ROM part contains a driver which is automatically installed when you plug it in to a Windows- or Mac computer.

A Linux kernel without support/patches for those USB sticks will get confused by the different personalities and may decide to only show your stick as a CD-ROM (which it can't even properly support). But with patches, or the latest kernels it will handle it as either one or two serial channels. Only one of them is really important because that's where you send your AT commands. The other serial channel is for monitoring and may need some additional software. The CD-ROM part can be completely ignored as it's useless for Linux anyway.

You don't need kernel support to prevent it being confused. You can blacklist the USB IDs so it doesn't load mass storage device drivers for it. That way only the usb serial devices show up. I've done this myself on the e272 (basically the same as e220).

The actual modem part is indeed just a bunch of AT commands. I dumped these commands myself on a windows machine to use it in Linux before it was officially supported. With ubuntu 8.10 you can just right click the network manager, much easier than using it on Windows. e220 is the most popular one as far as I know, but I've tried my e272 on Linux and it worked perfectly.

DJWillis: Did you have to use a hub to convert the signals? Or does it have an internal hub due to the multiple personalities?

Edit: saw your news post. Yep requires hub. Curse you Pandora usb port. My single biggest annoyance with it.

 

[pelrun]

I've done this myself on the e272 (basically the same as e220).

That's not exactly true - the E220 needs a special tool (huaweiAktBbo) to switch between storage and serial if the kernel is too old; this is currently the case on my Zaurus. "Kernel support" does not mean a dedicated module; the support was rolled into usbserial about 2.6.20.