Caveat: Please explain in the most basic terms possible when offering advice, I'm a rank beginner and barely understand how to handle a tarball, let alone understand a lot of the stuff I've been searching on here. Thanks in advance.

Here's the problem:

I'm trying to install the Sierra 881 USB wireless device on my Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop, running Ubuntu 2.6.22-14-generic.

I've followed the advice found at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=320557
then realized that was for an 875, not an 881..oops.

I did a search for the 881 and have been reading that I need to install a patch for the Tru-install device, and found a link for that here
http://www.sierrawireless.com/faq/Sh...aspx?ID=%20608

but, when I tried to do the Tru-install, I can't figure out how to do the patch. From what I've read I'll need to recompile my kernel (something I'm unsure how to do), after I install the patch.

I've seen that Kevin Lloyd has done some work on the patches for this problem and my kernel (2.6.22) but it's hard to tell from the code that he has on his pages (mostly, I suppose because I'm so new to Linux) what it is exactly I'm supposed to be entering in MY terminal, and what is most current and workable.

Kevin Lloyd's webpages are as follows, regarding the patches so far:
http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/7/23/509
http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/6/7/478
http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/1/10/325

Any suggestions or help with this would be greatly appreciated. Again, rank beginner here. I'm anxious to learn though, so thanks in advance for the help.

Well, I don't know this one USB device too well, I've got a Verizon card, but I might be of some help. Right after you attach the device, run "dmesg" from a terminal and paste in here the last few lines. Also, check "lsmod" to see if these two modules are loaded:

usb-serial
option

Cheers,

Finegan

According to the links posted you need to patch your 2.6.22 kernel or get 2.6.23. In both cases you need to install kernel sources. There is Sierra support in kernel but I have no clue whether this module comes with Ubuntu or you need to enable it in kernel conf and build yourself.

Edit: Maybe Ubuntu has 2.6.23 kernel in repository and maybe it comes with sierra module, in this case you do not need sources.

Here's the last lines of the whole mess that spits out when I do

sudo dmesg

Result:

theman@localhost:~$ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 60944 2008-01-20 20:58 bin
bash: drwxr-xr-x: command not found
theman@localhost:~$ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 552 2007-12-12 21:46 games
bash: drwxr-xr-x: command not found
theman@localhost:~$ drwxr-xr-x 56 root root 5488 2007-12-20 09:47 include
bash: drwxr-xr-x: command not found
theman@localhost:~$ drwxr-xr-x 218 root root 66816 2008-01-20 20:58 lib
bash: drwxr-xr-x: command not found
theman@localhost:~$ drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 80 2007-07-24 14:21 lib64
bash: drwxr-xr-x: command not found
theman@localhost:~$ drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 264 2007-06-30 13:49 local
bash: drwxr-xr-x: command not found
theman@localhost:~$ drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 7728 2008-01-20 14:18 sbin
bash: drwxr-xr-x: command not found
theman@localhost:~$ drwxr-xr-x 363 root root 10424 2008-01-20 20:58 share
bash: drwxr-xr-x: command not found
theman@localhost:~$ drwxrwsr-x 6 root src 464 2007-12-13 07:20 src
bash: drwxrwsr-x: command not found
theman@localhost:~$ drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 96 2007-06-30 13:51 X11R6
bash: drwxr-xr-x: command not found
theman@localhost:~$ theman@localhost:~$
bash: theman@localhost:~$: command not found


Not sure what that means, there was a LOT of code that came piling down...I just snagged the last of it, I think that's what you were after?

As for lsmod, this shows up for usbserial:

usbserial 34920 1 visor


The option module that you mentioned does not appear in the list. Is that a problem?

Bugger,

Well, I figured that there would be more relevant info in there. Also, I was a bit unclear, pop in the usb card, then get a dmesg, as the relevant stuff about it seeing the card would be right at the end. Also, I found I was a bit of a tool, the sierra cards have a driver specific to them! Yoink!

/sbin/lsmod | grep sierra

And if there's nothing there:

sudo modprobe sierra

Then try dmesg and it should tell you what device node it ended up on.

Cheers,

Finegan

Here's the latest after putting in

theman@localhost:~$ sudo /sbin/lsmod | grep sierra
sierra 13188 0
usbserial 34920 2 sierra,visor
usbcore 138632 9 sierra,usb_storage,libusual,visor,usbserial,hci_usb,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd

then I input:

sudo modprobe sierra

(which returns nothing)

followed by:

sudo dmesg

which returns the following (I pasted just the last few lines)

[ 3451.260000] /build/buildd/linux-source-2.6.22-2.6.22/drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for Sierra USB modem (1 port)
[ 3451.260000] /build/buildd/linux-source-2.6.22-2.6.22/drivers/usb/serial/usb-serial.c: USB Serial support registered for Sierra USB modem (3 port)
[ 3451.260000] usbcore: registered new interface driver sierra
[ 3451.260000] /build/buildd/linux-source-2.6.22-2.6.22/drivers/usb/serial/sierra.c: USB Driver for Sierra Wireless USB modems: v.1.0.6


Is that the locational data that you're looking for?

-V

http://www.sierrawireless.com/faq/ShowFAQ.aspx?ID=1076

They have very clear instructions there. Why don't you follow those instructions, we can help if you get stuck. We know you have 2.6.22 kernel. Before we proceed please tell us exact model of your device. Also, I do not have Ubuntu, please check if new 2.6.23 kernel is available from Ubuntu repository.

much easier in Kppp than on terminal. make sure to pick /dev/ttyUSB2 and to unclick " wait for dial tone. I did all this and eventually got the modem recognized but it still wont work - I too cannot figure out the truinstall patch. If you figure this out PLEASE let me know