Connecting to internet via Nokia phone
 

The ancient PC has died, and I'm sick of Windows, so I've bought a second-hand laptop and installed Ubuntu version 10.04.1 LTS from a CD borrowed from the library.

So far so good, and I like what I see, but I can't attach to the internet.

I used to access the web on the old PC (which ran Windows XP) via my Nokia 3G phone, which I plugged into a USB port and used as a modem.

Before buying the laptop, I found this thread...

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...-linux-756519/

...I didn't fully understand it, but it seemed to confirm that I would be able to do the same thing from Linux.

'Gnome-PPP' and 'KPPP', which are suggested in that thread, appear to be moribund, but 'wvdial' is evidently going strong. I downloaded what seemed to be the necessary file (wvdial_1.61-4.1_i386.deb) direct onto my phone and then transferred it onto the laptop. But it returned "Error: Dependency is not satisfiable: libuniconf4.6".

So I repeated the process with libuniconf4.6_4.6.1-7_i386.deb
But that returned "Error: Dependency is not satisfiable: libuniconf4.6".
And then again with libwvstreams4.6-base_4.6.1-7_i386.deb

This returned "Error: Dependency is not satisfiable: libc6 (>=2.15)".

So I tried
libc6_2.19-0ubuntu6_i386.deb

...but it didn't seem to work - nothing happened at all when I clicked on it except the window vanished.

The same happened with
libc6_2.17-0ubuntu5.1_i386.deb

Eventually, libc6_2.15-0ubuntu10.5_i386.deb produced "Error: Conflicts with the installed package 'libc6-i686'"

I've no idea where to go from here.

Help!

the ubuntu version you installed is end of life. full stop.
do your library a favor and supply them with the current LTS (=long term support) version, which is currently 14.04.
actually, since you say it's a used and probably old machine, you shouldn't use ubuntu but rather lubuntu or xubuntu or an altogether different distro.
how old exactly? specs?

only after that can we discuss your further problems.

I used the current debian and it worked like magic on a usb tethered hotspot. Pretty sure I used Opensuse and it too worked with no user intervention. Basically the hotspot is a samsung phone. Never even used any wdial, just set it as usb tethered and viola network over 4G.

I'd agree that a newer distro is the way to go.

Thank you both for responding.

When I return the book to the library I will certainly slip a CD copy of the latest Ubuntu release in, alongside the one that came with it.

But before I can do that, I need to get the internet working on the laptop, so that I can download it. (This cheap 3G phone surely doesn't have enough memory to download an entire new distro?)

I don't know for certain what is under the hood of the laptop because all the seals are broken, and the seller was a bit vague about how old it is and where it came from. (But it works, it was cheap, and I could afford it!)

FWIW the detachable label on the front says

TravelMate 3212NWXMi
* Intel Pentium M processor 740
(1.73 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache)
* 14.1 WXGA wide TFT LCD
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900
* 60GB HDD
* DVD-Super Multi double layer
(Support DVD+R Double Layer/DVD±RW
/DVD-RAM)
* 256MB DDR2 (support dual-channel)
* 802.11b/g wireless LAN

Is there a simple way of verifying this?

In case it is stock though

http://techphotos.in/acer-tm-3212-review

Buy a https://www.osdisc.com/products/pupp...-cd-32bit.html

or a https://www.osdisc.com/products/xubu...dvd-32bit.html

is all I can think of though if 10.04 is installed

Linky

Good luck

Your options are going to be pretty slim with 256 MB Ram. You'll have to definately get something light since most distro's require atleast 1G Ram.

Me, I was hoping the 256MB was video ram. Fingers crossed type of post.

You can check for sure by pulling the ram access cover I guess.

GrhmN, what you bought hardly seems less "ancient" than your old pc.
(i sincerely hope you didn't get ripped off)

i think your first step would be to make sure of the ram -
switch the laptop off completely.
there's usually an easily accesible cover on the bottom of the laptop, under that you can see the ram chips, sort of longish, like that. now you should be able to read how much they are - usually 256MB or 512MB or even 1G. don't be afraid to take them out and turn them around to read both labels.
now do the math.

if you really got only 256mb, you should urgently consider putting in more (these old ddr2's are cheap) - i think 1gb altogether would be sufficient, considering that the rest of the hardware isn't too new either.
or, if you don't want to upgrade ram, you have to go with some extreme lightweight distro. rokytnji is the guy for that.

Upgradeable to 2Gigs by this post.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/19...nt-upgradation

Yes, cheap as it was, it rather looks like I may have been.
The expression "pig in a poke" comes to mind. I'm tempted to toss it into a skip (which is probably where the seller found it!) and put the whole thing down to experience.

But this process is opening up a whole new world to me, which I'm finding quite interesting, so that makes me want to persevere. That and bloodymindedness!

I'll not be buying any components, which could be throwing good money after bad, so lightweight has to be the way to go.

So, I'm trying to find out how much RAM I have. There are two RAM cards. One has a label saying 256MB, the other has no label but has sixteen chips on it: two groups of four on either side. The chips don't seem say how much memory they represent. The only writing on them says "ELPIDA TWN E5108AGBG -6E-E 06552A900Z", which returns no results on any of the three search engines I tried.

Oh no! I've put the RAM cards back in and switched it on, but now Ubuntu won't start up.

A lot of gibberish flashed past, and vanished off the top of the screen and then the following

Killed
mount: mounting /dev on /root/dev failed: No such file or directory.
mount: mounting /sys on /root/sys failed: No such file or directory.
mount: mounting/proc on /root/proc failed: No such file or directory.
Target filesystem doesn't have /sbin/init
No init found. Try passing init=boundary
Busybox v1.13.3 (Ubuntu 1:1.13.3 - 1ubuntu11) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
(inittranmfs) [3.280204] ieee1394: Host added: ID:BUS[0-00: 1023] GUID[00023f566784022a3]

ARRRGH! It gets worse.

What do I do now?

maybe you didn't shove them back in properly.
are you sure they are both ram chips? they should be looking (almost) identical.

Well, sounds like 512MB of ram. You have to make sure the spring clips seat in the ram semi-circle slots for a good seat.

I hope you did not static discharge on the sticks or pull them with the laptop battery still plugged in.
But water under the bridge if you did.

Not to worry though. Usually you get no screen or action or love from the laptop when that happens.
So unplug and remove battery. Touch your hands to a metal cabinet or the floor making sure hands are dry
and clean.

Then check ram seating. You probably did not push one in far enough (I hope)

Which will give Ubuntu 10 only 256MB to boot from and it will have a hissy fit.

Good luck.

Edit: found this

The part number seems to match what you posted. So maybe you have 1.2 gig of ram.
That would be cool.

Anyhows. If you fix the Ubuntu snafu and can get into a terminal.

would probably have been a lot safer than removing the ram to check type and size.

Thanks for the further responses.

Before I saw them, however, I had tried reinstalling Ubuntu from the disk. One option on the disk's boot menu is a 'memory test'. I ran this (it took a couple of hours) and it found no errors. Handily, it also confirmed that the two RAM cards are both working and are 256MB and 1024MB respectively, much as rokytnji surmised. (A slight puzzle, though, is that it reported the total memory to be 1272MB rather than 1280MB. Where has the odd 8MB gone?)

But Ubuntu still won't start up and neither can I reinstall it from the disk. When I select 'install Ubuntu' from the boot menu it just sits there twinkling its Ubuntu logo at me but doing nothing.

And if I start up without the disk, I get that same avalanche of error messages.

Further advice will be much appreciated.

Don't pick install Ubuntu from the menu. Pick run live instead and run off the cd to make sure everything works first.

You have enough ram to run a live session. Then you can try running the installer from the desktop.
The DVD does not have any scratches in it I hope since you last used it?
Also. I keep a cd lens cleaner disk handy for old POS gear that comes my way.
Something you are probably lacking.

http://www.jbhifi.co.nz/images/fixit...4325-large.gif

...and checking the ram was only the first step.
i'm still somewhat concerned about your dated hardware and ubuntu not being the most suitable distro for that.
have you tried http://distrowatch.com/search.php , then go for "old computers".
also your old nokia + usb cable internet connection is... well, i honestly don't know. maybe it just works with wvdial or gnome-ppp but you might want to consider spending a few credits on an old android phone and using it to create a wlan hotspot. at least on linux, wifi is much better supported than mobile broadband these days.