Originally Posted by schniebo

A different approach of using the Verizon V620 to connect Linux to the Web is using the V620 in a virtual machine created with VMware 5.0. Ok, ok, the guest OS is Win XP Pro SP 2 or Win 2000 Pro but 'just' used as an internet gateway for the time...

>> Ingredients I used for this:

(1) IBM Thinkpad T22, 512 MB, 100GB
(2) Ubuntu 5.04 Hoary Hedgehog
(3) V620
(4)VMware 5.0
(5) Win XP Pro SP 2 (Win 2000 Pro works as well)

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>> The recipe:

The Virtual Win XP Guest can have a minimal flexible hard disk (1 GB) and minimum RAM (128 for1 Win XP SP2 and 64 for Win 2000). The RAM can be set to the minimum because the machine will be just the slave for internet connectivity running only the VZAccess Manager and two network connections.

The guest network settings should be set to 'Bridged connected directly to the physical network'.

Install Win XP SP2 without the V620 plugged into the PCMCIA slot.

Do NOT load 'modprobe usbserial vendor=0x1410 product=0x1110' (see explanation further below). If you have loaded it, unload it with 'modprobe -r usbserial'

Once the guest OS has been installed, start the VM.

Install the VZAccess Manager from the Verizon CD and follow the steps until being asked to insert the V620 to be recognized. Plug the V620 in the PCMCIA slot. The VMware host shows after a little while (< 1 min) in the lower right corner of the main VMware window the a blue USB icon, which means that the V620 has been recognized as a USB device by the VM. Don't worry about the USB and VZAccess Manager looking for PCMCIA card. As soon as the USB icon shows up the guest OS (i.e. Win XP Pro SP 2 or Win 2000 Pro) will tell that new hardware was found and will start installing the device drivers. The VM behaves exactly the same as a real Win XP systems. When asked by the VZAccess Manager where to look for the V620 DON'T select USB or Serial but PCMCIA as usual.
The VZAccess Manager will complete the installation as usual followed by the Venturi Client install.
After that the VM will reboot. If after the reboot the V620 is not properly recognized by the system, unplug it briefly and reinsert it. That will do the recognition as a USB device by VMware.
Check the internet connection by loading MS Explorer. The VM should have internet access in the usual fast V620 speed and the card/modem won't time out!

The VM has now essentially two network connections. One via the V620 to the internet and one for to connect the VM to the Linux host. I prefer to have the little network icons visible on the status bar of the VM to follow the network activity (I know it's just blinking blue lights ;-)

The next step is rather easy: Within the VM go into the Windows network settings (should be called by default 'NationalAccess - BroadbandAccess Properties') and enable under sharing the 'Internet Connection Sharing for this connection') and select the ports in the 'Settings' of 'Sharing' to support HTTP 80 etc.

That's pretty much it. Your Linux host is now ready to au to the shared internet connection oftomatically connect via 'lo' the Windows guest OS in the VM.

To stop the session, first disconnect the card. Then power it of with the VZAccess Manager. The power off is helpful (necessary?) to avoid the Linux host later to hang at the shutdown while trying to power off the PCMCIA device (which is controlled by the VM which is no longer in existence at shutdown and left the V620 uncontrollable if not powered off). One could also just unplug the V620 but again that may cause the Linux host some hick-ups at shutdown.

This recipe should work stable and (!!) doesn't suck too many resources: The Linux host CPU goes up to a max of 9% during heavy network traffic in and out of the VM and the rest of the VM is idle all the time, window minimized - no action (don't enable 'cool' screen saver in the VM - the VM is just the internet Hub...).
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>> Addendum:
!!
The resources of the V620 have to be free (i.e. not managed by the Linux Host. That means usbserial should not be loaded with the V620 parameters (i.e. DO NOT load usbserial with 'modprobe usbserial vendor=0x1410 product=0x1110' because that gives the Linux OS the control over the device as a serial USB device as described earlier in this threat). My device manager showed the 'Novatel Wireless Merlin CDMA' with two branches listed each as 'Vendor Specific Interface'.
!!

The Linux web browser settings have to be set to 'Connected directly to the internet'. Proxy or so doesn't work.

I read a lot about the poor performance of the VMware VMs under Linux but I have to say that I am excited about it. Good performance, great network flexibility and device recognition with an excellent graphic makes me actually considering to buy the latest version 5.0 (I run it as a 30 days trial). The Snapshot manager is just fantastic.

The recipe won't work with Win4Lin because of the USB device required within the VM. I had no luck installing Win4Lin with accelerator anyway. Argh.
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Hope this works as good for you as it does for me (writing this right now under the described connection which has been up for the last 1:27 hrs without breaking/timing out).

Cheers
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