vividwireless modem on Ubuntu

grahamH · 08-08-2011, 03:33 AM

How to setup/install a vividwireless USB broadband 4g modem on Ubuntu 11.04 distro?

Reply to angel115..thanks so far, here are some more details..

# lsusb... yes, the modem type is an Huawei bm358 Wimax USB stick from vividwireless vendor,it shows mac address as follows: 641f03d903e... Any wiser?

cottoned on to the blah about bogus 4g... why the lies I wonder, apparently there is no 4g in Australia!

angel115 · 08-08-2011, 03:57 AM

Huuummmm, following there web site it's not supported official

when your modem is plugged in what does the command lsusb say:

Code:

# lsusb

Try to find the chipset in used in your device as well.

But my gess, it will be tuff to make it work on linux if no driver has been developed.

Best regards,
Angel.

qlue · 08-08-2011, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by angel115

But my gess, it will be tuff to make it work on linux if no driver has been developed.

Best regards,
Angel.

Most 3G modems (lte is 3G, not 4G) are designed using USB to serial type chipsets.
So once we know what the device/vendor numbers are, we can try installing the usbserial module for it. :up:.
(most other chipsets are detected automatically in Ubuntu)

grahamH · 08-09-2011, 11:12 PM

Reply to angel115..thanks so far, here are some more details..

# lsusb... yes, the modem type is an Huawei bm358 Wimax USB stick from vividwireless vendor,it shows mac address as follows: 641f03d903e... Any wiser?

cottoned on to the blah about bogus 4g... why the lies I wonder, apparently there is no 4g in Australia!

sorry I just realised the box underneath for replies.. am using a small laptop temporarily til i fix the desktop unit

regards GrahamH

grahamH · 08-09-2011, 11:24 PM

I guess better start to gen up on the language and protocols of Linux... any suggestions for a quick learning curve?

angel115 · 08-11-2011, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grahamH

I guess better start to gen up on the language and protocols of Linux... any suggestions for a quick learning curve?

C and C++ if you want something which will speak to your hardware.

qlue · 08-11-2011, 03:25 PM

Ok, based on my own experience, boot up the computer and give it a chance to settle.
Check the output of lsusb.
Attach the modem to a suitable USB port and check the output of lsusb and dmesg.
my lsusb is, (for example)

Code:

qlue@home:~$ lsusb
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 17af:6001  
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 064e:d101 Suyin Corp. Acer CrystalEye Webcam
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
qlue@home:~$

on most modems, a fake cdrom will open. If the dmesg output shows something like,

Code:

[    9.594014] USB Serial support registered for generic
[    9.594691] usbserial_generic 2-2:1.0: generic converter detected
[    9.596767] usb 2-2: generic converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[    9.596820] usbserial_generic 2-2:1.1: generic converter detected
[    9.599126] usb 2-2: generic converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[    9.599175] usbserial_generic 2-2:1.2: generic converter detected
[    9.603297] usb 2-2: generic converter now attached to ttyUSB2
[    9.604693] usbserial_generic 2-2:1.3: generic converter detected
[    9.606958] usb 2-2: generic converter now attached to ttyUSB3
[    9.607046] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[    9.607054] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core

then the port for the modem is something like, /dev/ttyUSB0 or /dev/ttyUSB3 (you might get /dev/ttyACM0 or something different)
But chances are, this won't happen until you eject the fake cdrom.
When I eject the fake cdrom, my lsusb listing for the device changes to

Code:

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 17af:6002

But because the usbserial module must be explicitly loaded, it still doesn't register. So I then need to type;

Code:

sudo modprobe -v usbserial vendor=0x17af product=0x6002

Ubuntu handles the rest. You may need to right-click the network icon and select 'edit connections', but usually the network wizard will popup automagically at this point.
Let's see how far we can get from this.