Month: February 2017

Huawei E3372 LTE modem on Ubuntu

I have purchased Huawei E3372 LTE modem for the purpose of using it as a backup link for my home Internet connection. I have found a good option with Telemach mobile carrier that offers pay-per-use access to their LTE network with NET2GO mobile data package. You only pay when you actually need to access the Internet. So let’s see how to configure this thing on Ubuntu ARM computer.

When first inserting the USB dongle with the SIM card into computer, this is what “dmesg” will reveal:

# dmesg

  • usb 1-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ci_hdrc
  • usb-storage 1-1.4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
  • scsi1 : usb-storage 1-1.4:1.0 scsi 1:0:0:0: CD-ROM HUAWEI Mass Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
  • scsi 1:0:0:1: Direct-Access HUAWEI TF CARD Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
  • sd 1:0:0:1: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
  • usb 1-1.4: USB disconnect, device number 3
  • usb 1-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ci_hdrc
  • usb-storage 1-1.4:1.2: USB Mass Storage device detected
  • scsi2 : usb-storage 1-1.4:1.2
  • scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access HUAWEI TF CARD Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
  • sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

# lsusb

  • Bus 001 Device 004: ID 12d1:14dc Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

For things to work you need several usb modules compiled already in the kernel. Since I have an ARM machine I don’t have the required modules (usbnet, usbcore, cdc_ether) compiled, therefore I was unable to continue from here, without kernel recompilation. It is suggested that you have all the required usb packages installed to further continue with the setup.

# aptitude install libusb++-0.1-4c2 libusb++-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev libusb-dev

There is a tool called “usb_modeswitch” that I used to detect the modem. Next packages to be installed are “usb-modeswitch usb-modeswitch-data”.

# aptitude install usb-modeswitch usb-modeswitch-data

# usb_modeswitch -J -v 0x12d1 -p 0x14dc

From this point on I was out of luck to continue with the setup. Here is a list of related links from where you should find the additional information.

  • http://www.gnuton.org/blog/2015/07/huawei-e3372/
  • http://kernelreloaded.com/huwaei-e3372h-hilink-awesome-lte-modem/
  • http://www.gnuton.org/blog/2015/07/huawei-e3372/https://johnlewis.ie/mobile-broadband-from-the-command-line-in-ubuntu/
  • https://trick77.com/setting-up-huawei-e3276-150-4g-lte-usb-modem-ubuntu-server-desktop/
  • http://www.linux-usb.org/usbnhttp://nvdcstuff.blogspot.com/2015/04/huawei-e3372-in-linux-raspberry-pi.htmlet/
  • http://askubuntu.com/questionshttp://ernstagn.home.xs4all.nl/GPRS-HOWTO/GPRS-HOWTO-6.html/755570/how-to-enable-broadband-connection-with-huawei-e3372h-on-ubuntu-server
  • http://nvdcstuff.blogspot.com/2015/04/huawei-e3372-in-linux-raspberry-pi.html
  • http://askubuntu.com/questionshttp://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/USB_Networking/615302/modem-usb-serial-mode
  • http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=124007
  • https://trick77.com/setting-up-huawei-e3276-150-4g-lte-usb-modem-ubuntu-server-desktop/
  • https://johnlewis.ie/mobile-broadband-from-the-command-line-in-ubuntu/
  • http://askubuntu.com/questions/755570/how-to-enable-broadband-connection-with-huawei-e3372h-on-ubuntu-server

Libreboot with Debian on Chromebook C201

libreboot logo
Libreboot logo made by Marcus Moeller (2014) – Creative Commons license CC0 1.0 Universal

A few months back I obtained a Google Chromebook Asus C201. It arrived preinstalled with Chrome OS as default operating system. This laptop was listed as one of the possible laptop models that can use Libreboot. Free Software developer Paul Kocialkowski has ported Libreboot to this Chromebook. Libreboot is a free BIOS or UEFI replacement (free as in freedom); libre boot firmware that initializes the hardware and starts a bootloader for your operating system. It’s also an open source BIOS, but open source fails to promote freedom; please call libreboot free software. Since I know Paul K. from the Internet, he helped me with the guidelines about creating bootable Debian image to be used on this laptop. In my next blog post I plan to describe how to successfully create these bootable Debian images. This laptop has three possibilities about using a secondary operating system.

  • First possibility is to install the system on internal storage and replace the default Chrome OS.
  • Second possibility is to use an external USB key and have it stored there and the
  • third possibility (which I have chosen) was to install Debian on the Micro-SD card.

With my current setup I prefer to keep Chrome OS on internal storage and I can select secondary booting method to boot up Debian from Micro-SD card. I used Debian stable (Jessie) image and afterwards I have upgraded to Debian testing (stretch) to use more recent Debian packages. Just a short info for people that don’t know about Debian. Debian has one of the best designed release methods amongst GNU/Linux distributions, and their “main” software pool contains only free software. The “main” pool is also the only software pool that I will use on this laptop. Currently there are no other suitable FSF authorised distributions that would run on this laptop, next possible ports will include the Guix system distribution and Paul Kocialkowski is working on porting the Parabola GNU/Linux-libre distribution. My goal is to use only free software on this laptop, but there are some limitations. First the BIOS needs to be replaced with Libreboot, and the integrated Wi-Fi chipset would only work with proprietary software. Therefore for this purpose I have purchased a free hardware replacement – Qualcomm Atheros external USB Wi-Fi card, that uses AR9271 chipset, which is known to operate with free software. The model of this access point card is Sophos AP 5 Rev. 1. More about the recommended steps will follow up soon …