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Linux Support for Wireless Laptop Internet?
scubacuda asks: "I'm looking for a good "all you can eat" cellular data plan for my laptop. So far, I've looked into T-mobile, Earthlink, and Verizon's wireless Internet options. Any suggestions on price, availability, and speed? The real kicker for me is Linux support, which, I've been told by all three companies, is NOT available. (Any and all hacks would be greatly appreciated!)" This particular market is still in a great degree of flux, especially with landscape-changing deals like the AT&T/Cingular merger going on in the background and issue of going for cellular or WiFi connectivity service. Are there any wireless carriers that you've been able to get working on a Linux laptop? If so, what did you have to do to attain your wireless laptop nirvana?
I'm a Canadian, but I've successfully used wireless Internet connections in the U.S. using GSM (AT&T Wireless) and iDEN (NexTel) networks with a linux laptop. The idea is to think simple, and set up the wireless connection with an existing mobile phone and a PPP connection!
In the case of GSM, all that was necessary was a USB cable to a Motorola C333 to the laptop, then using PPP over the connection. Setting up was no harder than setting up a regular modem connection. The phone was free (after signing up to a plan) and the USB cable was less than $20. Data plans vary, but GSM coverage is decent in all the metropolitan areas that I was in (including Detriot, Chicago and New Jersey).
Similarly, I was able to use a Motorola iDEN phone with a serial cable to connect to the serial port of the computer and the specialized Motorola serial port on the phone. Once again, with a PPP connection to the Internet, there is nothing more to the connection than what's necessary to the dial-up modem connection. The phone itself is a wireless modem that is detected as a serial modem device. A data plan was included with the phone package (as I recall) and coverage was decent in all the metropolitan areas that I was in (see above).
We tried using various PCMCIA and PC Card based solutions for our connections, but we always seemed to have driver problems both in Windows and in linux. Sometimes the devices would seem to work, and then sometimes it wouldn't. For doing demos on the road for a web application, this was not acceptable. We found the best way was to use a phone-based solution for reliability for our mobile applications.
All in all, setting up a wireless connection is easy once you have the cables. With the price of phones these days dropping, getting your linux-based laptop (or any laptop for that matter) on the Internet wirelessly is easier and more cost effective than ever.
These are the good old days you'll be telling your children about. Make them worthwhile.
I've found that a typical SprintPCS phone will appear as a modem when connected with the optional USB connection. If you dial #777 (which equates to #PPP), you'll be connected through the "Vision" inet service. Sprint doesn't advertise this and, naturally, doesn't want people using their "all you can eat" inet service with a laptop or desktop for that matter. The speed is underwhelming but I haven't found anything good in this respect unless you've got the new Verizon service in the select cities.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
http://www.ka9q.net/5220.html
/power display (that would be from the second serial port).. other than that, works fine, very stable...
I have such a card and it works just fine for me... the only downside is you don't have a link stability
I've been using the Sierra Wireless Aircard 750 with Linux for over a year. I can't say I am excited about the service itself, which is supposed to be about 56k. In other words, it is slow. BUT, when I am patient, I can ssh to my servers at work and sometimes accomplish something. It works just fine for web browsing, email, instant messaging, and retrieving maps with gpsdrive.
--dingletec--
The T-Mobile GPRS cards usually Just Work(tm) since they use serial and the AT command set. Just have to use PPP and off you go.
Its not the fastest, but its cheap. ($30/mo)
Good luck!
-- dieman - Scott Dier
I got a new Panasonic Toughbook CF-T2. It has a wireless net card built in. It has no built-in CD drive, so I bought an external USB CD drive, plugged it in, put in the Suse 9.2 install CD, powered it up, and selected my install options. After an hour and a few CD changes, the system was up and running. It correctly repartitioned the hard drive so it's dual boot. It detected everything correctly. The wireless net card was detected but not activated. I used Yast to activate it, and it detected the wireless link and got an IP address. At this point there was a problem, though: the wireless card was eth1 and the Ethernet card was eth0. Even though eth0 didn't have a link, it was for some reason trying to be the default route. No problem. I just used Yast to deactivate eth0 (since I never use it) and now everything works fine.
Oh, and I also used Yast to configure all the ACPI and powersaving features, and they work. I close it, it suspends to disk. It throttles the CPU, blanks the screen, etc, as needed. There are some bugs in the suspend-to-disk feature, though. It's usable but I'm looking forward to installing the next version.
Summary: everything basically worked, no drivers to download, no kernel recompiles. I think it was easier than it would have been if I had tried to install Win XP. I think with Win XP I would have had to download drivers, etc. But I'm not sure; I've never tried it.
At least for Verizon's EVDO we've got a horde of folk in our IT dept. using it thanks mostly to Phil Karn's notes on getting the card working in Linux.
Might want to dig a little deeper and see if "no support" really just means "we don't know if it works and don't know how to support Linux." Hopefully some folks further down will have info on the other services.
Disclaimer: I happen to work for one of the companies involved with EVDO.
Get their Vision plan, and you have unlimited data for $15/month. Just don't go crazy; there have been reports of people having their line disconnected because they were using data 24/7.
Of course, Sprint won't tell you about this; they want to sell you a connection card and the extra phone line.
As for reception it's simple: if you're near an interstate, it's great. If you're not, NO SOUP FOR YOU.
Add usbserialThe next step is to set up pppd for the T-Mobile GPRS service. I have the "VPN" service, but most users with unlimited access will have the regular one. The main difference is that the "VPN" service gets you a public IP address and must be specifically requested. In places where internet3.voicestream.com is used, internet2.voicestream.com should be replaced if this is the case.The
One Site that could help alot.
Linux-wireless.com More info here than you probably want, and everything you need.
I'm sorry, I'm to tired to be witty at the moment so this message will have to do.
Linux bluetooth support is pretty good, I think. I'm using a Belkin USB bluetooth adaptor, connected to my Erricson T630 over GPRS. On Debian unstable (2.6.8 kernel), setup was surprisingly simple - apt-get install bluez, then set up a standard PPP connection using /dev/rfcomm0 and dialling to the GPRS psedo numbers (*98*2# means 'use the second GPRS profile defined on the phone').
I've used a Sierra Wireless AirCard 555 (verizon wireless) with linux. Although they claim the card is 144kbps, the ping round-trip time is pretty slow, and makes sshing pretty unpleasant.
After initializing the card for the first time (using windows, it needs to update the firmware, etc.), the card works like a regular com-port/modem. Beware of wvdial though, i had to patch it to make it work reliably with the AirCard. Also see http://centerclick.org/aircard555/
I recently dumped the aircard and replaced it with a GSM phone Nokia 6820. Which not only has a fold-out QWERTY keyboard, both a commercial and a free ssh client, and bluetooth, but also an IR port which emulates a modem when put next to the IR port on a laptop. Then just dial *99# and you're in business, even when traveling abroad. (The AirCard doesn't support data calls outside of the US.)
I think it's a better deal than the dedicated wireless cards, unless you're planning on using it constantly. It appears that the speed on the 6820 (with AT&T / Cingular service) via IR is better than the AirCard too.
That would be the case if you had genuine hardware. If you actually had a modem, which is a "modulator-demodulator," you'd just talk to its serial interface.
The problem is, most "modems," especially the ones in many laptops, cut out a lot of the modulating/demodulating circuitry, and leave it up to the CPU to do a lot of the signal processing. This shaves a few bucks off the cost of a unit, which is big in a low-margin, highly-competitive market, especially if the laptop vendor doesn't mention to the customer that his CPU will slow down every time he uses his "modem."
Unfortunately, a lot of vendors feel that exposing the API's to their "modems," wireless cards, etc., would expose the designs to their competitors (who presumably don't have debuggers and other such tools). The annoying thing is that many of them turn around and say they can't afford to write a Linux driver to support a "fringe" market.
T-mobile, my carrier or choice, works as well. YMMV handset to handset but there's TONS of stuff out there on how to tether GSM handsets to most OSes. They offer GPRS service at $20/$30 per mo. unlimited web and mail only/full unblocked usage respectively. It's a bit slower than 1x - feels about like 33.6 dial-up. Honestly, sometimes, it can feel excruciatingly slow. Try killing the connect and redialing. That often cures it. But hey, it's ALL YOU CAN EAT at dial-up prices almost and not $80 a month. I use it with my ibook or pda on the train from San Bernardino area of SoCal to LA on my daily commute and can reliably stream 24k music streams and surf and email just fine. As for tethering, to date I've used an S/E T68i, unlocked S/E 637, Nokia 3650 and now I'm trying a Motorola unlocked V551. I've used them all via bluetooth on both OS X and Linux and a couple of those on windows. Also on Palm and PPC. As for support Tmobile has a fairly knowledgeable group. They seem to work both state-side and off-shore using a tier system. The t1-t2 group seems to be off-shore, are very helpful, still hard to understand at times and the t2's seem very knowledgeable. None of them will ever hesitate to escalate your call. The T3's will basically go to all ends to solve something. I know, I stumped one. I figured it out myself and called him back and gave him my findings. He seemed happy to hear it. Basically, they seem to honestly care about customer service. As for Linux support I think if you push the issue you might get help. Just go in with the ability to help them help you. Make them feel confident that you can translate the Mac and windows way of doing things into what you need. Their coverage isn't as good as VZW but is good enough where I use it. Farthest I've tried it was Cedar City, UT with decent coverage from here to there.
Most important thing to remember. If you're going to get on a contract I strongly suggest that you do all of your research for the how-to's up front. Get the equipment all at once and get it going as fast as you can. The reason I say that is most carriers give you a roughly 15 day try-out before you must commit. Getting it all to work is half the battle. The user experience with the working product and getting comfortable with that is the rest of it. You may also want to consider Cingualr. Good network but they also charge $80/mo. for all-you-can-eat. However, they do support data useage over pre-pay. Only one I know of in the states. It's $0.02/kb though so be careful. A $50 card will be good enough to get