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Linux and Cell Phones?

Posted by Cliff on from the mobile-penguin-power dept.

Grouik asks: "Hello, Searching here and there for information about which Cell phone modems could be usable on my Dell linux laptop I discovered that there are very few people interested about that kind of stuff. Maybe it's just as hard as with winmodems? If somebody has successfully made such a device work with linux, please share with us!"

2 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. Qualcomm Cell Phones by GeorgeH · · Score: 2

    Some Qualcomm cellphones are "data capable." From what I've been able to glean, this means that there is a cable which plugs into your cellphone, and on the other end is a standard 9 pin serial port. When you send "AT\n" over your computer's serial port, it will respond with "OK\n". When I first heard about this, I very nearly cried.

    Unfortunatly, I've never been able to confirm with anyone that this works properly, or even at all. Most of Qualcomm's information says "Coming soon, check with your carrier." Anyone else know anything about this?

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    Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
  2. Re:GSM Data (i.e. CSD) ? by krakan · · Score: 2

    I have an Inspiron laptop with a PCMCIA modem that supports "normal" phoneline, ISDN and GSM. Unfortunately you have to pay ~$180 each for the connector cables for ISDN and GSM. :-\

    Apart from the price it works like an ordinary modem; the IP-stack lives on the laptop so you can run any OS you like (Linux in my case). In theory you can use any cell phone; only thing is that there has to be a suitable connector and a cable.

    As it works like a normal modem you'll pay per minute; "free" numbers (1-800 et al.) aren't free when you call from a cell phone though.

    For incoming calls you have to have a special data line subscription from the cell net operator.

    And, yeah, the major draw back: it's only 9600 bps; enough only if you're desperate...