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Cingular Aircard 875 / Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04

A while back I posted instructions for getting the Aircard 875 to work with Ubuntu Feisty. I am now updating this for Hardy Heron. For me the configuration was much simpler. Here is some information regarding the hardware/software I am using.

• IBM Thinkpad
• Cingular Aircard 875 (note, this is really a Sierra card)
• Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 (updated system as of 20080510)

The first step was to make sure the drivers were being loaded into the system correctly when the hardware was inserted. The simple way to do this is tail the message log.

sudo tail -f /var/log/messages

Upon inserting the card, I saw that the card was recognized and that the device was assigned some ttyUSB device nodes.

Upon inserting card…

May 10 10:00:49 spicy kernel: [ 688.462393] sierra 5-1:1.0: Sierra USB modem (3 port) converter detected
May 10 10:00:49 spicy kernel: [ 688.463909] usb 5-1: Sierra USB modem (3 port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
May 10 10:00:49 spicy kernel: [ 688.464288] usb 5-1: Sierra USB modem (3 port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
May 10 10:00:49 spicy kernel: [ 688.464599] usb 5-1: Sierra USB modem (3 port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
May 10 10:00:49 spicy kernel: [ 688.464833] usbcore: registered new interface driver sierra
May 10 10:00:49 spicy kernel: [ 688.464839] /build/buildd/linux-2.6.24/drivers/usb/serial/sierra.c: USB Driver for Sierra Wireless USB modems: v.1.2.5b

Make sure that you see the lines similar to “usb 5-1: Sierra USB modem (3 port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0”. This tells you that you will be able to use device ttyUSB0 to make your connection.

Now, this is the point where I could have used some of the config files in the previous post but I wanted to focus on using the GUI configuration tools.

So, click on the Network Manager applet and select “Manual Configuration”. Once this appears on your screen, click the “Unlock” button and authenticate.

Select the “Point to Point” connection and then click on the “Properties” button.

On the general tab, enter the following information:

• Connection Type: Serial Modem
• Phone Number: *99***1#
• Username: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
• Password: cingular1

On the modem tab, enter the following information:

• Modem port: /dev/ttyUSB0

On the options tab, select the following check boxes:

• Set modem as default route to Internet
• Use the Internet service providers nameservers

Click the “OK” button. Your ppp connection is now configured. You can close the “Network Settings” window. Now, logout of your gnome session. The key here is to restart the Network Manager applet so that it recognizes the new ppp connection.

Once you log back in, click on the Network Manager applet and select the “Dial Up Connections” option and then”Connect to ppp0 via Modem”. This will start you Cingular connection and you should be good to go.

Notes:

• You can monitor the connection progress by having a terminal widow open and executing the following command: ’sudo tail -f /var/log/messages’
• Firefox may think that it is working offline when you first start the application. Click on ‘File’ → ‘Work Offline’ to make sure the option is not set. I was then able to browse with no problems.