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Summary: Using a Maxon BP3-USB (CMOTECH CDMA Technologies) modem in openSUSE 10.3 is nearly an out-of-the-box experience. The only tweak is to modprobe the usbserial module to load the modem during booting. It goes like this: Install Kinternet (connection manager) and smpppd (ppp daemon) plus a few dependent packages and then configure in Yast for essentially a serial modem. You install a simple script to load the usbserial kernel module. That's it but it's only easy after the event so I've included the steps and some screenshots to take the uncertainty out of the event.

Linux -vs- Windows, Modem Performance. I performed a quick "all things being equal" upload/download speed tests using the technology at ozspeedtest.com. These numbers fluctuate between successive tests. Within the limits of this poor statistical sample, I conclude the two OSes perform exactly the same.

For interest, here's the same table for my Nokia 6120 Mobile Phone used as a modem on Three Mobile Australia:

It appears that Bigpond's Next G network outperforms Three's X-Series network roughly in proportion to the ongoing costs of the subscriptions. In other words you get what you pay for here.

Prerequisites: Check & if necessary install this software using Yast: ppp, udev, smpppd, wvdial, Kinternet.

Attach & Load the Modem: This segment is derived from Quozl at quozl.linux.org.au. Attach the modem and check that it has been detected properly by examining dmesg. If your username is "username" you can copy dmesg to the Desktop and then examine it with this root shell command:

Then you should find something like this at the tail of dmesg.txt:

Note the device Id 16d8:6280 and CMOTECH CDMA Technologies show that it has been detected properly. Now load the serialusb driver for device ID 16d8:6280 with this root shell command, all on one line:

That should produce a dialogue on the screen like this:

Now you can again examine dmesg and the tail should look like this:

According to Quozl, the key interface is ttyUSB1; this is where we attach the modem in Yast configuration. Now that the driver usbserial.ko is loaded and the interface ttyUSB1 is identified, proceed to configure the bp3-usb modem in Yast:

smpppd daemon: First check this is running and is configured to start when booting. Goto Yast --> System --> System Services (runlevels) --> Expert Mode. Now make sure smpppd has Running="Yes" and has checkmarks in runlevels 2, 3 & 5.

Modem Settings: The Maxon USB modem is set up as a serial ppp dial-up modem using ttyUSB1. The pic below left shows pretty much all the settings:

It's easy to miss a config step or miss getting one of the screens when you follow the routine introduced below. Don't worry. Just press on to the end. Then reopen the modem config session and begin by "edit" of the installed device. In fact I always go through a second time just to make sure and sometimes a third

I use Yast to achieve these settings. Open network devices --> modem --> modem detection/initialising modem settings --> Modem Configuration Overview. <Screenshot>

That screen for me was empty, so I chose the "Add" button to configure from a blank slate. Now you see the Modem Parameters screen: <Screenshot>. Note that if the drop-down box at "Modem device" doesn't contain the option that you want (ttyUSB1) then simply type in /dev/USBtty1 as in the screenshot. Leave the other parameters with their defaults as in the screenshot.

Now click Details to set the Modem Parameter Details. My modem achieves speeds much higher than the limit in Yast of 52000 baud. I chose 1843200 baud simply because it wants a number. Any sensible number seems to work and seems not to influence speeds at all. Also, enable non-root control of the modem via Kinternet. The rest are Suse's defaults that I left alone: <Screenshot>

Click OK & then Next to move on to the settings for the Provider. Your provider isn't listed. So click New and add a Provider Name e.g. Telstra NextG. Put in your username, appending @bigpond,com or @bigpond.net.au (depends on subscription) and your username. Bigpond/Telstra use *99# for a wireless "phone number". <Screenshot>

Now click Next to arrange connection parameters. Allow to modify DNS when connected and to auto-retrieve DNS. Provide for the Firewall. Note you should set the device to the "external" zone in the Firewall settings. I used an idle time of 5 minutes. Bigpond charge me for quota-overflows, so I use a time limit whereupon the modem will disconnect. <Screenshot>

In "IP Details" I simply left the defaults as on the screenshot: <Screenshot>

Click Next etc to save your configuration. Activate the internet connection by Kmenu --> KInternet (Dial up), and a network icon will appear in the task bar. Click the icon to connect/disconnect as required. Right click the icon for interesting options/information.

Start-up Script: Generally, you can activate the internet on your laptop with the shell command modprobe usbserial vendor=0x16d8 product=0x6280 followed by clicking the Kinternet icon in the system tray. Ordinarily you would run the command automatically at boot time by inserting it in the shell script file "boot.local" located at /etc/init.d/boot.local. Open the file in a text editor as root (Gedit or Kwrite/Kate) and insert the line

at the bottom. Then after you boot, Kinternet in the System Tray will be your click-on, click-off connection manager.

If you have feedback I'd be glad to receive it on the email contained in the graphic below. That way I can maybe incorporate some more advice in this HowTo – Thanks.

Too Easy
Swerdna 15 November 07

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