~Toughbooktalk~

Hey guys,

I don't know if this is of any significance to anybody here anymore, but I decided to play around with the CF-30's WWAN sled and try various cards in it again. I previously had Kali Linux in it and wasn't all that impressed, so I slapped on my usual Debian LXDE and upgraded it to Jessie/sid repos. As expected, everything works fine.

The card I got with this unit was a Gobi 1000 and I gave up after unsuccessfully trying to flash firmware with gobi_loader. The whole concept of flash every time you use is simply annoying.

So I got a Sierra MC8700 to work with my Koodo/Telus SIM and was quite happy with that. That opens the doors to plenty of UMTS capable carriers in my area. It supports GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz.

Last I tried my Huawei EM820U which I previously had running in my CF-19 MK3 with no issues. This was to get it working with AWS1700 that my carrier Videotron uses. That works flawlessly as well. This is likely to work with T-Mo's AWS service in the U.S. and Wind Mobile in Canada.




----------UPDATE----------
The steps followed were pretty standard. Install the card in the sled, install Debian LXDE unstable then add connection inside Network Manager. Note that this is likely to work on several other Linux distributions with other broadband connection software but I am only detailing what I used for these tests. This also means this will probably work on Windows with the appropriate connection software and drivers.
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My CF-30: CF-30KQPRQAM
BIOS: V3.00L16
EC: V3.00L16
Working Huawei EM820U part number: 51074609 HSPA+/HSUPA/HSDPA/UMTS: 850/900/1900/2100 GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 & AWS 1700?/2100
Working Huawei EM820W part number: 51076177 HSPA+/HSUPA/HSDPA/UMTS: 850/900/1900/2100 GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900
Working Sierra MC8700 FCC ID number: N7N-8700 HSPA+/HSUPA/HSDPA/UMTS: 850/900/1900/2100 GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900

Linux distribution used: Debian LXDE 7.8.0 64bit (amd64) unstable:
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/7.8.0/amd64/iso-cd/
Future versions after 7.8.0 will appear under the 'amd64' link here:
https://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/

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Sled dip switch settings are ON ON OFF OFF
Connection software used was Network Manager (Gnome, provided with LXDE)
If the card works, Network Manager will alert you to your Broadband Connection connecting to your Home Network. At this point you have to Add a New Connection (right-click on Network Manager applet icon in task bar and choose Edit Connections, then click on Add button), select Broadband as a connection type and enter your connection settings for your carrier.
Enter your carrier's APN.
Enter your username and password if applicable. Otherwise leave the user and password fields blank.
The rest of the settings can usually be left alone unless otherwise instructed by your carrier.

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I am the king of crappy phone cams and blurry pics.

yes, the idea of flashing the card every time seems bizarre to me also....

Shawn wrote:yes, the idea of flashing the card every time seems bizarre to me also....

Obviously some marketing/financial interests have overridden common sense with regards to carrier locking and such and so forth. It has you jumping through hoops in linux, especially because you have to first obtain the firmware images from some obscure site or extract them from a Windows install and putz around to have udev load them every time.

From an engineering standpoint, we know that there is a limit to how may read/writes can occur on flashable media so flashing every time you boot your device seems inefficient. Anyway I am happy to have found two workable cards on a device that has been difficult with un-approved non-Panasonic WWAN modules inside the sled.

Are you going to do a write up with the details? I would be surprised if I was the only one interested. It would probably make a good sticky.

mklym wrote:Are you going to do a write up with the details? I would be surprised if I was the only one interested. It would probably make a good sticky.

I wouldn't mind at all. Mind you, it wasn't at all difficult so the issues here are probably the various part numbers versus my Debian install. For example I tried a Sierra MC8775 and it didn't work, but it might have been carrier locked. The other two cards just worked immediately without much fuss.

I'll get right on it and edit my OP.

No rush, when time allows. It is something I want to get running once I can buy a sim card, hoping next month sometime.

kode-niner wrote:

mklym wrote:Are you going to do a write up with the details? I would be surprised if I was the only one interested. It would probably make a good sticky.

I wouldn't mind at all. Mind you, it wasn't at all difficult so the issues here are probably the various part numbers versus my Debian install. For example I tried a Sierra MC8775 and it didn't work, but it might have been carrier locked. The other two cards just worked immediately without much fuss.
I'll get right on it and edit my OP.

All of this is very interesting to me Kode9. I'm liking the debian side more and more, most recently using crunchbang, microwatt, mx-14, makulu, and LDME (linux mint debian edition). Not ready to start another thread yet, but what do you make of messages such as these when updating a new debian system and how would you proceed? I think these kind of messages scare off anyone on the fringe wanting to proceed with a Linux Distribution...

initramfs-tools (0.119) unstable; urgency=medium
* The initramfs will now run fsck on the root filesystem before
mounting it. If the chosen init program is systemd and there is a
separate /usr filesystem, it will also fsck and mount /usr.
* If the /usr filesystem is on a RAID device and the INITRDSTART setting
in /etc/default/mdadm is not 'all', you will need to change it to
include that device.
* If the RTC (real time clock) is set to local time and the local time is
ahead of UTC, e2fsck will print a warning during boot about the time
changing backward (bug #767040). You can disable this by putting the
following lines in /etc/e2fsck.conf:
[options]
broken_system_clock=1
-- Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk> Sat, 17 Jan 2015 16:56:56 +0000

What I usually do with those changelog notes is skim them rapidly or ignore them and press Q. But to be specific about this particular blurb, it appears to be from the unstable branch so known bugs are more likely to appear during upgrades. Anyone using unstable should pay a bit more attention to these to see if it actually affects them.

The first note is a statement of fact about a fsck occuring on /usr and unimportant. The second one pertains to mdraid configurations and is of minor importance only for those who use mdraid, like I may on servers and occasionally on desktop systems. The third pertains to a known bug that may happen when you run fsck.

I realize that I do not have as much experience with TB hardware components that some of you have here.
The WWAN sled I have appears to have been used with some form of CDMA-capable card since it carries a
MEID number, but I cannot find a part number. It is pictured here with the Huawei installed in it. I'm guessing
it's the one that ships with the CF-30KQPRQAM and the Gobi, emphasis on the second Q.

Just ordered another Huawei EM820U so I can have it in both my CF-19 and CF-30 and all I have to do is move the SIM between each unit. However the part number is 51074260. Will update here if it works the same as the 51074609.