The Huawei E220 HSDPA USB Modem

My hands were able to get hold of this Huawei E220 HSDPA USB modem. This is distributed by Globe Telecom (I think it is bundled with Globe Visibility package, which was requested by one of my officemates for off-site support).

When I saw it, I got curious, borrowed it and tested it myself...

This USB modem is also equipped with a USB drive. It contains Software and driver for Windows.

Here are some pictures of the hardware:

The HUAWEI Mobile Connect software is surely enough to properly connect to your service provider under Windows environment. It has options to set APN, IP Address, etc. It also has the option to force 3G connection only.

Globe Connection

Smart Connection
I tried inserting my Smart Buddy SIM and it worked.

In Linux Environment (using Linux Mint - Cassandra)
It didn't work right away, but after a short research, I was able to connect thru SMART.

This HSDPA USB Modem from Huawei works good!

HOWTO: Connect to the Internet using SE P990i in Linux

I am using Linux at home (whenever possible). I can use P990i to connect to the Internet in Windows environment since this phone comes with driver/software for this OS. But what about in Linux? Here's how to do it...

Assumptions
This article assumes that GPRS/3G service is already activated in your SIM.
This article also assumes that you are familiar with Linux (esp. Debian Linux variants with GNOME desktop).

Requirements
SE P990i Unit (with SIM, indeed!)
DCU-60 Cable (bundled with P990i)
Linux (a Debian variant with GNOME Desktop)

Steps

1. Install WvDial and GNOME PPP.
2. Connect your phone.
3. Configure connection.
4. Connect.

Steps, explained...
Step 1

• Install WvDial (if not yet installed)

-$ sudo apt-get install wvdial

• Install GNOME PPP (if not yet installed)

-$ sudo apt-get install gnome-ppp

Step 2

• Connect your P990i to PC (via DCU-60 cable).
• When you connect your phone, 3 USB ACM (Abstract Control Model) devices should be registered (as shown below via "dmesg").

Step 3

• Launch GNOME PPP.

• Press "Setup".
• Under "Modem" tab, click "Detect" button.

• If it's not automatically detected (via "Detect") button, you can try putting the device manually (/dev/ttyACM1 in my case).
• Click "Phone numbers..." button, then enter *99***1# in the first line, and "Close" it.

• Click "Init strings..." button, then enter AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","internet" in init 3, and "Close" it. This modem initialization strings are Smart Gold/Buddy specific. Replace "internet" with your provider's designated APN (i.e. internet.globe.com.ph (not sure) for Globe subscribers).

• You might also want to set optional settings in the "Options" tab (as shown below).

• "Quit" GNOME PPP.

Step 4

• Launch GNOME PPP.
• Enter anything in "Username" and "Password" (I used "test" for both).
• Select the phone number or enter *99***1#.
• Click "Connect".

When connected:

By the way, I am using Linux Mint (Cassandra) which is an Ubuntu derivative as far as I can tell. Ubuntu is Debian Linux variant.

HOWTO: Boot Ubuntu (Fiesty Fawn) LiveCD from Hard Disk Thru GRUB

This is more likely a follow-up post with regards to the previous post. This is somewhat more detailed in explanation. I've done it several times, so I made a short HOWTO for myself, and for others that may find this useful.

Required Knowledge: bootloader, Linux, Windows, File System, etc.

PREPARATIONS

LiveCD Files

Using your favorite ISO image extractor, extract Feisty Fawn's iso image to a VFAT/FAT32 (or ext2/ext3/reiserfs) drive/partition of your choice. Empty partition is recommended. It should be extracted in it's root. When it's extracted, the destination drive's root should contain set of folders and files that can be found in the ISO image (plus other files and folders that may have been already there).

GRUB

1. Using your favorite text editor, open "menu.lst" and add the following lines at the end of it:

title Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) LiveHD!

root (hd0,3)

kernel /casper/vmlinuz boot=/casper splash

initrd /casper/initrd.gz

The line

root (hd0,3)

should be pointing to the partition where LiveCD files have been extracted. It's using a ZERO (0) based numbering for hard disk device and partition. So if you saved LiveCD files to the second partition of your first hard disk, this line should be:

root (hd0,1)

where:
hd0 = first hard disk
1 = second partition (of hd0)

2. Save "menu.lst"

BOOT IT

Reboot
From GRUB menu, select "Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) LiveHD!" [enter]
Wait for the LiveHD to load

Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) LiveHD

OK, I downloaded and wanted to try Ubuntu (Desktop) but I didn't want to waste a CD-R (that is if I find out that this distro isn't my cup-of-tea), so I wanted to run it from my hard drive.

After some reasearch, there's a HOWTO that tells how to install it from HDD via downloadable HDD-media, but this requires the alternate installer version of Ubuntu, which I resisted because:
1) I have to download the alternate - my bandwidth is slow; and
2) I don't want to install Ubuntu yet.

After a few trial-and-error combos, here&'s the summary of how I did it.