Re: [Astlinux-devel] 4G/LTE support by Astlinux on PC Engines APU

[Michael K. <li...@mk...>]

> Am 01.07.2019 um 12:57 schrieb Michael Knill <mic...@ip...>:
> 
> Sorry for dragging this up again but...
> I have purchased 20 of Huawei E8372h-608 USB LTE modem/routers which work fine in OpenWRT and also just plugging into my Mac. In OpenWRT it registers as an Ethernet port and provides an address via DHCP from the router. As you mentioned below it shouldn't be too hard to support this architecture in Astlinux as its just a USB Ethernet port (like virtually all laptops now).
> It just seems so pointless installing another Linux based router (OpenWRT) to support this device.

Hi Michael,

can you figure out which driver is used in OpenWRT (or in another Linux). Maybe we just need to enable another driver (which is currently disabled) in AstLinux.
The Linux kernel version could also be interesting.

lsmod
lsusb (-v)

I found this:
https://trick77.com/setting-up-huawei-e3276-150-4g-lte-usb-modem-ubuntu-server-desktop/

There is a driver "cdc_ether" mentioned. 
In "make linux-menuconfig/Device Drivers/Network Device Support/USB Network Adapters" there are a few enabled, but not "CDC Ethernet Support".

But it can be, that all the additional USB-modeswitch stuff is needed as well (it means the device first appears as an USB CD-ROM!), which is a pain in …
We tried that years ago.
 
> I'm just wondering how hard it would be to get this working in Astlinux? I realise I will probably need to roll my own.
>  
> Regards
> Michael Knill
>  
> From: Michael Knill <mic...@ip...>
> Reply-To: AstLinux Developers Mailing List <ast...@li...>
> Date: Saturday, 29 December 2018 at 9:19 pm
> To: AstLinux Developers Mailing List <ast...@li...>
> Subject: Re: [Astlinux-devel] 4G/LTE support by Astlinux on PC Engines APU
>  
> Hi thanks Lonnie
>  
> I think I will keep with the current preferred solution. Had to ask though!
>  
> Regards
> Michael Knill
>  
> From: lists <li...@lo...>
> Reply-To: AstLinux Developers Mailing List <ast...@li...>
> Date: Friday, 28 December 2018 at 1:39 pm
> To: AstLinux Developers Mailing List <ast...@li...>
> Subject: Re: [Astlinux-devel] 4G/LTE support by Astlinux on PC Engines APU
>  
> Looks like they register as USB serial devices that require the old school AT command settings followed by a PPP session.  Not something I’m personally interested in digging through ATM.
>  
> Does this approach save much money ?  The Netgear LB1120 vs. a mini pcie card and antenna ... plus you have to locate the APU3 for good signal.
> 
> 
> 
> BTW, there appear a few of these modems register as usb ethernet devices, that would be far more straight-forward to support, not sure if any are mini-pcie or not ... of course cell carrier support is also needed.
>  
> Lonnie
>  
> 
> On Dec 27, 2018, at 8:06 PM, Michael Knill <mic...@ip...> wrote:
> 
>> I suspect that the best option is the APU3 which is actually targeted for 3G/LTE support with dual SIM slots and antenna connections in the case.
>> https://www.pcengines.ch/apu3c2.htm
>> https://pcengines.ch/howto.htm#3G
>> 
>> Working solutions using Voyage Linux and PFSense:
>> https://txlab.wordpress.com/2017/05/19/two-lte-modems-with-pc-engines-apu3/
>> https://teklager.se/en/knowledge-base/apu-4g-lte-modem-configuration/
>> 
>> Would be awesome to get working.
>> 
>> Regards
>> Michael Knill
>> 
>> On 28/12/18, 12:19 pm, "Lonnie Abelbeck" <li...@lo...> wrote:
>> 
>>    Hi Michael,
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> How hard would it be to add 4G support into Astlinux?
>> 
>>    For the special case of the PC Engines APU2, I'm not sure what form of miniPCI express card works and what kernel support it would require.
>> 
>>    Do you have a reference ?
>> 
>>    Lonnie
>> 
>>> On Dec 27, 2018, at 7:20 PM, Michael Knill <mic...@ip...> wrote:
>>>  
>>> Hi Devs
>>>  
>>> I know this has been sort of discussed before however I intend on pretty much providing 4G backup on all my new installs and would love an all in one Astlinux solution.
>>> Yes I can get separate devices but consider a pretty standard install:
>>>    • 1 x VDSL Modem
>>>    • 1 x Astlinux Appliance
>>>    • 1 x WAP
>>>    • 1 x 4G router
>>>  
>>> Its all a bit overkill when you can buy a single device to do all the above (from a network perspective obviously).
>>> I could maybe combine the 4G and WAP functionality on a single device if I could do something funky with VLAN’s to split the functionality.
>>>  
>>> How hard would it be to add 4G support into Astlinux?
>>>  
>>> Regards
>>> Michael Knill

Michael

http://www.mksolutions.info