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Description
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The 3G HSDPA e220 USB modem device from Huawei Technologies, (http://www.huawei.com/mobileweb/en/products/view.do?id=282) is offered by Vodafone, O2 and 'Three' mobile service providers worldwide to provide mobile broadband.
Currently, the modem works 'out-of-the-box' on Windows XP. It works with additional drivers for Windows Vista, Mac and various flavours of Linux (with 2.6 kernel). Google for '3g usb modem vodafone linux' will return many pages showing how the modem can be made to work with Linux.
The USB modem does not work with Solaris even with usbsacm driver loaded.
Users, especially home workers, without DSL/Cable/Wireless access will find this device very useful as they can access broadband via the mobile networks, which gives better coverage than DSL.
I currently use this modem connected to a Windows XP box with 'internet connection sharing' enabled to access broadband over an ethernet link to a laptop running Solaris.
When the modem is plugged into a USB port on a Solaris box (snv_67), it is seen only as a usb-storage device at /dev/term/0 ...
# ls -al /dev/term/*
0 -> ../../devices/pci@0,0/pci104d,8212@1d,1/storage@1:0
The modem actually has two modes - 'storage' and 'modem'. The storage mode is for the on-board self-install program used with Windows XP.
From dmesg...
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Jul 26 10:01:09 lapdancer usba: [ID 912658 kern.info] USB 1.10 device (usb12d1,1003) operating at full speed (USB 1.x) on USB 1.10 root hub: storage@1, scsa2usb3 at bus address 2
Jul 26 10:01:09 lapdancer usba: [ID 349649 kern.info] HUAWEI Technologies Mobile
Jul 26 10:01:09 lapdancer genunix: [ID 936769 kern.info] scsa2usb3 is /pci@0,0/pci104d,8212@1d,1/storage@1
Jul 26 10:01:09 lapdancer genunix: [ID 408114 kern.info] /pci@0,0/pci104d,8212@1d,1/storage@1 (scsa2usb3) online
Jul 26 10:01:09 lapdancer scsi: [ID 193665 kern.info] sd4 at scsa2usb3: target 0 lun 0
Jul 26 10:01:09 lapdancer genunix: [ID 936769 kern.info] sd4 is /pci@0,0/pci104d,8212@1d,1/storage@1/disk@0,0
Jul 26 10:01:09 lapdancer genunix: [ID 408114 kern.info] /pci@0,0/pci104d,8212@1d,1/storage@1/disk@0,0 (sd4) online
Jul 26 10:01:09 lapdancer genunix: [ID 314293 kern.info] device pci8086,27a2@2(display#0) keeps up device sd@0,0(disk#4), but the latter is not power managed
Jul 26 10:01:11 lapdancer scsi: [ID 107833 kern.warning] WARNING: /pci@0,0/pci104d,8212@1d,1/storage@1/disk@0,0 (sd4):
Jul 26 10:01:11 lapdancer sd_check_for_writable_cd: Mode Sense returned invalid block descriptor length
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A good example description of how it can be made to work on linux is found here; http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_HUAWEI_E220_HSDPA_USB_MODEM
(Thanks to Lei Chen for advice and the above pointer)
I think that this modem should be supported by Solaris otherwise users will rely on Windows, Mac or Linux and avoid Solaris.
It should work on Solaris (just like Linux/Windows). This 3G broadband is useless without it.
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Work Around
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opensolaris forum has provided a workaround to use usbsacm(7D) to support this device. But it seems that device has some problem. I'm not sure if it's a hardware issue. If anybody having such a device and willing to set up an environment for me to debug this faiure, I will appreciate. Thanks.
See the forum link for the workaround: http://www.opensolaris.org/jive/thread.jspa?forumID=79&threadID=37501
For how to switch HUAWEI 3G USB modem from storage device to a multi-port modem device, please see the attachment. Note, users have to find their device's product ID and recompile the source.
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