PCTel HSP MicroModem Configuration mini-HOWTOSayaminduDasguptaunmadindu_NO_SPAM_@Softhome.netJanStifterj.stifter_NO_SPAM_@medres.ch 2.5.10 2002-12-04 Added new FAQ entry, and other minor clean ups. 2.5.9 November 11th 2002 Added new driver info, made corrections and clarifications in the GCC 3 FAQ . 2.5.8 November 10th 2002 Added information on GCC 3, fixed typos, and other minor corrections. 2.5.6 September 21st 2002 Changes in the FAQ section based on reader suggestions, and general error cleanups. 2.5.5 August 17th 2002 Made changes in driver section, and other additions 2.5.1 July 20th 2002 Made changes in driver section, and misc. additions 2.50 June 6th 2002 Made changes in the drivers and FAQ section, added the database info, other corrections 2.00 March 30th 2002 Made changes in the drivers section, other corrections 1.10December 4th 2001Cleaning up of sgml by Greg Ferguson, Relicensed under the GFDL, minor corrections1.00November 26th 2001First ReleaseThe purpose of this document is to guide you to make
your PCTel HSP MicroModem work in GNU/Linux.IntroductionCopyright Information
DisclaimerThe methods described in this document might damage your data or your PC or both.
The authors will not be responsible for any damage that might arise out of the use of this document.
Use this document ENTIRELY at your own risk. All copyrights are held by their respective owners, unless
specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document
should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark
or service mark.
Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen
as endorsements.
You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system
before major installation and backups at regular intervals.
New Versions The latest version of this mini-HOWTO will always be made available in my
homepage (many thanks to
Peaceful Action for hosting my homepage) in a variety of formats:
HTML.
plain text.
PDF.
RTF.
compressed
html (multiple pages format).
SGML source.
Credits I am extremely grateful to the howtos[NO_SPAM]@frodo.hserus.net list members for their support, especially to USM Bish.The members of the discuss@linmodems.org list have been very helpful too, specially in the initial phase of the howto-writing.
I am also extremely grateful to Phil Richard Burchill, Rajesh Fowkar, KV Pham, Bram Vonk, Derek Cordeiro, Steven Sangster and
Andrew Kar (akar) for their valuable suggestions and corrections.The sgml-stuff has been done with the help of the template written by Stein Gjoen, Gregory Leblanc and Greg Ferguson.
I am also indebted to Greg Ferguson for cleaning up the mess I had made with Docbook :-).
FeedbackIf you have any comments, criticisms, ideas, additions, corrections, then please do mail them to
unmadindu_NO_SPAM_@Softhome.net. But for technical queries, we suggest that you ask at the
discuss@linmodems.org mailing list.Please do not mail me with your problems. You will NOT get any answer. For answers ask at
discuss@linmodems.org. TranslationsPortuguese Translation
by RafaelCardosoTranslation from English to Portuguese.rafamvc_NO_SPAM_@yahoo.com.brConventions used in this documentWe have used a number of special formatting to indicate warning messages, commands, filenames, computer outputs etc.Bash commands bash$ ls NotesNOTECautionsCAUTIONInfoINFOWarningsWARNINGFilename/Directory /usr/src/linux/ApplicationsapplicationComputer Outputno such file or directoryCodes/scripts#! /bin/bashLarge Computer Outputslogfile beginsPurpose of the mini-HOWTOThe purpose of this document is to guide you to make your PCTel HSP MicroModem work in GNU/Linux.First let me explain what is so "special" about these PCTel modems that made me write this guide.
These modems fall in a special class of hardware, specifically made for M$-Windows systems, and have device
drivers which are specific for entM$-Windows ...These modems are also called ent"Winmodems" and are
one of the most troublesome pieces of hardwares for GNU/Linux. Most of the winmodems do not work
with GNU/Linux (the manufacturers use patented technologies and so drivers for these modems cannot be
developed as Open Source). For a few of these winmodems, drivers have been developed The PCTel
modems belong to this category and fall under linmodems. Please do note that PCTel provides proprietary drivers, and in the free world of GNU/Linux, proprietary drivers
are not the solution. These drivers can turn out to be a great threat as the Free Software Movement evolves and
matures. So, at the very beginning, please consider whether you want to surrender your "freedom" to PCTel, or
whether you want to go out and buy a new modem which has a GPL'ed driver. I understand, that for many, buying
a new modem is not possible, and hence, this doc exists. But whatever you do, please do send a mail to
Mr. Jack Seller of PCTel's Public Relation department at this
address asking PCTel to release the source code of their drivers.Remember that when you are using proprietary drivers, you are giving up your freedom.Though I am referring PCTel modems here, actually PCTel only manufactures the chips for these modems, so if you
have say, XXX modem and you get a 00:09.0 Communication controller: PCTel Inc HSP MicroModem
56 (rev 01) when you issue the bash$ lspci command, then do not
worry, you have what we call a PCTel linmodem.Where to get the driversNow let me come to the next obvious question, that is; Where are the drivers??Well, if you are impatient, and if you have a 2.4x series kernel then go to http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/pctel-linux/, and if you
are stuck with the older 2.2.x kernels, go to http://modems.dewback.cl (the exact link for
the file it self is http://modems.dewback.cl/pctel-2.2.tar.gz )But there are a number of drivers in both the sites, and you will definitely feel confused..so read on.Choosing a suitable driver The driver version that you will have to use depends on the kernel version you have. To know your kernel version, you will
have to issue the command uname -rIf you see something like 2.2.x, go to http://modems.dewback.cl and download
the pctel 2.2x drivers from the PCTel section of that site.If you see something like 2.4x, go to http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/pctel-linux/
and download the pctel 0.9.6 (pctel-0.9.6.tar.gz) drivers from that site.Also note that only the pctel 0.9.6 drivers have support for the new AMR modems.Compiling and installing the driversThe first requisite for installation is that you have a kernel source in /usr/src/linux/ (see section 7.7) and it must be
configured, that is, you should have done a bash$ make configure and bash$ make dep on it.While doing these make sure that you have the source for your running kernel...for example, if
you are running kernel 2.4.8 and if you have the source for kernel 2.4.9 in /usr/src/linux/,
then the drivers would not work.Moreover, you must configure the kernel with isapnp and pnp support and see to the fact that you
don't have a smp/uniprocessor mismatch ( that is, running uniprocessor kernel but having a kernel
source with smp support in /usr/src/linux). Also, you will need a kernel
which supports loadable modules.And of course, you need to have gcc installed, check it by issuing the command bash$ gcc -v . If you do not get any errors, then everything is all right If you have gcc version 3 or above , and have problems during compiling, please refer to
this section in the FAQ.Installing the 2.2x drivers.Login as root.Make sure that you have a 2.2.x kernel with the command bash$ uname -rCheck whether the downloaded files are in your current directory with the bash$ lscommand.
Then unpack the downloaded files with the command bash$ tar -xzvf pctel-2.2.tar.gzOnce you have unpacked, you will be left with a ~/pctel directory.Move into that directory with the commandbash$ cd pctel/There is an (install.sh) installation script that makes the job easier from now on.Make this script executable with the command bash$ chmod +x install.shThen, just run the scriptbash$ ./install.shYou will see a number of messages fly by as the appropriate device files/nodes are made in the /dev/
directory, the driver files are unpacked and then compiled and loaded into the memory.Once the process is complete without any error messages (if you get any errors, proceed to the
Troubleshooting section), you will find that a new directory called lib/ has been created under directory ~/pctel/.
This ~/pctel/lib/ directory contains the drivers/modules that can be loaded into the kernel.If you move into the ~/pctel/lib/ directory with bash$ cd ~/pctel/lib/and do a bash$ ls, you will find two files there, one called pctel.o and the other ptserial.oThese are the two modules that are to be loaded to make the modem work.To load the modules, you will have to issue the commands bash$ insmod pctel.obash$ insmod ptserial.ofrom the ~/pctel/lib/ directory.(The install.sh script automatically does this, so you don't need to do the insmod part after running
the script, but once you reboot, you will have to load the modules bybash$ cd `your pctel directory`/lib/bash$ insmod pctel.obash$ insmod ptserial.o )Installing the pctel-0.9.6 driverMake sure that you have kernel 2.4.0 or greater by the commandbash$ uname -rUnpack the downloaded files with the commandsbash$ tar -xzvf pctel-0.9.6.tar.gzNow you will have a pctel-0.9.6 directorycd into that with the commandbash$ cd pctel-0.9.6/Now comes the complicated part.To proceed further you will have to know what chip set your modem has.See section 9.4 for more information on this.Once you have got the name of the chip set, just type one of the following commands (depending on the chip set)If you have a PCT 789 chip set,bash$
./configure --with-hal=pct789If you have a CM8738 chip set,bash$
./configure -with-hal=cm8738If you have a chip set integrated with an i8** chip set based box,bash$
./configure --with-hal=i8xx If you have a chip set integrated with an VIA 686a chip set based motherboard ,bash$
./configure --with-hal=via686a The configure script will run and a number of messages will fly past.
Check for any error messages that may fly past.
When you have the prompt again, (and if you have not got any errors),
compile the drivers with the commandbash$ makeThen if you do not get any error messages , install the drivers with the commandbash$ make install(You will have to be logged in as root for performing the last step)Then just load the drivers with the commandsbash$ insmod pctelbash$ insmod ptserialNOTE: These commands can be issued from any directory as the insmod program will automatically find
the drivers pctel.o and ptserial.o in
/lib/modules/`your kernel version`/misc/ )NOTE: If you get a message that says configure: error: You must have linux kernel ent= 2.4.0 installed, then please refer to section
8.1.1 for ways to solve this.However, if you have an AMR modem, then you will have to
use the 0.9.6 drivers.Installing the pctel-0.8.6 driverUse this driver only if you experience problems with the pctel-0.9.6 driversMake sure that you have kernel 2.4.0 or greater by the commandbash$ uname -rUnpack the downloaded files with the commandsbash$ tar -xzvf 0.8.6.tarNow you will have a pctel-0.8.6 directorycd into that with the commandbash$ cd pctel-0.8.6/Now comes the complicated part.To proceed further you will have to know what chip set your modem has.See section 9.4 for more information on this.Once you have got the name of the chip set, just type one of the following commands (depending on the chip set)If you have a PCT 789 chip set,bash$
./configure --with-hal=pct789If you have a CM8738 chip set,bash$
./configure -with-hal=cm8738If you have a chip set integrated with an Intel 810 chip set based motherboard from Intel,bash$
./configure --with-hal=i810intel If you have a chip set integrated with an Intel 810 chip set based motherboard from SIS,bash$
./configure --with-hal=i810sis If you have a chip set integrated with an VIA 686a chip set based motherboard ,bash$
./configure --with-hal=via686a The configure script will run and a number of messages will fly past.
Check for any error messages that may fly past.
When you have the prompt again, (and if you have not got any errors),
compile the drivers with the commandbash$ makeThen if you do not get any error messages, install the drivers with the commandbash$ make install(You will have to be logged in as root for performing the last step)Then just load the drivers with the commandsbash$ insmod pctelbash$ insmod ptserial(these too, like in the case of the pctel-0.9.6 drivers, can be issued from any directory as the insmod program will automatically find
the drivers pctel.o and ptserial.o in /lib/modules/`your kernel version`/misc/ )Testing the driversThere is only one way to check whether the drivers are working or not. You will have to see if your
modem is recognized or not. The driver makes a node for your modem at /dev/ttyS15 , no matter
what com port it may be in in M$DOS/M$ Windows. /dev/ttyS15 is symlinked to /dev/modem and as
most programs search for a modem at /dev/modem first, you will not have to fiddle with the settings/configs of those programs. The
program that I use to test my modem in GNU/Linux is minicom. If you have minicom installed, what you have to do is typebash$
minicomin a shell prompt or in a terminal emulator window.
If everything is all right, you will see a Initializing modem message for a few seconds and then a
screen with a blinking cursor.
Just type in ATZ in that screen and hit the enter key.
If you see a OK message, then, congratulations, your modem is working in GNU/Linux.
Type in ATI 3 and hit enter and you will see a PCtel HSP56 MicroModem output.
If you get a error message, or if you fail to get any response from minicom proceed to the troubleshooting section.
If everything is all right up to now, you can go ahead to configure your dialer software and connect to
the internet, and please do take some time to submit your modem information to the compatibility database at http://pctelcompdb.sourceforge.net. Also, you may consider helping out the author.
See this section for more information.A few other points that must be noted.Here are a few more points you might find to be of interest/useful.The unofficial PCTel winmodem-Linux compatibility database.There has been a lot of confusion over the --with-hal option which has to be used with the configure script, and for that, I coded a MySQL-PHP driven database that
takes in information from the modem owners, so that newbies can browse and search the database, and find their modems' chipsets. If you have a PCTel modem, then please do submit your modem information
at http://pctelcompdb.sourceforge.net.Loading the modules at automaticallyWell, if you have the pctel.o and ptserial.o files in /lib/modules/`your kernel version`/misc/ , you can just add these lines to your
/etc/modules.conf file
# for pctel modem
alias char-major-62 ptserial
below ptserial pctel
# country code for pctel modem
options ptserial country_code=1Runbash$
depmod -aafter modifying your /etc/modules.conf .In this case, running ppp would automatically load these modules.
You can also write up some shell-script and put them in your /usr/bin/ directory (I have a sample of such a script in the appendix
section)
Country codesThe ptserial.o driver also lets you specify the country code, though for most situations, the default of USA is all right.
If you still want to specify the country code, load the ptserial.o module with the commandbash$
insmod ptserial country_code=x(where x is the country code you want)
The list of country codes with the corresponding country names is listed below.
Country Codes Country Name country_code USA1France2Germany3Italy4Sweden5UK6Japan 7Australia8Spain9Taiwan10Singapore11Korea12Switzerland13Norway14Netherlands15Belgium16Canada17Ireland18Portugal19Polan20Hungary21Finland22Denmark 23Austria24South Africa25CTR21 Countries26China27Malaysia28Luxumburg29Greece30Iceland31New Zealand32Brazil33
Other options while loading the modules.The other options that you may want to use while loading ptserial.o are:For all HALs : - irq: Force to using irq #. - iobase: Force to use iobase for modem detection.Only for I810/VAI686A HALs: - iobase1: Force the iobase 1NOTE: if you want to set iobase or iobase1, you should use
irq/iobase/iobase1 at same time.Only for CM8738/PCT789 HALs: - vendor_id: vendor ID of the modem - device_id: device ID of the modem.NOTE: vendor_id and device_id should be used at the same time,
but you cannot combinate this two options with
iobase, iobase prevail to (vendor/device)_id detection.The sequence of loading/unloading the modules.When you load the modules, you must load the pctel.o module at firstbash$
insmod pcteland then the ptserial.obash$
insmod ptserialWhile unloading, the sequence is reversed,bash$
rmmod ptserialbash$
rmmod pctelBugs in the pctel-0.9.6 and the 0.8.6 versions.
There is a serious bug in the drivers for the kernel 2.4x
The modem often seems to stop working/hang while dialing out, and you get nothing but a
beeeeeeeeee... sound from the modem speaker and later, the dialer gives a message No Carrier
and disconnects.This problem has no real workaround , but sometimes unloading and reloading of the modules work. For that the commands
will be (assuming that you have the modules in /lib/modules/'your kernel version`/misc/ )bash$
rmmod ptserialbash$
rmmod pctelbash$
insmod pctelbash$
insmod ptserialYou must exit from your dialer before trying to unload the drivers, otherwise you will get a device or resource busy error.When the problems become too acute, the only solution seems to be rebooting.It has been also noticed that sometimes, this problem is ISP dependent, with the problem surfacing when using a particular
ISP.Directory of the kernel source files
If you get an error saying /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h : no such file or directory,
look in your /usr/src directory for the kernel source. The default location is /usr/src/linux/ but some distributions may install the files somewhere else.If you find that the files are somewhere else, say in the directory, /usr/src/myspecialsource/ , do not try to move the files, just create a symbolic link with the command bash$
ln -s /usr/src/myspecialdirectory/ /usr/src/linux/In case of the PCTel-0.8.6 or newer drivers you can also specify the location of your kernel source by using the optionbash$
--with-kernel-includes=your kernel source directoryduring running the configure script. PnP BIOS issuesAs most computers are designed for M$-Windows operating systems, the BIOS of the computer assumes that you have a what it calls a "PnP OS installed".
This may cause trouble with these types of modems in GNU/Linux (specially if you have resource conflicts) and so the best bet is to change the option "PnP OS installed" to "No". To do these, you have to perform the following steps:During startup, when you see "Memory Test" messages, CPU information, BIOS information, just press the DEL key (if that does not work, usually one of the Function (Fx) keys work..check your manual).You will be presented with the BIOS configuration menu. Enter the "PNP/PCI Configuration" section and set the option for "PNP OS Installed" to "NO". Save the changes you have made, and then reboot.This is not applicable to all BIOSs, and you are advised to consult your PC documentation if you have a different kind of BIOS configuration menu.AMR modemsThere are certain PCTel chip set based internal modems that go into AMR slots instead of the normal PCI slots. They are
usually identified as HSP MR by the bash$ lspci command. These modems
are supported by the pctel-0.9.6 drivers only.Possible conflict with sound modulesRecently, there were some posts in the discuss@linmodems.org list that the PCTel modules worked only after the sound modules
were unloaded with the bash$ rmmod command. If you do not get a response from your modem even after the
pctel.o and ptserial.o modules have been loaded, then you can try unloading the sound modules, and then reloading the PCTel
modules. However, this problem does not occur if you are using the commercial ($$$) drivers from www.opensound.com .FAQ/TroubleshootingHere is a set of common problems that you may face, along with their possible solutions.Compiling ProblemsI get a configure: error: You must have linux kernel ent= 2.4.0 installed during ./configure
If this occurs, you will have to patch your configure script. Download the file configure.patch from here and give the command cat configure.patch | patch -p0I am supposing that you are in the pctel-0.9.6 directory, and the configure.patch is also in that directoryI get a /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h : no such file or directoryYou need to have your kernel source installed under /usr/src/linux/ If you have the kernel source installed somewhere else, just make the appropriate symlink. (see section 7.7 for more information)
If you have that installed under /usr/src/linux/ , runbash$
make configbash$
make depin /usr/src/linux/ I get a permission denied error while running bash$ make installYou need to be logged in as root while doing bash$ make installI have gcc 3 and while compiling, I get an error which goes like this
entcommand lineent:1:13: multi-line string literals are deprecated
make[3]: *** [ptserial.o] Error 1.
This should not happen anymore since the pctel-0.9.6 driver was released to address this issue. However, if you
still face such a problem, (with an older driver or something like that), you will have to edit the file
entyour pctel directoryentsrc/ptserial/Makefile.
In that file, find out the line which saysCFLAGS = -D__KERNEL__ -Werror -Wno-trigraphs -fno-common -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -fno-strength-reduce -DMODULE -DMODVERSIONS -DEXPORT_SYMTAB -D$(HAL_TARGET) $(AUDIO_ROUTING) -DBUILD_SYSTEM=\""$(BUILD_SYSTEM)\"" -DGCC_VERSION=\""$(GCC_VERSION)\"" -I$(top_srcdir)/include -I$(KERNEL_INCLUDES) -include $(KERNEL_INCLUDES)/linux/modversions.hand change that toCFLAGS = -D__KERNEL__ -Wno-trigraphs -fno-common -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -fno-strength-reduce -DMODULE -DMODVERSIONS -DEXPORT_SYMTAB -D$(HAL_TARGET) $(AUDIO_ROUTING) -DBUILD_SYSTEM=\""$(BUILD_SYSTEM)\"" -DGCC_VERSION=\""$(GCC_VERSION)\"" -I$(top_srcdir)/include -I$(KERNEL_INCLUDES) -include $(KERNEL_INCLUDES)/linux/modversions.h....and then recompile.If you cannot find the file src/ptserial/Makefile, then run the configure script, and try again.Alternatively, you may also try out the pre-compiled (distro specific) drivers at
http://www.geocities.com/jcmp3/. Just note that I have not personally
tested out these drivers, and I don't know much about them.I have RedHat 8.0/Mandrake 9.0, and I am having troubles compiling the drivers.See the answer to the previous question (8.1.4).Problems while loading the modules.I get unresolved symbols.... messages while loading the modulesFirstly, check that you are loading ptserial.o only after loading pctel.o.If that does not solve the problem, then probably you have compiled your modules for the wrong kernel version. Check your kernel version
with the commandbash$
uname -rand then verify if you have the right files in /usr/src/linux .Moreover, if you have a running kernel for a uniprocessor machine and have kernel source in /usr/src/linux/
that is configured for smp support, then you will get unresolved symbols. A method to check whether you have a smp supporting source is by
running bash$
make menuconfig
in /usr/src/linux/
and seeing whether smp support is selected.Another way to get rid of the unresolved symbols problem is to use the fixscript package from
http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/pctel-linux/fixscript.gzThe procedure is to:Unpack the downloaded file withbash$
gzip -d fixscript.gzMake it executable withbash$
chmod +x fixscriptRun it withbash$
./fixscript old_module.o new_module.oThis will create the new module, which you can try to load
withbash$
insmod new_module.oIf fixscript reports an error likeobjcopy: --redefine-sym: Symbol x is target of more than one redefinitionthen, fixscript can not help you.The best method is of course, to fix your kernel source and recompile the drivers.Make sure that you do abash$
make cleanbefore recompiling.I get an Operation not permitted error while trying to load the driversYou will have to be logged in as root to load the drivers, otherwise, you can also type in thebash$
sucommand and then load the drivers.I get a Warning: loading /lib/modules/2.4.19/misc/ptserial.o will taint the kernel: non-GPL license - GPL linked with proprietary libraries message while loading the modules.This message is just to inform you that you are loading a proprietary module which is not supported
by the Linux kernel developers. It also serves as a warning that the drivers have not been officially
tested with the kernel, and may cause problems, and tells you that you should not send bug reports to the
kernel developers if you face system instability or any other problems after loading these proprietary
drivers.
Just remember that this is not a error message - it just informs you that
you are using an unsupported module.I get a The module you are trying to load (/lib/modules/2.4.18-14/misc/pctel.o) is compiled with a gcc
version 2 compiler, while the kernel you are running is compiled with a gcc version 3 compiler. This is known to not work. message while loading the modules.Try to load the modules with the commands with insmod -f pctel and insmod -f ptserial
instead of the plain insmod pctel and insmod ptserial.Just remember that this is not a very nice hack.General modem based problems.I get a /dev/modem no such device error.First of all, check if you really have the drivers loaded. You can do this by the commandbash$ lsmodThis command lists all the modules that you have loaded, and if you see something likeModule Size Used by
ptserial 47472 0 (unused)
pctel 1211808 0 [ptserial]then, the modules are correctly loaded.If not, just load them and retry.Also check whether the file /dev/modem is symlinked to /dev/ttyS15Remember, even if msdos or Microsoft Windows tells you that the modem is in com 3 or com 4, in GNU/Linux the driver makes it appear in
/dev/ttyS15 (the Microsoft equivalent of which will be com 16!!)If you are in doubt, I suggest that you re-create the device files by the commandsbash$
rmmod ptserialbash$
rmmod pctelbash$ rm /dev/ttyS15 ent/dev/modembash$
mknod /dev/ttyS15 c 62 79NOTE: the numbers after /devttyS15 are distribution specific, and the c 62 79 works for Red Hat
Linux and derivatives. If you have any other distribution, please check your documentations.bash$
chgrp uucp /dev/ttyS15bash$
chmod 666 ent/dev/ttyS15bash$
ln -s /dev/ttyS15 /dev/modem My dialer gives a No Carrier errorThis is a bug with the drivers for the kernel 2.4x seriesRefer to section 7.6 for more information.I get a No Dialtone message. This is usually solved by adding ATX3 to your modem init strings.
The process of adding the ATX3 init string varies depending on the dialer you are using.
For example, if you are using wvdial, you need to add X3 at the end
of the Init2 line in the file /etc/wvdial.conf.
On the other hand, if you are using KPPP, you will have to add ATX3 in
the Initialization String 1 field, which can be found in the
Modem Commands section of the Modem
of the Setup dialogue box of KPPP.I get a Modem Busy error.First of all, check if the drivers are loaded or not and then see, if any program is using the modem.
If everything seems to be all right, try to find out the irq of your modem with the commandbash$
lspci -vIf the irq listed is obviously incorrect (like 0) (or does not tally with your M$-Windows configuration) then either use the setserial commandbash$
setserial /dev/ttyS15 irq * (where * is the irq of your modem)or fiddle with the BIOS settings (see section 7.8)Another possibilty may be that your sound modules are conflicting with the PCTel modules. Refer to section 7.10 for this.I have a problem that is not listed in this section. What do I do?The output of the commandbash$
tail /var/log/messageswill give you a lot of information if anything goes wrong
The normal output should be something like thisNov 11 10:50:24 localhost kernel: PCTel device[00:09.0](0x48) found "PCTel Inc HSP MicroModem 56 (rev 01)", iobase=0xe400, irq=12.
Nov 11 10:50:24 localhost kernel: PCTel driver version 0.9.5 [5.05c-4.27.215 (09-14-2001)] (PCT789) (2002-01-31) with MANY_PORTS SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI enabled.
Nov 11 10:50:24 localhost kernel: PCTel driver built on [Linux 2.4.18-14 i686 i686 "2.4.18-14 ent132114ent"] with gcc-gcc (GCC) 3.2
20020903 (Red Hat Linux 8.0 3.2-7).
Nov 11 10:50:24 localhost kernel: ttyS15 at 0xe400 (irq = 12) is a PCTelMail the output you get to the discuss@linmodems.org list( more on this in section 9.2.2), and wait for a reply.Appendix A sample script file to load the modules.#! /bin/bash
/sbin/insmod /lib/modules/`uname -r`/misc/pctel.o
/sbin/insmod /lib/modules/`uname -r`/misc/ptserial.o
# end file
You can save this file as modemon and then isuue the commandsbash$
chmod 700 modemonbash$
cp modemon /usr/bin/modemonNow, whenever you type in the command bash$ modemon , the modules will get loaded automatically Web ResourcesThere are a number of websites, mailing lists that may help you while you try to configure your modem.Web sitesThe unofficial pctel linux driver site at http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/pctel-linux/ The unofficial PCTel modem-Linux compatibility database at http://pctelcompdb.sourceforge.net.The linmodem site (the mother page of all linmodem projets) at http://www.linmodems.orgA huge lists of lin/winmodems at http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.htmlA list of AT commands from PCTel at http://www.pctel.com/atcommands_dev.htmFor latest information related to linmodems, visit http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/.The linmodem-howto is available at http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Linmodem-HOWTO.html.Mailing lists
The most important mailing list for linmodems is discuss@linmodems.orgYou can subscribe to that list by going to enthttp://www.linmodems.org or by sending a blank e-mail to discuss-subscribe@linmodems.org . Other drivers that are available I have seen a number of modem manufacturers (Dax, Zoltrix, Lectron, Tiacom etc) providing linux drivers for their modems that have PCTel chip sets.Actually most (if not all) of these drivers are slightly modified form of the drivers at Jan's and the modems.dewback.cl
site, and so, in most cases, there is no point in downloading them.However, you may try out the pre-compiled (distro specific) drivers at
http://www.geocities.com/jcmp3/. Just note that I have not personally
tested out these drivers, and I don't know much about them.Moreover, in the early days of 2.4x kernels, Thomas Wright had made a PCTel driver and you can find it in his website at http://www.geocities.com/tom_in_rc/. Identifying the chip set of the modemWell, the best way to identify the chip set of your modem is to open up the cabinet of the machine.,
gently pull out the modem from it's slot (only if it is not integrated into your motherboard), and see the name printed on the black chip on the modem. (be very very careful while doing these, and make sure that all power supplies to the system is disconnected, and touch the ground/a metallic surface before handling any of the circuitry/wires in the machine). But sometimes, this is not possible and so you will have to adopt other methods.The next best method is to run the command bash$
lspci -nThis command will give you the numeric PCI id of your modem (you may have to run bash$ lspci to crosscheck the device id) and you will have to submit the number at http://www.yourvote.com/pci/
Here you may or may not get the exact name of the chip set you have.The unofficial PCTel modem-Linux compatibility database at http://pctelcompdb.sourceforge.net.
might also be of some help in this caseIf you do not get the name, you can go through the database at http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html#drivers
and search for an entry on your modem.You can also ask at the local LUGs or ask your friends or even (a bad way, no doubt), ask the support personnel of your modem manufacturer.Helping the authorIf you have liked the miniHOWTO, or if you have benefitted from the contents, then please do consider
linking my project site Peaceful Action (http://www.peacefulaction.org) from your homepage, or whatever site you may be the webmaster of.
See this
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