Tip: Using a Vodafone Surfstick with Slackware 14.0
This article describes how to setup a Vodafone Mobile Broadband K3765-Z with Slackware 14.0 and Network Manager.
Contents
1. Plug in the Stick
First we need to plug the Vodafone stick into a free USB slot. The generic kernel delivered with
your Slackware installation has all modules available needed for registration of the stick. With
the command dmesg we see some lines like:
darkstar# dmesg
:
:
[ 10.364053] usb 3-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd
[ 10.495398] usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=19d2, idProduct=2002
[ 10.495404] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=4, Product=3, SerialNumber=5
[ 10.495409] usb 3-1: Product: Vodafone Mobile Broadband K3765-Z
[ 10.495413] usb 3-1: Manufacturer: Vodafone (ZTE)
[ 10.495417] usb 3-1: SerialNumber: 1234567890ABCDEF
:
:
and two new kernel modules should have been loaded:
darkstar# lsmod
:
:
usb_wwan 7726 1 option
usbserial 26140 7 usb_wwan,option
:
:
2. Enable Network manager
As of Slackware 14.0 the network manager is part of a stock Slackware installation. However, networkmanager is not started by default. But we can start it manually (as root)
darkstar# sh /etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager start
Of course we want the network manager to be started with the system start. As always with Slackware this has to be done by making the start script executable:
darkstar# chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager
3. Add a Network Connection
Now we are ready to start the network connection editor:
darkstar$ sudo nm-connection-editor
![[Connection Editor]](../../pics/nm-edit.png)
We select the tab "[Mobile Broadband]" and press the "[+ Add]" button to add a new network connection. A new window appears. We only need to edit settings in the "[Mobile Broadband]" tab:
The figure on the left shows the correct settings for a Vodafone Mobile Broadband Stick type "K3765-Z". For those who can't display the picture:
- APN: Choose "web.vodafone.de" for Germany
- Username: vodafone
- Password: vodafone
- PIN: Put in the four-digit number you received with the stick.
Additionally we could set "Connect automatically" to force network manager to automatically connect to this network if it is available.
At this point we should see a new interface with
nm-tool:
darkstar# nm-tool NetworkManager Tool State: disconnected - Device: ttyUSB3 ----------------------------------- Type: Mobile Broadband (GSM) Driver: option1 State: disconnected Default: no Capabilities:
If you don't see the new device a restart of the network manager¹ or even a reboot might be required. With my setup I actually needed a reboot in order to see the new device within the network manager.
4. Enable the Network Connetion
Wireless WAN is disabled by default:
darkstar# nmcli nm wwan WWAN disabled
We need to enable wireless WAN connections globally:
darkstar# nmcli nm wwan on darkstar# nmcli nm wwan WWAN enabled
If you set the "Connect automatically" option the connection manager should bring up the connection now. If you didn't set the option you need to bring up the connection manually:
darkstar# nmcli con list NAME UUID TYPE TIMESTAMP-REAL Wired connection 1 4e722de9-ce98-1ab2-b1c2-123456789abc 802-3-ethernet Wed 10 Apr 2013 10:51:16 AM CEST Vodafone Default 1 a1b2d3c4-a1b2-1a2b-1a2b-ab12cd23ef45 gsm Wed 10 Apr 2013 01:36:15 PM CEST darkstar# nmcli con up uuid a1b2d3c4-a1b2-1a2b-1a2b-ab12cd23ef45
The status can be checked with nm-tool again:
darkstar# nm-tool
NetworkManager Tool
State: connected (global)
- Device: ttyUSB3 [Vodafone Default 1] ----------------------------------------
Type: Mobile Broadband (GSM)
Driver: option1
State: connected
Default: yes
Capabilities:
IPv4 Settings:
Address: 2.205.224.170
Prefix: 32 (255.255.255.255)
Gateway: 10.64.64.64
DNS: 139.7.30.126
DNS: 139.7.30.125
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