#10513 NORM Not Tri: Sugar does not spot USB 3G modem while Gnome does

[Zarro Boogs per Child]

#10513: Sugar does not spot USB 3G modem while Gnome does
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 Reporter:  greenfeld        |                 Owner:  dsd                              
     Type:  defect           |                Status:  new                              
 Priority:  normal           |             Milestone:  Not Triaged                      
Component:  network manager  |               Version:  Development build as of this date
 Keywords:                   |           Next_action:  diagnose                         
 Verified:  0                |   Deployment_affected:                                   
Blockedby:                   |              Blocking:                                   
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 I got my hands on a Mifi 2200 CDMA 3G modem to try out with XOs.  It
 supports running as an 802.11 access point with NAT support, which the XOs
 are happy to work with, as well as running as if it was a standard USB
 modem, which Sugar does not seem to be happiest with.

 * The first {somewhat minor, but we likely should update} issue was that
 usb_modeswitch did not have a definition for this device, even though it
 has been out for more than a year.{1}  No problem though; I found a
 definition for it from newer packaged releases which I could manually use
 to expose the serial ports. [[BR]]

 * I then tried to get Sugar to show me that it spotted a 3G modem.  Sugar
 never did, even after I filled out the info form for Sugar for 3G modems
 and restarted it.  I then switched to Gnome and was able to configure it
 from the Network Connections system tray icon as a "Mobile Broadband"
 adapter without issue.

 Tested on an XO-1.5 with 10.1.3 os355.  Unfortunately I do not have access
 to a wide variety of 3G modems.  Perhaps can should ask the deployments
 which use them to take a look?


 {1} A bit of background information: 3G modems {and possibly other
 devices} often have the ability to first look like they are just a CD-ROM
 "disk" with their preferred drivers, and then receive a magic command on a
 USB endpoint which tells them to switch from showing a software-holding
 USB device to the actual USB device with serial port(s), etc.  That way
 the OS does not install a generic driver for the item, and you more or
 less have to use the manufacturer's branded driver.

 Good for the manufacturer, not so good if said CD-ROM likely does not have
 drivers for your OS.  Many Linux distributions are now packaging a program
 called "usb_modeswitch" to work around/with this.

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Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/10513>
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