Monday, October 26, 2009

Globe Tattoo in Fedora

The home wireless router got busted--good reason for me to get myself one of those mobile broadband products. I decided to try Globe Tattoo. Here is how I got it to work in Fedora.


  1. Install usb_modeswitch
    The kernel recognizes the device as a storage device first before knowing it is a usb modem. This thing does the identification.

    $ yum install usb_modeswitch



  2. Configure usb_modswitch
    To make the device known, edit /etc/usb_modeswitch.conf by having the following lines present (uncomment as necessary):

    # Huawei E1550
    #
    # Contributor: Anders Blomdell, Ahmed Soliman

    DefaultVendor= 0x12d1
    DefaultProduct= 0x1446

    TargetVendor= 0x12d1
    TargetProduct= 0x1001

    # only for reference and 0.x versions
    # MessageEndpoint=0x01

    MessageContent="55534243123456780000000000000011060000000000000000000000000000"


  3. Add a udev rule that will trigger usb_modeswitch
    Create /etc/udev/rules.d/15-huawei-e1550.rules and write the following lines:

    SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idProduct}=="1446", SYSFS{idVendor}=="12d1",
    RUN+="/usr/bin/usb_modeswitch"


  4. Configure the connection
    Plug the Globe Tattoo usb modem in, then the NetworkManager should have the default "Auto Mobile Broadband (GSM) connection" option. You may rename it to "Globe Tattoo" or whatever you like. The following configuration is what matters:

    Number: *99#
    Username: globe
    Password: globe
    APN: http.globe.com.ph

  5. Try it out!
    Select the newly configured connection and that's it.