Virgin Mobile Broadband on Ubuntu

The netbook bandwagon has been gathering momentum since Asus’s EEE was released at the end of 2007. Although quality varies, we’ve seen some great value netbooks. One of the latest is Dell’s Mini 12 (check out our First Look here). It’s available in both Windows Vista and Ubuntu Linux versions.

Like most Linux netbooks, the Ubuntu version is cheaper than its Windows counterpart (although there are also a few differences to the hardware specification in this case). I use Slackware & Slamd64 Linux at home, so don't find it too hard to shift to other distributions, but even I’ve encountered a few problems.

I’m not the only who’s had their share of trouble. John Hudson, Technology Director of IT support and rescue firm Help4IT, told us: "We have received a steady flow of calls from home users who have bought netbooks with the Linux operating system installed. Generally the new netbook owners have called after being flummoxed when they tried to connect it to peripheral devices. Linux supports hardware very well but retailers and broadband suppliers who supply netbooks, or the devices they are required to connect to, have no Linux support capability and point their customers to organisations such as help4IT and our emergency support service, Dial4Rescue."

Unfortunately, most people who've picked up a bargain netbook tend to balk at the price of emergency support. Help4IT is one of several sources providing me with netbook questions for this blog.

A common problem involves getting mobile broadband dongles to work. Support is getting better, particularly for the popular range of dongles from Huawei. I tested support for a Virgin Mobile Broadband Huawei E160 under Ubuntu Hardy Heron.

Setting Up Mobile Broadband
The first step is to install the latest version of Network Manager (0.7). You’ll need an internet connection for this. Yes, this would be one of those Catch-22 situations that calls for a net connection to get your net connection working. I recommend using wired Ethernet at this stage to minimise further complications.

1. Open a command line terminal. (Applications > Accessories > Terminal)
   
   
2. Give yourself root access. On many pre-installed Ubuntu distributions the best way to do this is by typing “sudo bash” and entering your password if prompted. If you installed Ubuntu yourself and have set up a password for root, type “su -” and enter the root password.
   
   
3. Type “gedit /etc/apt/sources.list”. This will open the package management sources in a graphical text editor.
   
   
4. Cut and paste in the following lines:
   deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/network-manager/ubuntu hardy main
   deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/network-manager/ubuntu hardy main
   
   
5. Check to make sure you haven’t accidentally changed anything else, save and exit gedit.
   
   
6. Back in the terminal window type the following:
   apt-get update
   apt-get install network-manager
   
   Type y to continue and again when asked if you want install the network-manager packages without authentication. You may get a couple of error messages at this point, but these don’t indicate a major problem.
   Restart the system.

This should give you all the software you need to get online. That’s the most complicated bit. Not too bad, right? Now shut down your PC and plug in the mobile broadband dongle. If you want to use mobile broadband on a Linux system it's a good idea to boot with the dongle already connected.

Once you’ve rebooted go to:
System > Preferences > Network Configuration

Click on the Mobile Broadband tab and click Add.
The new and improved network-manager should now auto-detect the Huawei E160 (although it may identify it as a Huawei E220 – this isn’t a problem).

You’ll have to add a few settings. These can be obtained from your mobile broadband provider, although this can sometimes be a challenge. Here are the settings you’ll need for Virgin Mobile broadband:

Number: *99# (should be set by default)
Username: (blank)
Password: (blank)
APN: goto.virginmobile.uk

Tick 'Connect automatically'.
Everything else should be left blank as in the screenshot below.



We’re pleased to note that support for mobile broadband devices is getting better and better. Because of the ongoing development of programs like network-manager, Linux users are coming ever closer to being able to plug in almost anything and have it work immediately.

I'll be tackling more common Linux problems here in the future using questions provided by Shopper staff, Help4IT and, of course, any queries that you'd like to send me.