Barry's Blog

A few months back I made a python script available which monitored the Dell 5530 / Ericsson f3507g mobile broadband modem in Linux providing network, access type and signal information to a file for other programs (such as Conky) to pick up and display the data. I've since updated this program to now use PyGTK to display a status icon indicating the signal strength and the access type. Through this icon the radio state can be changed to enforce 3G only, GPRS only or 3G preferred connections (aswell as turning the radio off). The script should work in tandem to network-manager so you can still get online using something you already use. The only addition is a new status icon with your signal strength - something ModemManager should resolve when it becomes available as standard in a few months time. If you can't wait that long and want signal monitoring, then this is for you! Additionally, if you use vnstat to monitor your bandwidth, clicking the status icon will displ...

A few months back I posted a howto guide on getting this mobile broadband card working with Linux, what I failed to mention was I continued to work on these scripts. I feel it is appropriate to post a status update on what I use now especially given there appears to be no further updates on the NetworkManager front. I no longer use UMTSMon as I found it relied on AT+CSQ for the signal quality and during UMTS and HSPA connections, the f3507g/dell 5530 returns either the previous GPRS value or 99,99 which UMTSMon considers as no connection available. I've used a simplified wvdial.conf scripts and now do the rest of the radio work using python. wvdial.conf # Author: Barry John Williams # Creative Commons Attribute-Share Alike 2.5 UK:Scotland Licence [Dialer defaults] New PPPD = yes Stupid Mode = 1 Modem Type = ACM Modem Modem = /dev/ttyACM1 Init1 = AT Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 Init3 = AT+CGDCONT=1,"ip","internet" Baud = 460800 I...