Moblin Linux Setup

Betavine have created specific software packages to deploy onto the Moblin distribution of the Linux operating system.

Here you will find specific instructions on how to install and setup the betavine Mobile Broadband Connection Manager.

Moblin Linux Instructions

This explains the process to automatically or manually download and install the mobile broadband connection manager packages onto a Moblin 2.1 Linux operating system.

This will involve downloading a compressed archive, un zipping this file and running several commands to install the software packages onto your machine. You will need to have administration privileges ( or root password ) to complete, and be familiar with running commands on a terminal window.

This package has been created for Moblin 2.1 running on chip sets compatible with Intel 386 architecture.

Betavine provide a script which will carry out all the commands documented in the manual method. Both methods are explained below.

Installing with The Script

Betavine provide a small script which will carry out all the steps required to install the Betavine Modem Manager onto your system.

You will need internet access to carry this out, and provide your adminstration password ( root password ) when prompted. The script will have to be executed from a terminal window and uses the wget program to work.

Installing Manually

This method descirbes the steps taken to install the Betavine Modem Manager onto your Moblin computer.

Downloading

Download the Packages2_20.tar.gz compressed archive to a temporary directory on your machine which we named 'betavine' with the download button.

Assuming that we are inside your temporary directory uncompress the archive.

This will produce the following directory and files on your machine.

Installing Dependencies

Moblin requires several packages that are not included in the default system. To install them you need an internet connection. You require adminstration privillages (or root password) to allow you to install them onto your machine.

YUM, moblins software package manager is used to install the software.

Installing Packages

We are going to install the packages in reverse order. In other words if a package depends on another package we install the dependancy first.

Since the packages are provided by our download we will use the RPM system to install all of them.

Install the usb_modeswitch package.

Install ozerocdoff package.

Install pytz package.

Install PySerial package.

Install WVSteam Library package.

Install WVDial package.

Install Vodafone Mobile Connect and it's dependancies

Setting up User Groups

Now you are almost there, we need to setup the app to run with a standard user. For that we need to add the 'lock' and 'dialup' groups to your user account.

This will allow the application when run to access dialout and file lock functions on your machine.

Be sure to login again as a standard user before starting the application. We recommend that you restart the machine to ensure all attributes that have been changed on your system are setup properly.

Running the Application

Once the machine has restarted insert your USB modem into the USB slot. To run the applicatoin you can run from the command line in normal or logging mode with the commands:

To start the application from your menu, choose applications icon from teh Moblin bar, then select the internet tab and click on the Vodafone icon.

Setup Mobile Connect

To setup mobile connect once it's installed go to our setup page.

File Description

The archive contains 4 files. One is a 'read me' file which also explains it's contents and how to install. The other three files are software packages which are packaged up as a rpm (redhat package management) archieve. Fedora uses this format to install software components.

vodafone-mobile-connect

This package contains the main component of the broadband mobile connect manger. It depends on all other packages to work as well as the following:

• wvdial
• hal
• lsb
• python-serial
• python-twisted
• python-twisted-conch
• python-notify
• python-sqlite2
• python-pytz
• python-dbus
• python-cairo
• pythoncrypto
• python-gtk
• python-gnome

usb_modeswitch

This package is required to flip some USB devices from storage device mode to modem mode.

ozerocdoff

This package is used for modems which use the HSO kernel driver. It also flips this type of modem from storage device mode to modem mode.