On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 04:56:29AM +0800, Ray Rashif wrote:
On 11 September 2011 00:27, Fons Adriaensen <fons@linuxaudio.org> wrote:
Since my (unknown) neighbour finally got smart enough to lock me out of his wireless access point (still unencrypted, probably filters on MAC address now), I got a Vodafone USB internet key, and even managed to make it work. But I've the impression that my current configuration isn't really optimal.
Isn't that illegal? :P
Don't know. There are many unprotected access points that are explicitly meant to be used by anyone who cares. So if I find one I'll use it. It's a trivial exercise to set up WEP or WPA, so if someone doesn't do that I assume the access point is open to tbe public.
1. The 'Don't know what to do! Starting pppd and hoping for the best.' line from wvdial looks suspect.
That's normal, I think. However, I don't know the details.
It means the other side didn't produce and prompt or menu.
2. The fact that I have _two_ new network interfaces. The existence of the 'usb0' one seems to suggest I don't need pppd at all, but how then to bring it up ?
wvdial does all of the device handling for you - no need to explicitly use pppd to do anything here. You either use wvdial (front-end to ppp scripts) or pppd alone. pppd is also the one "bringing up" or registering the ppp device - not you. In short, the following is the connection process:
I don't explicitly use pppd, wvdial does. And it looks as if it shouldn't - just do the dialling and then let something else (e.g. dhcpcd) set up the already existing interface (usb0). But wvdial has no options to make it do that AFAIK.
BTW, are you sure you need usb_modeswitch for this modem? Some modems used to need that like sometime in 2005/2006, but they no longer do.
Yes, originally it shows up as a cdrom device with the Windows software on it. After the modeswitch it becomes a modem. -- FA