Risotto’s weblog

I recently got myself an Asus eeePC 4G. I wasn’t that impressed with the pre-installed Xandros linux, so I went on installing a brand new Ubuntu 8.04. I also got myself a Novatel Ovation MC950D USB HSUPA modem, which allows me to connect to my local 3G carrier, Sunrise T@ke Away, Switzerland. I had no problems running the card with Ubuntu, since it was detected and auto-loaded immediately without any problems and allowed me to access the modem through the serial device /dev/ttyUSB0.

After a while though, I got a little bored with Ubuntu, especially by the fact that it took about two minutes to boot, compared to a mere 10 seconds that the original Xandros distribution required. So I decided to go back to the original Asus distribution and give it another try.

I then realized, that I wasn’t able to load the kernel module for my modem anymore and that the built in connection manager wouldn’t allow me to choose my Novatel modem for a GSM connection.

I know that the Huawei E220 would load without any problems and since the Novatel modem is just another USB serial device, I started tinkering with the usb-serial kernel module. After a while I found out, that loading the “option” module would load the device driver correctly. The only problem was to tell the driver, which device to connect to. The vendor and product ID for the Novatel modem is 0×1410 (vendorId) and 0×4400 (productId). I read on a forum post, that these settings could be supplied after the module had been loaded. So I went on and added the following two lines to my /etc/rc.local file, after opening a terminal with ctrl-alt-t:

sudo vi /etc/rc.local

Add these two lines before “exit 0″:

/sbin/modprobe option
echo "0x1410 0x4400" > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/option1/new_id

For those not proficient in VI, just hit “ESC :wq” and the file saves and closes. Now, enable the execution of rc.local at boot time:

sudo echo "rc.local" > /etc/fastservices

Save the file and reboot your machine. You could also supply these two lines manually on the shell every time you restarted your machine. Now you’re able to select the Novatel USB modem in your connection manager and setup up a new 3G/GSM/HSDPA connection.

If you have another modem which uses the same option module, you can simply exchange the vendor and product id by your device’s ids. To find out your device’s id just look at this file:

less /proc/bus/usb/devices

Locate your device and use the vendor and product id that you find there. This should work for most Novatel devices, such as EVDO and 3G modems. Novatel devices should always have 0×1410 as their vendor id, so look for a device with that denomination.

After successfully installing the modem you can move on and configure your network connection. HINT: You might want to disable the PIN code on your SIM card before trying to establish a connection. I think the configuration wizard will not prompt you for the PIN, though I might be wrong.

The following pictures show you how this looks like (German version of the eeePC OS):

1. Select the appropriate connection type:

2. The modem is now showing up:

3. Scanning for GSM networks:

4. Select GSM network:

5. Select your provider’s network settings:

6. Name your connection:

7. Summary of your new connection:

8. Finally, the connection is set up and running smoothly. We’re online :

Thanks to “neilmc” to pointing out the option module behavior in his post on http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=940241&r=15131419#r15131419 .

Appelinsider is announcing a 3g iPhone launch for June. While I think there will be an announcement about a 3g iPhone, I don’t think the 3g iPhone will be launched in June. First of all, the FCC filing did not show up yet. Apple has to file devices with new GSM radios with the FCC. This filing has not come up yet, which makes a launch in June very unlikely. I would say, if the 3g iPhone is announced in June, it might be available by the end of September or October, not any earlier.

I also think, that the 3g iPhone will either come out for Europe or the US first, though it won’t be available at the same time in both markets for launch. The reason for this is, that WCDMA 2100 (for the US) and the HSxPA standard (Europe) are not compatible. These standards use different radio bands, and while there are quad-band radio chips support both, they usually support high speed access only on one of the compatible bands.

I guess, the 3g iPhone could be launched in markets that have excellent 3g coverage first. Markets like Switzerland, Austria or Luxembourg might be the first to get the 3g iPhone. These markets are rather small, though in Switzerland’s case, they might be very profitable. Orange does not have an EDGE network in Switzerland and they won’t build one for the iPhone either, though it is likely that Orange will be Apple’s partner for the iPhone in Switzerland. After all, Orange did get the exclusive rights for France, and for the sake of simplicity and economies of scale, Orange would be a first-choice launch partner, for countries where the company is present. This would be consistent with the example of Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile), which got to launch the iPhone in Austria after they successfully launched the iPhone in Germany first. The 3g iPhone, not depending on EDGE anymore, might allow Orange to finally launch the iPhone in those markets as well.

I just got myself a new Nokia E61i, so I wont need the much heeded E61 and E65 anymore. Both phones are up for sale at ricardo:

• Nokia E65 auction
• Nokia E61 auction

Both units are in a mint condition, have no sim lock and both are still covered by warranty! Take a look, if you’re looking for a bargain ! The auctions are scheduled to end the 3rd of June 2007 at around 9pm CET.

I just rescued a friend’s Nokia E61 which was not booting anymore. There was no way to flash the phone with the Nokia Updater since it wouldn’t boot and the Nokia Updater needs a working E61. A Nokia Repair center also told us they couldn’t do anything for us and that they would have to send the unit in to Nokia for repair.

Well, I happened to stumble across a site on the net which would describe how to reset a Nokia 6600 which is running an old version of the series 60 OS. It was using both *#7370# (hard reset) and *#7380# (soft reset) for resetting a working unit but further more it also showed, that you could format the unit by pushing the “green phone key”, 3 and * together while powering on the unit. Since the E61 powers up immediately when you insert the battery you will have to push those three keys before you insert the battery. As soon the battery is inserted to Nokia logo will show up for a while. You must hold the buttons until the pin code entry comes up. While you hold the keys the unit will reformat its flash memory and revert to a factory default state.

By doing this I was able to recover an apparently broken unit without having to send it in to Nokia for repair. I thought I’d share this as it might come in handy for someone else. Let me know if this worked for you too!

BTW: I think this works with other models like the E50, E60, E70, N-Series and others too.

I recently scratched my Nokia E61 quite badly. I decided to order replacement parts and to replaceme the cover and the case. I don’t like service points so I took the freedom to replace to cover on my own. The procedure will probably void your warranty, but then, how should they find out you changed the cover? As long you don’t brake things it probably wont void your warranty from an effective point of view.

In order to change the cover of my Nokia E61 I had to take it apart. I took a few moments to make pictures along the process. If you need instructions on how to remove the cover of your own E61, then follow the link to the E61 gallery.

http://blog.petralli.net/photos/v/takingapartmbp/

I had a little accident on my notebook a few weeks ago. While I was working very late (5-am in the morning) I poured a substantial amount of very sugared liquid over my two week old system . While the liquid in question shall stay unnamed, the notebook was a MacBook Pro 17 inch! You might guess my reaction… I was lucky to turn the system off immediately and shook most of the liquid out of the notebook. I also used some compressed air to get the liquid out of some nastier places of the new MacBook. Finally, and luckily(!) the system was running again flawlessly… until the keyboard started to annoy me after two more weeks. It got sticky and keys were not responding well anymore. As I pushed a key it took 1-2s for the key to pop out again. Since I really like to write fast on my keyboard this was starting to become a bigger problem.

So I decided to take the MacBook apart, disassemble the keyboard and wash it under flowing water.

As I found out on googling about similar accidents with liquids, they seem to happen quite often. So I decided to document the process with a picture gallery. Maybe you found this page because you had the same kind of luck I had or maybe you’re just here to see the innards of a new MBP 17-inch. Which ever way, enjoy the pictures .

A word of caution: DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF UNLESS YOU ARE WELL-ENOUGH SKILLED. YOU CAN BREAK OR EVEN COMPLETELY DESTROY YOUR MACBOOK. IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH YOUR SYSTEM CONTACT APPLE SUPPORT FOR PROPER SERVICE. YOU ALONE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT YOU ARE DOING WITH YOUR SYSTEMS!

http://blog.petralli.net/photos/v/takingapartmbp/

Looks like it’s time for new Apple MacBooks again. People at ThinkSecret are saying its time for a new round of products. The new 13.3 inch MacBooks are expected to be announced today. ThinkSecret is very accurate on their announcements. They got it right with the 17” MB. Will they get it right again?