This is just a quick note on how to get a Huawei E352s-5 working under Linux.
switching into modem mode
If you have inserted your SIM card, plugged in the Huawei E352s-5 stick and your distribution recognized it... you can stop reading here. But if you are on an old distribution like I am, you'll probably need to use usb_modeswitch to get it working.
First of all, let's see what dmesg says after inserting the stick:
philipp@mango:~$ dmesg
...
[ 48.220072] usb 2-5: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
[ 48.362048] scsi5 : usb-storage 2-5:1.4
[ 48.367660] scsi6 : usb-storage 2-5:1.5
[ 49.365716] scsi 5:0:0:0: CD-ROM HUAWEI Mass Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[ 49.368325] sr1: scsi-1 drive
[ 49.368854] sr 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1
[ 49.369011] sr 5:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 5
[ 49.372964] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access HUAWEI SD Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[ 49.374988] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[ 49.380995] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 49.511962] ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 1
[ 49.542715] ISOFS: changing to secondary root
The device seems to register as an USB Mass Storage device and not as a modem, running lsusb shows us the the Vendor and Product ID:
philipp@mango:~$ lsusb
...
Bus 002 Device 008: ID 12d1:14fe Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Great! So let's see how to switch the device into its Modem mode.
There is a nice open source project called usb_modeswitch, which does the job.
First of all let's get libusb-dev, since we may need it for compiling:
sudo apt-get install libusb-dev
Next we'll download, unpack and install the most recent versions of usb_modeswitch and its usb_modeswitch-data, available at:
Installing is easy, I guess you are familiar with the commands:
# Download sources:
wget http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch/usb-modeswitch-1.2.5.tar.bz2
# Extract the source:
tar xjf usb-modeswitch-1.2.5.tar.bz2
# Change directory:
cd usb-modeswitch-1.2.5
# Install it:
sudo make install
Do the same for the usb_modeswitch-data, which contains a lot of udev scripts, that might cover your hardware already:
wget http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch/usb-modeswitch-data-20121109.tar.bz2
tar xjf usb-modeswitch-data-20121109.tar.bz2
cd usb-modeswitch-data-20121109
sudo make install
The new usb_modeswitch overrides the old version, so there's no need to take care about old installations! With usb_modeswitch it's easy to switch the Huawei E352-s into the Modem mode. A quick research reveals the switching command, I guess it's the packet Windows sends to the device in order to switch modes.
I really don't feel the need to sniff it by myself (you have to run the commands as root):
usb_modeswitch -v 12d1 -p 14fe -M '55534243123456780000000000000011062000000100000000000000000000'
Now running lsusb reveals a new Product ID:
philipp@mango:~$ lsusb
...
Bus 002 Device 022: ID 12d1:1506 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd
Using the option module should register the modem:
modprobe option
echo "12d1 1506" > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/option1/new_id
Running dmesg (or looking at /var/log/messages if you prefer) reveals:
philipp@mango:~$ dmesg
...
[ 1471.905063] usb 2-5: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 12
[ 1472.039036] option 2-5:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 1472.039214] usb 2-5: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 1472.039374] option 2-5:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 1472.039522] usb 2-5: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[ 1472.039647] option 2-5:1.2: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 1472.039751] usb 2-5: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
[ 1472.039893] option 2-5:1.3: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 1472.039997] usb 2-5: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB3
[ 1472.040173] option 2-5:1.4: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 1472.040268] usb 2-5: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB4
[ 1472.040404] option 2-5:1.5: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 1472.040496] usb 2-5: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB5
The modem should be usable by now and your network-manager should ask you for the PIN to unlock the device.
Congratulations!
udev rules
If you don't want to impress people by remembering these cryptic lines, you could write two udev rules to execute these commands whenever the device is
added to the USB subsystem. Store it to /etc/udev/rules.d/70-huawei_e352.rules for example.
Filename /etc/udev/rules.d/70-huawei_e352.rules:
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="14fe", RUN+="/usr/sbin/usb_modeswitch -v 12d1 -p 14fe -M '55534243123456780000000000000011062000000100000000000000000000'"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="14fe", RUN+="/bin/bash -c 'modprobe option && echo 12d1 1506 > /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/option1/new_id'"
And reload the rules:
udevadm control --reload-rules
And that's it basically! Your stick should now be put into Modem mode automatically, whenever you plug it in.