Compile USB Serial Modem Using option.c (Ubuntu on Beagleboard xM)

Arif — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:54:18 +0000

Despite possibility to use (1)

$ modprobe -v usbserial vendor=0x05c6 product=0x0015

or (2) usb-modeswitch, (3) Matthias Urlichs initially wrote option.c driver as a way to insert USB modem as kernel module.

This driver exists because the “normal” serial driver doesn’t work too well
with GSM modems. Issues:
- data loss — one single Receive URB is not nearly enough
- nonstandard flow (Option devices) control
- controlling the baud rate doesn’t make sense

Most modems will be successfully attached with this driver, appearing in one of the typical /dev/ttyUSB0 to /dev/ttyUSB2. The product ID 0x0015 for GSM modem compiled here is a Qualcomm (vendor ID 0x05c6) OEM modem I received from Embest DevKit8500D order. There are more than one form factor when searching for its images on Google. Closest one we have in Indonesia is ADVAN DT8-HT bundled in Telkomsel Flash.

Qualcomm 05c6:0015 from Indonesian operator

I’m compiling it for the Beagleboard xM Rev C running Ubuntu Oneiric (installed in this post). A quick look gives:

$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 05c6:0015 Qualcomm, Inc.

The above 0x0015 product ID doesn’t exist inside option.c of linux kernel 3.0.0-12 source. Adding this to series of existing Qualcomm modems gives:

635
636
637

	{ USB_DEVICE(QUALCOMM_VENDOR_ID, 0x6000)}, /* ZTE AC8700 */
	{ USB_DEVICE(QUALCOMM_VENDOR_ID, 0x6613)}, /* Onda H600/ZTE MF330 */
	{ USB_DEVICE(QUALCOMM_VENDOR_ID, 0x0015)}, /* Qualcomm no brand */

The include also needs usb-wwan.h from that kernel source. Copy them both under /usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.6-x3/drivers/usb/serial/. For other include files, install:

and create this link as root

1 2	$ cd /usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.6-x3/include/ $ ln -s /usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.0-12/arch/arm/mach-versatile/include/mach mach

After removing the old one (pointed to build -> /build/buildd/linux-3.0), create a link inside /lib/modules/3.0.6-x3 named build pointing to:

build -> /usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.6-x3

Modify the original Makefile to contain only rule for option.o

obj-m			+= option.o

and then build the driver

$ make -C /lib/modules/3.0.6-x3/build/ M=/usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.6-x3/drivers/usb/serial/
make: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.6-x3'
  LD      /usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.6-x3/drivers/usb/serial/built-in.o
  CC [M]  /usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.6-x3/drivers/usb/serial/option.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST 1 modules
  CC      /usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.6-x3/drivers/usb/serial/option.mod.o
  LD [M]  /usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.6-x3/drivers/usb/serial/option.ko
make: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.6-x3`

Copy the build and deploy

$ cp /usr/src/linux-headers-3.0.6-x3/drivers/usb/serial/option.ko /lib/modules/3.0.6-x3/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/
$ depmod -a

Now syslog will show the following lines if the modem is inserted:

kernel:[ 4790.229888] usb 1-2.5: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
kernel:[ 4790.237121] option 1-2.5:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
kernel:[ 4790.238250] usb 1-2.5: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
kernel:[ 4790.240142] option 1-2.5:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
kernel:[ 4790.241210] usb 1-2.5: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
mtp-probe: checking bus 1, device 9: "/sys/devices/platform/usbhs-omap.0/ehci-omap.0/usb1/1-2/1-2.5"
mtp-probe: bus: 1, device: 9 was not an MTP device
kernel:[ 4791.227294] scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Qualcomm MMC Storage      2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
kernel:[ 4791.232238] sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
kernel:[ 4791.246887] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk

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Compile USB Serial Modem Using option.c (Ubuntu on Beagleboard xM)