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Old October 3rd, 2008, 03:57 PM posted to aus.comms.mobile,rec.travel.australia+nz
Frank Slootweg
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Posts: 275
Default (Telstra) Wireless Broadband USB Modem under Linux?

[Crossposted to aus.comms.mobile and rec.travel.australia+nz. Somewhat
off-topic for the latter, but this is for travel in Oz. I hope that
aus.comms.mobile is the right group for this kind of question.]

Has anyone any idea whether or not the Telstra Wireless Broadband USB
Modem will work on a Linux system?

See:

http://www.telstra.com.au/telstraprepaidplus/broadband/prepaidwireless.html

The site and Getting Started Guide mention only "PC" (which actually
means (MS-)*Windows*) and Mac. I asked Telstra, but they only said

Telstra Pre-Paid Wireless Broadband USB modem works on a Mac and a PC
only. Linux is currently not included.


which is kind of unspecific. I.e. does it really not *work* or is it
'just' *unsupported*?

I realize that the *Connection Manager* will not work, because it's a
Windows/MAC executable, but I am wondering wether the USB Modem
*itself*, i.e. the hardware, will work with Linux' standard network
or/and USB drivers.

You're probably wondering why the heck anyone would want to travel
with a mobile *Linux* system, but nowadays many 'netbooks'/
mini-notebooks are equipped with Linux, because Linux requires less
resources and can run from a rugged Solid State Disk (SSD) instead of
from a fragile normal hard-disk. (The latter was my main consideration,
because we're going to rattle on many thousands of kms of unsealed roads
in the outback.)

I have such a mini-notebook, an Acer Aspire One with 8GB SSD, a fine
machine. If you're interested, see the links below [1].

Thanks in advance for any and all responses.

BTW, I also have a question on public WiFi Wireless Hotspots in Oz.
What would be the best aus.* group to ask such a question?

[1]
http://www.acer.com.au/acer/akc/netbook.nsf/Page/Home_Netbook?open&current=8.6&ms=expand&
http://global.acer.com/products/netbook/asone.htm
http://www.acer.com/aspireone