The Compatability of Mobile Broadband and Linux
Mobile broadband is the Internet service offered by cell phone providers that allows access to the Internet wherever cell service is available. Compatibility with Linux depends on the device's broadband card and distribution. Popular distributions of Linux include Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE and Debian.
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Ubuntu
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Ubuntu is the most popular distribution of Linux and the easiest for new users to operate. Ubuntu offers a list of popular mobile broadband cards and their compatibility status within Ubuntu. While the status of many cards is unknown, there are cards that work well out of the box and with Network Manager and some that work with a bit of tweaking.
Fedora
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Fedora had implemented many creative features long before they make it to other distributions. According to the Fedora, Fedora 9 users should be able to use their mobile broadband the same that they would use a standard wireless card--by connecting to the Internet using the Network Manager.
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openSUSE
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OpenSUSE, originally developed in 1992 by four enthusiastic German programmers, has only been free since 2005. Previously, it was a commercial operating system available in Europe and North America. According to bug reports, openSUSE appears to have some trouble reading mobile broadband cards as modems, which affects their ability to connect to the Internet. The openSUSE documentation does not offer any information on the topic.
Debian
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Debian, also called Debian GNU/Linux, is the largest and most expansive Linux distribution to date, and has been developed exclusively by volunteer programmers. Like openSUSE, there is nothing in the Debian documentation that sheds light on its compatibility with mobile broadband cards. However, bug reports state that the network manager may have some trouble viewing and connecting to mobile broadband connections.
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References
- DistroWatch: Top Ten Distributions
- Ubuntu Wiki: NetworkManager/Hardware/3G
- Fedora Wiki: Features/NetworkManager-MobileBroadband
- Bugzilla: Bug 533675 - un2400 Mobile Broadband Module don't work as a modem in openSUSE 11.2 M6
- Debian Bug report logs: network-manager: mobile broadband connection not shown in menu
Resources
- Photo Credit pc card insertion end image by Georgios Alexandris from Fotolia.com
