Howto drivers Conexant softmodem

[Matchless]

Hi,
Here is a short howto on compiling the drivers for a Conexant softmodem/winmodem/linmodem. It works in dapper, but should also work in the other versions. Hope it helps someone. It does not have the 14400 speed limitation.
Howto get Conexant modem to work in dapper

Rafael Espíndola ported the latest Conexant open source version to 2.6.x kernels. AlexandreOttoStrube packaged it to Ubuntu Breezy using kernel 2.6.12-9 The.deb file will not work on any other kernel unless you compile it yourself as below, the files can be downloaded from http://www.surak.eti.br/linux/ubuntu/deb/conexant/ or ftp://ftp.wizzy.com/pub/wizzy/conexant/ courtesy AndyRabagliati
Determine the make and model of your modem, by looking at the chipset. If it shows HSF and the number CX11252 on the chip you have a softmodem/winmodem/linmodem and this driver should work. You can also install it on a Windows pc and do a modem query and if it shows PCI/VEN_14F1&DEV2F00 then you know it should work.
Download the file conexant_192-1ubuntu-1.tar.gz from the above website. This is the old open source and not the one you have to buy for for linux and get free for Windows!.
This software supports the Conexant HSF 56k HSFi Modem (pci id 14f1:2f00), and was not tested with other models.

1.Put the downloaded file conexant_192-1ubuntu-1.tar.gz on your Desktop and right click “Extract to here” and a folder “conexant” will be created on your Desktop.
2.Read the txt files in the folder for more info.
3.Open the file /conexant/modules/makefile by right clicking and select edit in root and find the 2 lines that start with # KERNELDIR? = /lib/modules..... etc. and KERNELDIR?= /usr/src... etc Remove the comment # in the first line and insert comment # on second line and save changes.
4.Now open the /conexant/makefile in the same way and find the commented line # rm -rf $$DESTDIR/dev/ttySHFS0. Remove the comments from the mentioned line and the following 3 lines up to “update modules” and save changes
5.Now ensure that you have all the packages installed to compile the drivers. Use Synaptic and install or check that, build-essential, linux-headers-ARCH, fakeroot is installed, ARCH is the result you get if typing uname-r in a terminal – version of kernel.
6.cd Desktop/conexant
7.make
8.sudo make install
9.sudo modprobe hsfserial (you should get no result reports if OK)
10.dmesg | grep hsfserial ( you should get no result reports if OK)
11.The /dev/ttySHFS0 is created for the modem
12.To test, use the query modem on Kppp

To remove the installation:
rm /dev/ttySHFS0
rm -r /etc/hsf
rm /lib/modules/ARCH/misc/hsf*
rm /etc/modutils/hsf

Note: Please note that to actually get your browser working means that your network settings must be in order as well and your PC is not connected to a lan for starters. If your PC hangs or slows after an unsuccessfull dialup disconnect, please reboot to get the modem to reset properly before attempting to dialup again. The modem is a bit finicky and may require a boot after installing. If anyone works out the settings for the country code changes and the proper connection speed indication or has anything to add please let us have so we can update this for our laptop friends.

[habib_seif]

Thank you so much Matchless for your HOWTO,

I performed the steps above and all of them worked fine. Finally /dev/ttySHSF0 was created but when I use it via wvdial for connecting to internet, I encounter to this problem:

--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.55
--> Cannot open /dev/ttySHSF0: No such device or address
--> Cannot open /dev/ttySHSF0: No such device or address
--> Cannot open /dev/ttySHSF0: No such device or address

I guess the driver is'nt for my chipset. (My computer is Dell inspiron 6000 laptop with a conexant modem) What's your idea?

and do you have any suggestion?

Actually, all of my hardware is detected by Ubuntu unless the modem If I can cope it, it will be great !!!

Cheers,
Habib

[Matchless]

Hi,
Check under the dev list to see if you can see /dev/ttySHFS0.
If not then something went wrong. Have you been able to confirm that your modem is an HSF and not a HCF? Only the HSF will work and must be pci id 14f1:2f00. A bit of a long way to check a laptop will be to install XP and then install the modem drivers and use modem diagnostics and it may show the model If you have the correct modem then the process should work.
Good luck

[golfbuf]

Originally Posted by Matchless Hi, ......... is an HSF and not a HCF? Only the HSF will work and must be pci id 14f1:2f00. A bit .............. Good luck

If you check the DialupModemHOWTO in the wiki, you'll see it's now possible to extend this to other pci id's. I'm successfully using it on 14f1:2013 on dapper. There's a new script 'modem-hsfpci.tar.bz2' to download to create a package that can be built for other kernels and pci ids.

regards,

[Matchless]

Golfbuf,
Excellent work. I will test during the week when I have done a clean install of dapper. This should make life a lot easier for some.

If you are the script author, then I would like to know if someone can write a script that will copy all the installed files from the cache to a local folder and create the packages.gz file. It should also have a option to only copy the latest version, such as after an update. The idea is to keep a local repository of files downloaded due to having a dialup and linited bandwidth for repeat downloads etc. I have no idea how to write scripts myself/

[habib_seif]

Originally Posted by golfbuf If you check the DialupModemHOWTO in the wiki, you'll see it's now possible to extend this to other pci id's. I'm successfully using it on 14f1:2013 on dapper. There's a new script 'modem-hsfpci.tar.bz2' to download to create a package that can be built for other kernels and pci ids. regards,

Thank you for your useful help...
I checked deviceID of my modem for setting it in modem-hsfpci conf file, it is 8086:266d, so I put a line in the configuration file and used /usr/bin/modem-hsfpci --install to install driver for it.(all of previous steps mentioned in HOWTO.txt of modem-hsfpci went perfectly)
But the command /usr/bin/modem-hsfpci --install complained that "modprobe -v hsfserial" has a Segmentation fault and after that when I start the computer, Ubuntu freezes
any suggestion?

[Matchless]

Habib_seif,
Have a look at this post http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=128270
It seems as if you MAY have an Intel type and it MAY even work with the Smartlink drivers. These are on the repos as sl-modem. Otherwise you will have to carefully follow the post above
Good luck

[habib_seif]

Originally Posted by Matchless Habib_seif, Have a look at this post http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=128270 It seems as if you MAY have an Intel type and it MAY even work with the Smartlink drivers. These are on the repos as sl-modem. Otherwise you will have to carefully follow the post above Good luck

Hi again Mathless,

You were exactly right. my modem is Intel not Conexant, but Windows put me in this wrong road, because it shows Conexant in the device manager of control panel for the modem!!! but why???

Of course, I installed the driver for another ACTUAL Conexant modem with 14f1:2f00 and it works perfectly now. thank you so much, guys.

By the way, I can't get my modem to work with sl-modem-daemon yet. the modem says no dial tone in dialing time. I know this thread is for conexant not smlink and because of this I put the problem into another thread, but if you have an experience, please help me,
Cheers,
Habib

[polo_step]

This is a very interesting thread!

Has anyone tested this with the "Sterling S20" modem?

Chip markings:

CONNEXANT
HSFi
CX11252-11
0407Y1RC
0408 TAIWAN

I recently picked one of these up free-after-rebate and found it sort of amusing that I would have been expected to pay TWENTY DOLLARS for a "licensed" Connexant Linux driver for this free modem.

Do these open source drivers listed above have any significant differences from the TWENTY DOLLAR drivers?

Thanks for any info on this. Though I do not currently use dialup, I occasionally build parts computers for others and this would be useful to know.

[habib_seif]

Hi again friends,
I finally found the trick of my modem:
The 8086:266d id is not vendorID:deviceID of modem. it's just controller id.
The right id of such modem is 14f1:5423 and hence it is a conexant one. so I tried the free driver you adviced but unfortunately the driver doesn't support this conexant modem yet.
Do you know the activies about improving this driver to support my modem?
Cheers,
Habib