ZTE K3565Z 3G USB Modem

The ZTE K3565Z is a 3G USB modem which is used to be provided by the french mobile network operator SFR or Vodafone in Germany. In order to make it work, you have to know that the switch doesn't work well on this stick on the Pandora, so the only way to make it work is by disabling the cd-rom ability of the stick.

Automatically set the stick to modem mode

First of all, begin to type "sudo lsusb" on your terminal, this should appear:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 19d2:2000 ONDA Communication S.p.A. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Our goal is to make the Pandora detect the stick as a modem. To proceed, plug your stick on a Windows computer in order to disable the flashmemory by executing the following AT-command:

AT+ZCDRUN=8 

I won't explain how to run it on linux, but it's possible.

Open the Windows device manager, and expend the "modems" section. Right click on your Zte, and select "properties"; click the modem tab and look at the port of the modem, we'll need it later.

Then download and install PuTTy, in order to be able to run AT-commands; run it, the configuration window should appear. Select "Serial" as connection type, then select the PORT you've just seen before in the windows device manager. Launch Putty by clicking to "Open". A kind of terminal should appear, write manually: AT+ZCDRUN=8

AT+ZCDRUN=8
Close autorun state result(0:FAIL 1:SUCCESS):1
OK

Now, you can test and see that your Pandora recognize your stick as a USB modem (by running sudo lsusb:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 19d2:0052 ONDA Communication S.p.A. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

If you don't have a ZTE K3565Z, but the ID of your stick changed by having followed what I've just written before, congratulation, your Stick is now in modem mode. The steps outlined here are only required once. Afterwards the stick will just work in modem mode.

In case this howto was not detailed enough for you, you can have a look at this page for very detailed instructions for setting the stick to modem mode. It worked using a stick from Vodafone Germany.

Install modemmanager (Zaxxon Hotfix <=6 only!)

Now that your usb stick can run as modem and is detected you have to install modemmanager if it is not installed already. Only the latest firmware ships modemmanager by default. So if you are still using Hotfix 6 or any version before, please enter the following in a terminal on your pandora:

sudo opkg update
sudo opkg install modemmanager

Enter your password and watch as modemmanager is being installed. For this step you of course need a working network connection including working internet. In case something breaks here, you can still be successfull by flashing either Zaxxon Hotfix 7 (alpha/beta/rc/final) or anything more recent than this. There you don't need the steps described in this section.

Using the stick (Zaxxon, default kernel (2.6.27))

As long as you are still using a firmware with kernel 2.6.27 you will have to manually load the module for the stick. If you are using a more recent kernel (like at the moment the test kernel 3.2.1 which is part of SuperZaxxon) please follow the steps in the next section.

Just to be 100% sure, lets rerun lsusb to get the correct identification for your stick.

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 19d2:0052 ONDA Communication S.p.A. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

The required information here is the device from "ONDA Communication S.p.A.". Right before the vendor name you see two blocks of 4 characters separated by a colon (19d2 and 0052). These numbers can slightly differ depending on the brand under which your stick was sold or other changes there. "19d2" is the hexadecimal version of the verndors ID and "0052" is the product ID of your stick. Since those values are hexadecimal you have to add a "0x" in front of them when entering them in entries.

With this information we can now insert the module for serial support for your modem:

sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0x19d2 product=0x0052

As you can see the above mentioned vendro and product code are entered after the initial command. This command will ask your for your password, since only root is allowed to insert modules. Enter it and wait a little before checking in networkmanager if your modem is actually found (this can take a minuite). You should now be able to connect with your ZTE!

Note: You have to do the "modeprobe" step each time you want to connect, or go with your Pandora in: menu - Session and Startup - Application Autostart and add the modprobe command in order it works each time you open your Pandora.

Using the stick (SuperZaxxon, experimental kernel (3.2.1))

Every kernel >=2.6.29 should automatically know about the correct usbserial commands and make use of them. For those kernel you won't have to run any additional lsusb to get the ID or the modprobe usbserial command. In case of the experimental kernel you have to manually activate support for USB host though (this is/was deactivated due to powersaving reasons). To do so, please run the following command:

sudo modprobe ehci-hcd

Enter your password, insert the USB stick and, after waiting for about a minuite, modemmanager should report the availability of a wireless broadband modem.If this is not the case, please have a look at the steps outlined in the section above.