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Fibocom FM350 cheap 5g module

@DEvans Ubuntu 22.04 can connect to the fm350 in 4g mode only at present:

In those details there's mention of upstream libqmi allowing the 5g to be turned on etc.

Welcome to the cutting edge of 5g modem support, the modem is supported under Linux but there's no stable version yet.

There's also this:
I would be happy with it working in Windows if I could get around the "turned off" problem. I don't suppose you have any ideas?
 
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@DEvans to prove the modem, boot Ubuntu via live USB.

That should prove your hardware and then it's a case of polishing Windows.

What's your hardware specs?
 
@DEvans to prove the modem, boot Ubuntu via live USB.

That should prove your hardware and then it's a case of polishing Windows.

What's your hardware specs?

Do you think it needs 'proving'? Considering it shows up in device manager and appears to work apart from being "turned off".

It's a Seeed Odyssey J4125 SBC.
 
@DEvans it could be a power issue with the windows driver, if it comes up on Ubuntu then you know it works

Ok, I'll give it a go.
Interestingly, when searching for an answer to my question I came across this:

Which seems to be an intel guide for getting the FM350 up and running under Linux... not sure if it's actually any use to you, but thought I would post in case it is.
 
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@DEvans it could be a power issue with the windows driver, if it comes up on Ubuntu then you know it works
So it doesn't show up on Ubuntu, so I'm not sure what that means.

If I plug the modem into the B-Key m.2 port (doesn't have PCIE) on my device and run "lsusb -v" then I can see it shows up as a USB device. However there is nothing in networking and nothing shows up if I install modem-manager-gui.

My current guess at what's happening:
In Windows with the modem plugged into the M-Key M.2 port via the adapter the PCIE bus is getting passed through, but the USB bus where it displays it's serial interface is not. I therefore cannot communicate with it over AT commands.
When I plug it into the B-Key m.2 port the USB ports mount but I don't seem to be able to address them or see them over tty, but I don't really understand properly what I am doing.

I was reading through this thread on the Lenovo Forum: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/Mobile-Wireless-turned-off/td-p/3723214

Where a user has a similar problem trying to get a branded OEM card to work. I am attempting to get this to work with the Lenovo drivers, but when looking through the driver information it doesn't actually look like there are specific vendor id's - it all just refers to intel.

Further down this thread one user trying to help suggests the modem may be unlocked with an AT command. I am hoping I will be able to communicate with the modem over AT in order to 'turn it on' then pop it back into my machine.

Which USB adapter do you use for your modem? Is it just a generic USB to modem adapter? I might pick one up just to see if it is picked up in Ubuntu.
 
So it doesn't show up on Ubuntu, so I'm not sure what that means.

If I plug the modem into the B-Key m.2 port (doesn't have PCIE) on my device and run "lsusb -v" then I can see it shows up as a USB device. However there is nothing in networking and nothing shows up if I install modem-manager-gui.

My current guess at what's happening:
In Windows with the modem plugged into the M-Key M.2 port via the adapter the PCIE bus is getting passed through, but the USB bus where it displays it's serial interface is not. I therefore cannot communicate with it over AT commands.
When I plug it into the B-Key m.2 port the USB ports mount but I don't seem to be able to address them or see them over tty, but I don't really understand properly what I am doing.

I was reading through this thread on the Lenovo Forum: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/Mobile-Wireless-turned-off/td-p/3723214

Where a user has a similar problem trying to get a branded OEM card to work. I am attempting to get this to work with the Lenovo drivers, but when looking through the driver information it doesn't actually look like there are specific vendor id's - it all just refers to intel.

Further down this thread one user trying to help suggests the modem may be unlocked with an AT command. I am hoping I will be able to communicate with the modem over AT in order to 'turn it on' then pop it back into my machine.

Which USB adapter do you use for your modem? Is it just a generic USB to modem adapter? I might pick one up just to see if it is picked up in Ubuntu.
The device probably needs to show up in lspci for that kernel module/driver to have a chance.

 
The device probably needs to show up in lspci for that kernel module/driver to have a chance.


Bit of a n00b at linux! Here is the readout from "sudo lspci -v"

01:00.0 Wireless controller [0d40]: MEDIATEK Corp. Device 4d75 (rev 01)
Subsystem: Device 1cf8:3502
Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 10
Memory at a2000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [disabled] [size=32K]
Memory at a1800000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=8M]
Memory at a1000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [disabled] [size=8M]
Capabilities: [80] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [d0] MSI-X: Enable- Count=34 Masked-
Capabilities: [e0] MSI: Enable- Count=1/32 Maskable+ 64bit+
Capabilities: [f8] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [100] Vendor Specific Information: ID=1556 Rev=1 Len=008 <?>
Capabilities: [108] Latency Tolerance Reporting
Capabilities: [110] L1 PM Substates
Capabilities: [200] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [300] Secondary PCI Express
 
Bit of a n00b at linux! Here is the readout from "sudo lspci -v"
Assuming that's the correct device, it then makes sense to attempt the Intel instructions or some variation. "lspci -vvv" should have a very verbose mode with more textual description to be sure.

dmesg should show device being recognised and if there is any luck in loading kernel modules (drivers) automatically. Given the Intel instructions, some config could be necessary first. "lsmod" will list the loaded kernel modules and the one of interest can be grepped. "modinfo" should be the command to get more info on a loaded kernel module. I forget which command shows the kernel module has bound the correct device but if the Intel instructions manage to load the kernel module at all, there's only one candidate device to bind.
 
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Thanks, the other devices in lspci have kernel associations below them but not this one.

A Google of "Mediatek 4d75 Linux" throws up the Fibocom FM350gl, so I am assuming from this it is the correct device.

I had the same thought as you - that the kernel doesn't support it yet. I fell at literally the first hurdle of the Intel instructions last night - as it asks for a Git Launchpad authorisation and I couldn't get past this. I plan to have another crack when have some time to set the kernal build going, as I understand it takes a while.
 
@DEvans Ubuntu 22.10?

I do not think the Ubuntu for IoT instructions will help:

Fibocom’s FM350 5G Module Integration​

This tutorial covers how to build, install, and run Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) 5G private network with Linux* components on Ubuntu for Intel IoT platforms.
Prerequisites:
Fibocom’s FM350 5G module installed on the compute system
A 5G private network infrastructure
The APN of the 5G private network

I do not have a 5G private network infrastructure or APN.
 
Presumably the device will need a kernel module/driver to function so if not that one of the instructions, another one.
 
So it doesn't show up on Ubuntu, so I'm not sure what that means.

If I plug the modem into the B-Key m.2 port (doesn't have PCIE) on my device and run "lsusb -v" then I can see it shows up as a USB device. However there is nothing in networking and nothing shows up if I install modem-manager-gui.

My current guess at what's happening:
In Windows with the modem plugged into the M-Key M.2 port via the adapter the PCIE bus is getting passed through, but the USB bus where it displays it's serial interface is not. I therefore cannot communicate with it over AT commands.
When I plug it into the B-Key m.2 port the USB ports mount but I don't seem to be able to address them or see them over tty, but I don't really understand properly what I am doing.

I was reading through this thread on the Lenovo Forum: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/Mobile-Wireless-turned-off/td-p/3723214

Where a user has a similar problem trying to get a branded OEM card to work. I am attempting to get this to work with the Lenovo drivers, but when looking through the driver information it doesn't actually look like there are specific vendor id's - it all just refers to intel.

Further down this thread one user trying to help suggests the modem may be unlocked with an AT command. I am hoping I will be able to communicate with the modem over AT in order to 'turn it on' then pop it back into my machine.

Which USB adapter do you use for your modem? Is it just a generic USB to modem adapter? I might pick one up just to see if it is picked up in Ubuntu.
I bought a Lenovo branded EM160R-GL modem, and installed it into my Dell Latitude 7470 laptop WWAN slot. The WWAN slot is PCIe enabled.

I installed Ubuntu 22.10 and Lenovo's FCC unlock, and managed to get the modem fully working with no issues.

It wasn't smooth sailing at first. Even though Ubuntu loaded the generic mhi pcie drivers and saw the modem, the FCC unlock didn't work. Lenovo's vendor ID for this specific card was not available. What was available was the unlock for the EM120R-GL.

So, what I did was run this command : mmcli --modem=0
It gave me the actual vendor id the modem was using.

I then created a symbolic link to the Lenevo generic unlock file for the EM120/EM160 and copied the scripts to the Modem Manager files.

Rebooted the laptop, and everything was working fine.

You don't mention if the modem is unlocked, or a vendor branded one?
Normally with the FCC lock, even if the linux kernel loads and recognises the modem, the modem will still be in a low powered state and you won't be able to access any of its ports.
 
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Can't find any specs for this. What is it?

I was looking at this, it can run anything and has 2.5Gbps ports:

This is an x64_64 based machine 3x gigabit LAN ports, a CF Card Slot, a SATA port and 2GB RAM.


 
I bought a Lenovo branded EM160R-GL modem, and installed it into my Dell Latitude 7470 laptop WWAN slot. The WWAN slot is PCIe enabled.

I installed Ubuntu 22.10 and Lenovo's FCC unlock, and managed to get the modem fully working with no issues.

It wasn't smooth sailing at first. Even though Ubuntu loaded the generic mhi pcie drivers and saw the modem, the FCC unlock didn't work. Lenovo's vendor ID for this specific card was not available. What was available was the unlock for the EM120R-GL.

So, what I did was run this command : mmcli --modem=0
It gave me the actual vendor id the modem was using.

I then created a symbolic link to the Lenevo generic unlock file for the EM120/EM160 and copied the scripts to the Modem Manager files.

Rebooted the laptop, and everything was working fine.

You don't mention if the modem is unlocked, or a vendor branded one?
Normally with the FCC lock, even if the linux kernel loads and recognises the modem, the modem will still be in a low powered state and you won't be able to access any of its ports.
That's good to know, I'll have to look into it further. Been reaqlly busy with other things recently.

It's a Lenovo branded one. I bought it from one the the AliExpress sellers who do explicitly state they will only work with certain listed Lenovo Laptops. But I took a punt that it might work in Windows with Lenovo drivers.
I haven't yet tried the USB adapter to see if I can communicate the modem with AT from windows. My hope was that if I could I would be able to unlock it or allow Windows to see it in a "turned on" state.
 
Debating if I should pick this up for it, can run opnsense and openwrt:
Nice, cheap toy. The psu is more dear than the toy, lol.
A bit put off by the ancient single core cpu, also no aes extension .. On the other hand it's a 5w tdp proc..
 
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