FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
   --------------------------------
   (w) 2001-05-02 J.Stifter, j.stifter@medres.ch
 
 
Table of Contents:
------------------
1. Will my modem XXX work with this driver?
2. How do I install the driver?
3. Do you work for PCTEL?
4. Country Code selection
5. Compile error: no modversions.h
6. Unresolved Symbols
 
 
1. Will my modem XXX work with your driver?
-------------------------------------------
Go to "Linux/Modem Compatibility Knowledge Base" at
http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html
and follow the instructions to find your modem.
 
 
2. How do I install the driver?
-------------------------------
If you have sucessfully done "make install", the driver is located  
in /lib/modules/"your-kernel-number"/misc/
 
The driver consists of two parts:
pctel.o
ptserial.o
 
You insert these drivers with the command
insmod pctel
insmod ptserial
 
If this doesn't work, you can do
insmod /lib/modules/"your-kernel-number"/misc/pctel.o
insmod /lib/modules/"your-kernel-number"/misc/ptserial.o
 
You have to make sure, that these two commands are run every time you
reboot your machine, by adding these two commands to an init script,
according to your distribution.
 
If  you want to enable autoloading of the modules,
the following lines in /etc/modules.conf would suffice:
 
# for pctel modem
alias char-major-62 ptserial
below ptserial pctel
# country code for pctel modem
options ptserial country_code=13                                            
 
Make sure, you run "depmod -a" after you changed your /etc/modules.conf.
 
Then starting ppp would autoload the modules,
or "modprobe ptserial" will insert them.
 
 
3. Do you work for PCTEL?
-------------------------
I don't work for PCTEL, i am maintainig this driver in my free time.
 
 
4. Country Code selection
-------------------------
The PCTEL modem has the possibility to select a country code.
If the country code is not selected, the default country code,
which is USA, will be used and it should work for most countries.
However, there is a way that you can select the country code for
better performance.
 
To select the country code, instead of "insmod ptserial.o" do:
insmod ptserial.o country_code=X      
 
Table of country codes:
 
country_code  country_name
 
 1            USA
 2            FRANCE
 3            GERMANY
 4            ITALY
 5            SWEDEN
 6            UK
 7            JAPAN
 8            AUSTRALIA
 9            SPAIN
10            TAIWAN
11            SINGAPORE
12            KOREA
13            SWITZERLAND
14            NORWAY
15            NETHERLANDS
16            BELGIUM
17            CANADA
18            IRELAND
19            PORTUGAL
20            POLAND
21            HUNGARY
22            FINLAND
23            DENMARK
24            AUSTRIA
25            S.AFRICA
26            CTR21 COUNTRIES
27            CHINA
28            MALAYSIA
29            LUXUMBURG
30            GREECE
31            ICELAND
32            NEW ZEALAND
33            BRAZIL
 
 
5. Compile error: no modversions.h
----------------------------------
If you see something like:
 
gcc [....] /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h:  
No such file or directory
 
after typing "make", you have no modversions.h or you have it at the
wrong place.
 
First, make sure, your kernel source tree starts at /usr/src/linux. If
not, make a link from your kernel source to /usr/src/linux:
$ ln -s /path/to/your/kernel /usr/src/linux
 
Now, create the modversions.h by running
$ cd /usr/src/linux
$ make dep
 
this should make you a modversions.h in /usr/src/linux/include/
 
If this did not work, an ugly hack is to create an empty file there:
$ mkdir -p /usr/src/linux/include/linux
$ touch /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h
 
 
6. Unresolved Symbols
---------------------
The unresolved symbols arise when there is a mismatch between the
versions of the running kernel & the kernel-headers used to compile the
driver.  
 
These symbol differences can often be masked across flavor differences
and even some larger differences through use of Mark Speith's fixscript,
available at: www.medres.ch/~jstifter/linux/pctel.html (links section).  
 
Of course, the robust cure is too use the same kernel-headers as were used
in the compile of the running kernel.  Unfortunately the kernel-header
packages provided by some Linux distros are not exactly version matched
with the stock kernels.  
 
If you do a
  depmod -e pctel.o
or
  depmod -e ptserial.o
you can generate an "unresolved symbols" report.  
 
If you have unresolved symbols:  
 
1) download fixscript.gz
2) unpack it with "gzip -d fixscript.gz"
3) make it executable with "chmod +x fixscript"
4) run fixscript with  
 
./fixscript old_module new_module.o  
 
this will create you the new module, which you can try to insert
with "insmod new_module.o"
 
If fixscript reports an error like
objcopy: --redefine-sym: Symbol "" is target of more than one redefinition
then, fixscript can not help you.
 
In this case, you have to compile yourself a kernel. Ask the linmodems
mailing list if you have problems - it is not that hard!
---
Jan Stifter, 2001-07-06
j.stifter@medres.ch
http://www.medres.ch/~jstifter/linux/pctel.html