Enter, the Brave New Blog

The marriage of Dhiraagu and the GNU/Linux Kernel

2006-05-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

Alright, so the other day, I finally thought- I'll give the ADSL modem a try. The Aztech 208U modem has an eagle-usb chipset that is supported by the linux kernel once the driver is installed.

The eagle-usb driver supposedly does the job...but upon configuring I end up getting walled up against these messages.

====================
distribution detected                           Debian

dhcp support                                    dhclient

pppd support                                    yes
  pppoa support                                 yes
  pppoe support                                 yes

install eagleconnect (tcl/tk frontend)          yes

generate documentation                          no
===================

warning: kernel-sources version is different from the current kernel.

warning: current gcc version is not the same as the one used to
         compile the running kernel.
         - current gcc version:          4.0.2
         - gcc version used for kernel:  3.4.5

=================

The implication? Now I have to use 'my precious...' bandwidth to download the kernel source (2.6.9-10) and then use GCC-4.0.2 to re-compile the kernel from source.
I do wonder. Using a non-Microsoft product in collation with any Dhiraagu Data Service is the equivalent of 'undesireds' and 'blacks' trying to become the Sonnenkinder of herr Hitler's Fatherland...damn the discrimination

What would follow, only the Lordy himself will know. For now, I'll just concentrate on entertaining myself with the comical theatrics of our countrymen and politicians.

Fudge-cakes and Dhiraagu ADSL

2006-05-03T01:18:00.000-07:00

Any one care to distinguish?
You'll find it equally a grueling a task to accomplish. It was yesterday (May the 01st 2006) that Dhiraagu launched its long-awaited ADSL Services in its Southern Operations.

Personally, my expectations were a tad bit above hopeful, but it was not all too afar from the line of caution either. The ceremonial tidings brought about by Dhiraagu were advertised through its various channels, both official and unofficial (I am referring to the slyly disguised 'Kuda Kudhinge Haveeru') a week or two before the actual launching ceremony- this took place at Fit-Aero (for those of you who haven't visited Addu, this is the damned café cum resistance-training establishment, where Body-alla shows off his oiled-up machismo, or so *they* say).

What did I expect to find then?
Answer: What I've always have been delivered from Dhiraagu. Disappointment- a dash of hopes well below the depths of the deepest mass graves dug for Jewish victims of the Holocaust by the Jews themselves.

Here's the details:
Similar to Malé, the Dhiraagu Package offers a measly 300 MB for a sparing (honestly? Think again) charge of 249.00 Maldivian Smackers.

Diversion: Smackers is a knocked off Brand-name of a cheap Chinese Chocolate Sweat-shop.

It might not sound like much- considering the state of the Local Economy in Addu atoll coupled with the bare-bone incentives for progressive and sustainable cycles of human resource development and job-security, who could afford to pay that much per month?

This is just the basic package. The 'power-user' package consisted of a single GB and costs up to Mrf 400. Heh. Good luck downloading episodes of Buffy the vampire Slayer, ye dark Princesses of mediocre soap-shows.

Just when you have had about enough, they entertain you some more with their daylight robberies.

A potential customer who attended the ceremony clarified, reportedly, from a piece of paper about the Aztech modem distributed with the package for which the customer has to incur an additional Mrf 600.00. After the Dhiraagu staff verified it was the same adsl modem, the customer daringly revealed its' price. Followed by hushed gasps, it turns out that the Dhiraagu are selling a modem costing Mrf 257

at a markup of a whopping 252%.

“You see, ma? Thats some mighty good fudge-cakes” the words of a red-neck from the deepest backwoods of the most inbred Swamps in Texas.

The Aztech Modem (208U) in addition to being a tawdry device with no support for NICs, is connected via USB. In addition to giving their customers a hell of a time with the price-tag, the five-fingered 'touching' hand is right up the customers' buttocks.

Thats right. Its not Micahel Jackson loaded on Jesus-Juice- no, but a far more perverted entity than that...you're local Telecom Provider/ISP Dhiraagu...touch...ahhh!

I think thats all the ranting I can do for now. In case you have any objections to my objections, I welcome you with open arms- its a shame many of those who do cannot return this one single gesture of civility (even though morbidly accompanied by the occasional coarseness).

Send, DSP Code Send!

2006-01-05T01:33:00.000-08:00

After about 2 hours of tiring finger tapping (just imagine how demanding it would be to exercise any other physical part of myh body), I am now being forced to reconsider the options.

If you remember from my earlier post, the problem was seemingly because I compiled the modem driver using a different version of GCC- problem being, I have to use the same release of the GNU compiler for building the kernel and the module.

So, I had meself equipped with about 40 Mb of kernel source with which I can build my own kernel. Eventually, I found the module option for 'eagle-usb' here:

Then we made, rinse, cleaned and made out some more.
Finally, once restarted, it was time to check whether the module loaded properly.
Going through the kernel rings:

The Kernel Seems to fully co-operate as far as recognizing the driver is concerned. Roses are red, Violets are blue, and thank Lordy Eagle-USB got loaded.

But my elation was uncalled for. As soon as I tried accessing the user-interface for the application, the real problems started to begin

As you can see, everything except the loading of the module bOrk'd. Possible Causes? It could possibly be because the built-in kernel module was compiled without the '--enable-cmvs' option specified by the happy folks at Aztech.

Other than that, another root of the problem may be due to invalid options specified in the driver module;
for which, I agree I cannot blame anyone.
Yet, I am surprised that no technical assistance or 'customer care' has been provided as far as informing the customer about the DSP code options and encapsulation options used by Dhiraagu.

Granted, the cog who picks up the phone does say that it is PPoE-LLP-SNAP. But what exactly does it imply for the configuration file in /etc/eagle-usb/eagle-usb.conf?

Which brings me to the next question (if anyone's reading this :)
Has anyone got the driver to work with the more recent kernel versions? There has been numerous reports (certainly on ubuntuforums) about this driver not working on the breezy kernels- dare I go back to Hoary in order to check this? Uh-uh. I do not think so.

It'd save me a lot of time, instead, if I just buy a modem that supports NIC. As I mentioned in the earlier post, I do not think our
-Y friends at Dhiraagu thinks much of it's customers.

We're drones paying them the green eh?

And all we do with our Broadband connection is to browse DO, prOn and send junkmail to our frineds using Internet explorer.

Anywhos, the next step I can think of is whether to check whether the developers for the eagle-usb can help us poor customers to see whether if there's any way we can connect to our ISP