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REQUESTING HELP PLEASE: Use of uQMI Protocol on ASUSWRT-MERLIN

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Sorry - been a bit busy as we got our first run of prototype hardware boards in on Monday - so having to do a bit of rework on them, one out of 10 is good so far, and once it's debugged, then we can rework the others - so a bit stressful, as that was $5K to build that small run of boards (prototypes can be pretty spendy due to the nature of the beast)
 
Found out why it was redirecting me. Each package folder needed to be individually referenced in OPKG.CONF, and not just the "base" folder.

Got package list updated, and... the packages needed to run QMI modem are not available in this build. Damn... Going to just have to pony up, and learn how to compile drivers for Raspbian. haha.

Could either stick with the Pi3 (building drivers isn't that hard) or move back to the laptop - note that OpenSUSE is RPM based if I recall, so building modules/drivers is more the redhat way - Raspbian, being debian based, is more like Ubuntu (or Debian, lol)

To build the drivers on Raspbian, you'll see some help here...

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/linux/kernel/building.md

One can do it on the Pi directly, but it will take a very long time, or cross compile from another machine - and there, I would just do ubuntu or debian...

(I have nothing against RedHat or RPM, I used it every day in the data center, but that's in a production application environment, for hacking like this, the debian methods are a bit less work)
 
Sounds like you have your hands full there. I am quickly learning that this wireless module - the Sierra Wireless MC7455 - is not an easy thing to work with in ANY environment. Outside of being tied directly to a Windows 10 machine, with Sierra's specific drivers installed, and using Sierra's specific program (also, with no network bridging available), it is a huge headache to configure with any other OS. Trying to just initiate a connection in any Linux OS is requiring multiple packages, a ton of configuration, and results in no connection whatsoever.

After spending another entire day on a dead end with OpenSUSE, I think it may be time to retire this Sierra Wireless MC 7455 module. It is useless, as it doesn't communicate natively with ANYTHING... so f*cking frustrated right now...
 
So, I figured out why Pi3 wouldnt work. Pi3 build from SFX is built off of a Designated Driver trunk which there are no compatable packages to install to handle QMI (i had to "--force-depends" with thr generic Pi2 repository, and the packages didnt work. Howevsr, the Pi2 build aavailable from OpenWRT is built off of the recent Chaos Calmer release, which DOES have compatable packages available for cdc-wwan, uqmi, etc...

Grabbing a Pi2 from amazon, since the SFX build via Pi3 was the closest Ive gotten to up and running. If I can get that functional, that should be enough CPU to handle just the throughput as an LTE modem. The main router can handle the actual network routing, OpenVPN, and NAS.

Ugh... going to make this work, no matter what. Come hell or high water, I will not give up until this is done... And then I will write out a step by step for others to use, so that others may avoid this battle.
 
Grabbing a Pi2 from amazon, since the SFX build via Pi3 was the closest Ive gotten to up and running. If I can get that functional, that should be enough CPU to handle just the throughput as an LTE modem. The main router can handle the actual network routing, OpenVPN, and NAS.

I can spin up an image for pi2 on chaos calmer if you would like... doesn't take long..
 
I can spin up an image for pi2 on chaos calmer if you would like... doesn't take long..

I believe that OpenWRT hasthe most recent release of Chaos Calmer (15.05.1) as a pre-built IMG to flash available on their Raspberry Pi device wiki page. Haven't downloaded and tried yet. Waiting on shipping for another day...

1.png
 
that image should work...

While you're over on the Amazon, might consider picking up a USB-TTL cable - The Adafruit 954 works nice, and this will give you direct console access to the UART on the pi...

https://www.adafruit.com/product/954

Amazon sells the same part, or can order direct from Adafuit..

Very handy to have when working with OpenWRT
 
Will do...thanks! Now that I am starting to become familiar with the Pi, and linux in general, this should help with other applications (especially seeing as I have an extra Pi3 laying around now...)
 
So, I figured out why Pi3 wouldnt work. Pi3 build from SFX is built off of a Designated Driver trunk which there are no compatable packages to install to handle QMI (i had to "--force-depends" with thr generic Pi2 repository, and the packages didnt work. Howevsr, the Pi2 build aavailable from OpenWRT is built off of the recent Chaos Calmer release, which DOES have compatable packages available for cdc-wwan, uqmi, etc...

FWIW - here's what happened...

The Pi3 - brcm2710 is only supported in the the trunk (which is DD these days) - 15.05 (CC - Chaos Chalmer) is good for up to Pi2 only, and here's where it gets interesting...

First is the device tree - Pi2 and Pi3 do have difference that have to be handled via device tree, mostly due to the WiFi/Bluetooth and the impact there - and CC doesn't have the dtb files for Pi3 in the make files - which, ok.. that's one issue... that can be solved by some work...

For the community, and this is important when working with these devices and openwrt...

What was causing Joe's issue - by trying to force opk over the earlier snapshot - OpenWRT made the jump to musl, moving away from uclibc which was used in the 15.05 branch - so no way would any kernel module even work - now the 2710 can run 2708/2709 code just fine, it really came down to the kernel version and c libraries...​

Hence the build this evening... @JoeBurman1987 - please give it a try - I don't have a QMI capable device handy at the moment, but gut tells me that once those items were built directly, you should get quite a bit further with that Sierra card...
 
Alright, so..

Repeated this process using compatible hardware "Raspberry Pi 2 - Model B", the latest version of OpenWRT (15.05.1), and followed the walkthrough posted here (https://forum.sierrawireless.com/viewtopic.php?f=117&t=10117#p39975) exactly as posted, with no success.

1.) Flashed an SD card with Chaos Calmer 15.05.1, and inserted in to Pi2.

2.) Hooked up MC7455 via Windows PC, used that Russian Huawei AT application, and sent successful AT commands to switch the MC7455 to MBIM mode. (I only changed the APN to reflect T-Mobile 4G service in the area.)

Code:
AT!entercnd="A710"
AT!USBCOMP=1,1,1009
AT+cgdcont=1,"IP","fast.t-mobile.com"
2.) Initially logged in to luci web interface of Pi2, and set the "lan" interface as a DHCP client for the time being (for opkg updates through existing network connection using windows "Internet Connection Sharing" with th MC7455 through Win10 laptop to WAN on my primary router.)

3.) opkg update

4.) All of these package installs went smooth as butter, and no dependency errors:
Code:
opkg install umbim kmod-usb-net-cdc-mbim kmod-usb-net-sierrawireless kmod-usb-serial-wwan kmod-usb-serial-sierrawireless kmod-usb-serial-qualcomm kmod-usb-net-qmi-wwan uqmi comgt
5.) I ran in to "not found" errors with "opkg install screen" and "opkg install watchcat", but I don't need to lock bands (T-Mobile only has LTE Band 12 in my area), and I could care less about watchcat until I can actually get this connected once.

6.) Logged in with SSH, added in the modified mbim.sh, and set it chmod 755.

7.) Ran the following CLI commands (only changing the APN for T-Mobile here again):
Code:
uci del network.wan #this resulted in an error, since the "wan" network didn't originally exist (since Pi2 only has the one ethernet port, which is already assigned to "lan" interface by default.)
uci set network.wan=interface
uci set network.wan.proto=mbim
uci set network.wan.device=/dev/cdc-wdm0
uci set network.wan.apn=fast.t-mobile.com
uci set network.wan.username=
uci set network.wan.password=
uci commit network
reboot
8.) Logged back in to luci interface, and turned "lan" interface back to a Static IP, and re-enabled DHCP server. The Pi can function as the gateway AND primary router/DHCP server, until I can get this figured out (later it will become just the modem/gateway with all other functionality disabled.)

I know this isn't a signal or module issue. The MC7455 and PCI-to-USB bridge hasn't moved from the position in which it sat when originally connected to a Windows 10 laptop.The adapter with paddle/whip antennas attached sits in a project box literally 1 foot away from a cellular amplifier in the basement boasting a strong signal (the SNR is a little off, but I can tune the antenna/amplifier later to correct it after I have this responding reliably.)

It registers all associated drivers, and creates the cdc-wdm0 device. Just no WWAN communication, and I am unaware of how to check the module's connection, signal strength, and network registration using CLI with these specific packages. And luci just reports the "unknown protocol", as others have indicated is expected.
 
Hitting a crashing point. Its after 4am again. Thanks for the updated image for the Pi3, will continue working at it tomorrow.
 
Blazing the trail so that others can follow ;)

Keep good notes - and yes, we'll find a way
 
Hitting a crashing point. Its after 4am again. Thanks for the updated image for the Pi3, will continue working at it tomorrow.


new build - remember, this is a designated driver build with Luci and uQMI for Pi3 (
target-arm_cortex-a53+neon-vfpv4_musl-1.1.15_eabi)

changes:

Sync to current

added - along with previous items...
  • umbim
  • kmod-usb-net-cdc-mbim
  • kmod-usb-net-sierrawireless
  • kmod-usb-serial-sierrawireless
  • kmod-usb-serial-qualcomm
  • comgt
  • watchcat
  • screen

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9266262/openwrt_pi3/openwrt_dd_Pi3_Luci_uqmi_sfx_120816.tar.gz
 
Tried that build, but still couldn't register the cdc-wdm0 device with the MC7455 plugged in.

At the suggestion of a member of the Sierra Wireless Community Forums, I ended up flashing the LEDE 4.4 Kernel (which I gather is just a flavor of OpenWRT with some extra bells and whistles), on a Pi3. Added a modified mbim.sh script through SSH, and some other scripts packaged along with it (LTE-watchdog to reset the modem if down every 15 minutes, and an additional loopback for a apache http server for some reason?)

And...

1.png

It is peak usage time here right now (week night between 7-12p), so a little slower than normal, and I need to knock down the SNR on the cellular amplifier a little bit.

But ho-lee-phuck... it is done. Now, just to make an image of this SD card, just in case anything goes sideways while trying to change the Pi3 over to a 'gateway-only' interface to feed the WAN port on the router. Right now, the router is only serving as a repeater, with the Pi handling WAN access and DHCP.

Tears of joy, you guys...tears of joy.
 
Hmmm... although network wide, everything on port 80 is getting 4-5Mbs/s, any other port or protocol is getting throttled down to 60Kbs/s again, just like Windows 10 ICS set-up. I'm thinking that T-Mobile is identifying networked components as "tethered" devices to their "registered" device (the MC7455.)

I'm thinking that adding an .OVPN tunnel config to LEDE to funnel all data through 256-bit AES over port 80 using UDP to an AirVPN server. That should prevent ANY throttling based upon protocol, and any deep packet inspection. More testing tomorrow on that front...

Tonight, I am taking a well diserved break. Thank you for all of your efforts SFX, I couldn't have done this without you. I will be posting a definitive how-to guide here tomorrow, under a separate thread.
 
new build - remember, this is a designated driver build with Luci and uQMI for Pi3 (
target-arm_cortex-a53+neon-vfpv4_musl-1.1.15_eabi)

changes:

Sync to current

added - along with previous items...
  • umbim
  • kmod-usb-net-cdc-mbim
  • kmod-usb-net-sierrawireless
  • kmod-usb-serial-sierrawireless
  • kmod-usb-serial-qualcomm
  • comgt
  • watchcat
  • screen

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9266262/openwrt_pi3/openwrt_dd_Pi3_Luci_uqmi_sfx_120816.tar.gz
Haha... exactly the packaginges I would have needed to. I had tried the one prior, but had yet to try this one. I will give this a whirl in the next few days to compare it to LEDE. Gotta head out of state this weekend.

Haha, I know what I'll call it.. Neither a hotspot, nor a modem... it's both. Its a "portable internet box."
 
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