Using an aircard in linux

[halfmanhalfamazing]

Anybody around here have some tips/pointers on using an aircard natively in linux? By aircard, I mean one of those neat little devices that your local/national cellphone carrier offers for laptop connectivity. ( AT&T, T Mobile, or etc)

I did a little bit of google searching, found some interesting things.

http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/2/7/431
http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-usb%40vger.kernel.org/msg01030.html

It looks to me, I suppose, that sierra wireless is the best supported manufacturer of aircards for linux.

I found this how to:

http://www.pbandjelly.org/2006/12/sierra-wireless-aircard-595-configuration-sprintpcs/

But it seems somewhat daunting. Anybody seen a GUI type interface for aircards under linux? I've always been weak with CLIs.

Also, is sierra the only ones who are linux friendly? Which carriers are better? Any information you wish to add, please do.

[Michael]

I have quite a bit of experience with the AirCards and Linux. My other company owns just under a dozen of them. The Sierra AirCards generally are great with Linux but not immediate "out of the box" support. However, there is CDMA/GSM support in NetworkManager coming. There is also a GUI for generating the PPP scripts for manual connection, but it escapes my mind off hand.

I can try to be more detailed in my answers later.

[Kano]

Try

http://umtsmon.sourceforge.net/

[halfmanhalfamazing]

Hey, thanks guys. And thanks for the link to that program. That should help out a lot.

Will any aircard work, or should I specifically seek out Sierras? I'll be getting a USB one, more flexible than PCMCIA or express.