Comment 16 for bug 469376

Not resolved, but we have isolated the cause to Gnome Network Manager
and Modem Manager, and we do have a workaround.

As a workaround you can go to the following URL

http://www.pharscape.org/Quicksilver.html

There are three packages you will need to download from the Pharscape
site. Don't build/install then yet, just find and download them to a
directory on your system for now.

 1) ozerocdoff ( udev.tar.gz )
 This uses udev to auto-disable the zero cd on Option devices.

 2) hsolink_1.0.118-1_i386.deb
 Scripts & stuff needed for the hsoconnect gui tool

 3) hsoconnect-1.2.18.tar.gz
 The gui tool to control the Quicksilver HSDPA modem.
 ( Remember Ubuntu 9.10 has python 2.6 so you need the
 beta package which is the tarball above not the *.deb )

Remember to get everything needed to build the packages above.
( update: newer versions of the packages above are also OK )

sudo apt-get install build-essential libusb-dev linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Now we will eliminate the lockup.

Fire up Synaptic package manager find and install the following package

 1) wicd

find the following packages in Synaptic and mark for complete removal

 1) gnome network manager
( this should have been auto-removed when wicd was installed - verify )

 2) modem manager
( This is what actually causes the lockup - mark for complete removal )

This will stop the total system lockup on USB insertion of the
Quicksilver device and replace the Gnome Network Manager / Modem Manager
combination with a usable alternative ( wicd ) which does not suffer
from Delusions of Grandure demanding total control of devices they have
no idea how to operate.

Now to get the Quicksilver running

Read the web pages on the Pharscale site for how to build/install each
of the three packages downloaded above. NOTE: To make hsoconnect
successfully manually pre-create the following two directories.

/usr/share/hsoconnect
/usr/share/hsoconnect/hsoc

Build and install the 3 Pharscape downloaded packages in the same order
they were downloaded above.

This will ultimately give you wicd in control of all wired and wifi
network links, while only the hsoconnect package gui tool will be in
control of the AT&T Quicksilver 3G GSM/HSDPA modem device and links.

As a final item, the hsoconnect tool works best in combination with the
"resolvconf" package to manage and maintain the contents of the
"/etc/resolv.conf" file. I recommend using synaptic to install the
resolvconf package, or you will end up chasing file permission on the
resolv.conf file which will complicate your hsoconnect usage.

The steps above should get your AT&T/Option modem working cleanly and
they have worked for at least 3 other people besides me.

I was never able to get any help on the Gnome Window Manager or Modem
Manager side of this issue. It could be fixed in a later versions or
whatever, I just do not know.

Pat Hickel