[Soekris] Difficulty enabling PC5220 1xEVDO card on net4521 with pebble Linux

[Phil Karn]

I just happened to see this thread as I'm finally doing the same thing 
here -- putting a PC5220 1xEVDO card on a net4521 running Linux. Haven't 
decided whether to add a 802.11 card and try to turn it into a 
self-contained access point, or just connect a cheap off-the-shelf 
802.11 access point by Ethernet.

Rather than use a pre-existing Linux distribution, I built a 2.6.13.4 
kernel from scratch. I'm using the usbserial driver compiled as a module 
and installed with the vendor and product codes specified on the command 
line. It all seems to work. There's no web server for administration, 
just a SSH server and command line interface at present. I also export 
the CF file system by NFS so I can mount it on a larger Linux system.

I'd be happy to tar up the file system on my CF card and put it on my 
web page if that would help anyone. I borrowed it from the system I 
built a while ago for the net4801 I'm using as a DSL router at home. I 
started with busybox and manually added only those commands and 
libraries absolutely necessary to make the box functional as a router. 
That keeps the footprint down -- about 15 MB for the DSL router (2.4.27 
kernel) and about 24 meg for the 1xEVDO router (2.6.13.4 kernel). I can 
probably trim it back down a little, but CF cards that size are already 
cheap and plentiful.

Now if I can just find an antenna cable with a connector for the 5220 
card on one end and a panel-mount TNC for the pre-punched hole on the 
net4521's front panel. Anybody know where I can find one?

Phil