E3372 USB Modem not working issue on Fedora 26

Today I installed Fedora 26 on my Laptop (HP EliteBook).  After that I wanted to connect my USB Modem E3372 to connect to the internet. Ah! Surprise!! It didn't work. Whenever I tried to enable the connection through the GUI, it stopped connecting immediately. This modem had no issues with Fedora 25 installed on my Desktop.

After analyzing the logs (journalctl -xe) I was able to find the issue.  Actually a required plugin was not installed with the OS installation or even with the dnf upgrade I did after the OS installation.

Oct 20 17:21:57 localhost.localdomain NetworkManager[739]: <info>  [1508534517.2585] device (ttyUSB0): state change: config -> ip-config (reason 'none', internal state 'managed')
Oct 20 17:21:57 localhost.localdomain NetworkManager[739]: <warn>  [1508534517.2586] device (ttyUSB0): interface ttyUSB1 not up for IP configuration
Oct 20 17:21:57 localhost.localdomain NetworkManager[739]: <info>  [1508534517.2586] (ttyUSB0): using modem-specified IP timeout: 20 seconds
Oct 20 17:21:57 localhost.localdomain NetworkManager[739]: <error> [1508534517.2587] (ttyUSB0): error starting PPP: the PPP plugin /usr/lib64/NetworkManager/libnm-ppp-plugin.so is not installed
Oct 20 17:21:57 localhost.localdomain NetworkManager[739]: <info>  [1508534517.2588] device (ttyUSB0): state change: ip-config -> failed (reason 'ppp-start-failed', internal state 'managed')
Oct 20 17:21:57 localhost.localdomain NetworkManager[739]: <warn>  [1508534517.2593] device (ttyUSB0): Activation: failed for connection

The library is provided by a package called NetworkManager-ppp

dnf provides /usr/lib64/NetworkManager/libnm-ppp-plugin.so
Last metadata expiration check: 1:06:38 ago on Fri 20 Oct 2017 04:27:22 PM EDT.
NetworkManager-ppp-1:1.8.2-1.fc26.x86_64 : PPP plugin for NetworkManager
Repo        : updates
Matched from:
Filename    : /usr/lib64/NetworkManager/libnm-ppp-plugin.so

NetworkManager-ppp-1:1.8.0-6.fc26.x86_64 : PPP plugin for NetworkManager
Repo        : fedora
Matched from:
Filename    : /usr/lib64/NetworkManager/libnm-ppp-plugin.so


Then I installed the package

[root@localhost ~]# dnf install  NetworkManager-ppp

Here we go. The modem started to working.!!!

LineageOS on Galaxy Tab 2 7 AKA P3113

A few days a go I wanted to install an application from google play store on my Galaxy Tab 2 7 Tab. The device had an old stock Android version (Jelly Beans) and it refused to install the application as the application required a newer version of Android OS.

Then I remembered Cyanogenmod which was very popular a few years ago. It could install a new Android version on my tab. After searching about the project I learnt that it was shutdown last year. Fortunately it has been reborn as "LineageOS".

I decided to install LineageOS on my tab. I used my Fedora desktop to upload and flash the required software. The process was straightforward and it's well documented in LineageOS wiki pages.

The OS is still delivered as nightly builds, but I haven't experienced any issues with it so far. The build is as stable as a standard stable release.

You can install Google applications (Open GApps) after just installing the OS. Those applications are not bundled with the OS due to licensing restrictions. Applications such as Google Play Store are available with Open GApps.

After installing the OS, I have tried several applications such as Google Chrome and YouTube. The results are amazing. I'm experiencing smooth scrolls, quality video play, etc. LineageOS offers a way better experience than the old Android stock OS on the Galaxy Tab 2 7.

I think this is the best thing happened to my Tab. I should have done this a long time ago.

Modify Atheros AR9271 USB WiFi Adapter to add heat sinks

Today I received  Atheros AR9271 USB WiFi Adapter which I ordered from AliExpress. I ordered it after a thorough google search about Linux friendly WiFi adapters. As I expected it started to work on my Fedora desktop machine out of the box.

However I noticed that the adapter heats a little when I touched it after a few minutes. I was curious to see what caused the heat. So I decided to dissemble it. Disassembling the plastic enclosure of the adapter was not difficult. Sliding a piece of thin plastic or metal between the two pieces of the enclosure would open it.

The adapter actually uses a WiFi module. The chip was covered with a small metal sheet to handle the heat. The metal sheet was covered by a sticker which has the information of the module. (See the photo below)

WiFi Module

Hmm Nothing special. Oh wait is that a LED in the module? It is. There is a LED and it lights up when the adapter is turned on. It blinks when there is a data transfer. The enclosure does not have any hole above it so the light is not visible unless you disassemble it.

At that moment I decided to modify the USB enclosure. A simple small hole drilled through the top piece of the plastic enclosure would do the job. Hmm.. Why shouldn't you hack it further to add a heat sink?  Yes, It was a perfect crazy idea to ruin the enclosure. Also it may be a overkill to add a heat-sink for that small USB gadget. but I was already bored and looking for a job something like that. So I decided to modify the top piece of the enclosure to mount a heat-sink.

I didn't have a heat sink which matches with the size of the metal sheet. Nothing stops doing crazy things, Fortunately I had 2 small heat sinks which could cover the metal sheet.

First I drilled the top piece of the enclosure for the LED. Then I drilled the top piece multiple times using a small bit so that it could help to remove a rectangle piece from the enclosure. I used a small hand file to smooth the edges after that.

After I verified the rectangle space is good enough for the heat-sinks, I assembled the plastic enclosure. Then I mounted the two heat sinks on the metal sheet through the rectangular space I cut on the top of the enclosure.

The end result? Yes, it looks funny, but I like it.

Modified USB WiFi Adapter

The Modified Adapter in use