[Durham] Compatibility of PAYG broadband dongles and portable hard drives (ubuntu)

[Dougie Nisbet]

Richard Mortimer wrote:
> Dougie Nisbet wrote:
>   
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I've been setting up the laptop I bought from Richard. Running Ubuntu 
>> 9.04 and looking good.
>>
>> I want to get a portable hard drive. Richard was that a Freecomm one you 
>> had at the meeting? I could probably get by on 250GB but 320GB would be 
>> better, and 500GB wouldn't be a bad thing.
>>
>> Googling around it seems that most of them are pretty straightforward 
>> apart from some gotchas about preinstalled software and encryption.
>>
>>     
> AFAIK they are all just USB connected harddrives. I've used a number of 
> bookshelf size versions (which are powered by a wallwart type plug) but 
> have also used a 2.5" drive in a caddy that I got from ebuyer. Basically 
> you just plug them into the USB port and they appear as just another 
> hard drive. For use on Ubuntu use you probably want to 
> repartition/create a ext2/3/4/whatever filesystem and maybe configure 
> encryption if you care about that.
>
>   
>> I've been looking at
>>
>>     http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149400 (Maxtor Basics 500GB)
>>     http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164447 (LG 320GB)
>> and
>> http://www.amazon.co.uk/500GB-drive-HITACHI-External-Portable/dp/B001UHOUC6/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
>> looks nice.
>>
>>     
>
>   
>> Big worry is compatibility. Does anyone recommend a 'safe bet' for 
>> working with ubuntu on my laptop?
>>     
> I don't see a problem with either of those two models. They look like 
> they would just work.
>
>   
>> Also been looking at PAYG broadband. It'd be nice to have for 
>> emergencies although I don't think I'd need it much, so PAYG appeals. I 
>> thought
>> http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-broadband-devices/usb-modem-stick-topup-and-go
>> from Vodafone looked good. Perhaps a bit pricey for start-up but 
>> straightforward and seems people have found it ok with linux. Does 
>> anyone use anything similar?
>>     
> I haven't use Voda or PAYG but I've got an O2 dongle on contract and it 
> works fine on Ubuntu Jaunty.
>
> The only slight snag is that you need to get usb modeswitch to do some 
> magic to switch it from looking like a flash device to looking like a 
> modem. Once I installed that and added the right udev rules (just a case 
> of finding the right one in the list) then when you plug the dongle in 
> it appears in network manager and you just click connect, it asks a few 
> simple questions and then works. I think most of the dongles work in the 
> same way (they just appear as a serial modem) so if the Voda one is the 
> same then it should just work.
>
> Regards
>
> Richard
>
>   
>> thanks
>>
>> Dougie
>>
>>
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>>     
>
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>   
belated thanks for the info Richard.

I'm using a WD 500GB passport drive and a Vodafone broadband dongle. 
Both working fine. It never occurred to me that I might be able to use 
my mobile phone for internet connection, and it turns out I can hook it 
up to the laptop. Live and Learn.

Dougie