AT modem networking on PocketBeagle

[Gwen Stouthuysen]

I would like to connect a Quectel BG96 Click board to a PocketBeagle

The hardware side is rather straight forward: install the expansion headers and click in the board.

LEDs light up and off you go.

The modem is not recognised by the operating system: how would he know there is this specific device connected to the UART?

No EEPROM installed, no Cape overlay available.

This can be solved using traditional techniques, if required as the UART I would use is /dev/ttyS4, which is available anyhow.

How I can I explain the operating system that this specific device is installed and listening on /dev/ttyS4/?

If I understand correctly the device is known by the kernel but is expected to connect over USB.

[Tarmo Kuuse]

Hi Gwen,

The operating system does not concern itself with modems other than creating the virtual serial port when you connect it via USB.

To do anything useful you start the relevant application and point it towards your modem. 

E.g. for dial-up you might use pppd, which might work with your BG96 out of the box using the distro-default chatscripts. You must configure pppd first - IIRC then file "/etc/ppp/peers/provider" is the default pppd configuration and a good starting point. File "/etc/chatscripts/gprs" is probably a good choice for a chatscript (which holds the AT commands executed by pppd). The dial-up process is started by command "sudo pon provider".

pppd has a supposedly user-friendly wrapper or helper or something called wvdial - I haven't use this, so I can't advise you.

For a more holistic networking solution you might also want to look at alternatives like connman/ofono, NetworkManager/ModemManager which may or may not have a working driver for your modem. I'm pretty sure ofono does not have a driver for Quectel BG96, but with a bit of luck and hacking you might be able to re-use the driver for Quectel UC15. Still, I'd suggest starting with pppd as it's a simpler, self-contained system.

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Kind regards,

Tarmo Kuuse