How to build and install Vodafone Mobile Broadband / Wader in Ubuntu Lucid 10.4 LTS

WHAT IS THIS VMB / WADER THING?

Vodafone Mobile Broadband (VMB) is a 3G manager GUI software sponsored by Vodafone company.

Wader is a 3G manager daemon which deals directly with your mobile device.

VMB communicates with Wader via dbus.

Currently VMB/Wader supports "wvdial" and "Network Manager" backends.

Both VMB and Wader are written in python.

We are going to build and install them in a Ubuntu Lucid (10.4 LTS) system.

DOWNLOAD THE SOURCE CODE

VMB and Wader are not part of Ubuntu Lucid official repository, so we are going to build them from their sources.

First we need to install git to clone VMB and Wader repositories:

$ sudo aptitude install git-core
$ git clone https://github.com/andrewbird/wader
$ git clone https://github.com/andrewbird/vodafone-mobile-broadband

INSTALLING BUILDING DEPENDENCIES

We need to install some dependencies prior to building the packages.
$ sudo aptitude install dpkg-dev debhelper
$ sudo aptitude install python-nose python-m2crypto python-setuptools python-tz

BUILDING PYTHON-MESSAGING

Python-messaging is a needed dependency for wader. It provides functionality to deal with SMS messaging.

We download it from source,
$ git clone https://github.com/pmarti/python-messaging
$ cd python-messaging

Install building dependencies:
$ sudo aptitude install cdbs

Build deb packages:
$ make deb

Install python-messaging
$ cd ..
$ sudo dpkg -i python-messaging_0.5.12-1_all.deb

BUILDING WADER PACKAGES

$ cd wader
$ make deb
$ cd ..

Install running dependencies:
$ sudo aptitude install python-epsilon

Wader source code generates two debian packages: python-wader and wader-core

We install python-wader package:
$ sudo dpkg -i python-wader_0.5.10-1_all.deb

Prior to installing wader-core we install some dependencies:
$ sudo aptitude install usb-modeswitch usb-modeswitch-data python-gudev

IMPORTANT: This error will appear:

wader-core depends on usb-modeswitch-data (>= 20100322); however:
  Version of usb-modeswitch-data on system is 20100127-1.

So usb-modeswitch-data package version in Lucid is not suitable for us, let's find another version:

Search for that package in other distro versions:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=usb-modeswitch-data&searchon=names&suite=all§ion=all

When writting this article Maverick one was OK for us:
$ wget de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/u/usb-modeswitch-data/usb-modeswitch-data_20100826-1_all.deb

If not available try with next one: natty, oneiric, etc.

$ sudo dpkg -i usb-modeswitch-data_20100826-1_all.deb

After solving the problem we install wader-core
$ sudo dpkg -i wader-core_0.5.10-1_all.deb

BUILDING VODAFONE MOBILE BROADBAND (VMB)

$ cd vodafone-mobile-broadband/

Install building dependencies:
$ sudo aptitude install python-dev

Creating the package:
$ make deb

Running dependencies and installing VMB deb package:
$ cd ..
$ sudo aptitude install python-dateutil
$ sudo dpkg -i vodafone-mobile-broadband_3.00.00-1_all.deb

RUNNING VMB

In the end, after succesfully installed VMB/Wader, we will be able to run it and connect to Internet via our 3G modem.

From console:
$ vodafone-mobile-broadband

From Desktop Menu:
Applications -> Internet -> Vodafone Mobile Broadband