Installing ZTE ZXDSL 852 Modem Driver on Ubuntu Linux 8.04
12:58 AM - Posted by SanJ Wijeratne - 16 comments

I bought an ADSL Broadband Home Express package from SLT few days back for my personal use and I wanted it to be installed on Ubuntu Linux. At the time of purchasing, I forgot to specifically mention that I'm planning to use it on Ubuntu. After having a nice chat with the demonstrator provided to me to clarify the matters I had on choosing the right modem that suits me from a range of products, I chose to go with a ZTE ZXDSL 852 modem. After coming home and failing to find the drivers for Ubuntu Linux on the driver CD came with ZTE ZXDSL 852, I was able to contact a technical assistant from SLT over the phone to ask that "dumb question" I forgot to ask at the purchasing time, "Does this run on Ubuntu Linux?". I got the answer that suprized me the most when she replied me back with "Sorry Sir, Currently we don't support any Linux variants", with her sweet voice. But It was not the end of my dream of a high speed Internet connection, thanks to Adrian Lubic, who is the founder of UbuDSL driver for ZTE ZXDSL 852 on Ubuntu. I know some of my friends who bought ADSL connections from SLT with 4-port routers to be used with Linux variants, just because they knew the fact that SLT doesn't provide drivers for ZTE modems, but you don't need to spend additional bucks on routers as UbuDSL does exactly what you were looking for (i.e. Provides an Interface to use ZTE ZXDSL 852 modems with Ubuntu Linux).

Installing UbuDSL is pretty simple. First you have to download the latest stable version of UbuDSL from SourceForge. You need to unpack the deb package and it will install UbuDSL to your Ubuntu box. Then you need to follow the following steps to configure your ZTE ZXDSL 852 modem with UbuDSL.
  1. Go to System > Administration and Open the UbuDSL Configuration panel
  2. Then simply follow the instruction appears on your screen. For your simplicity, it is described below.
  3. First, you need to unplug your ADSL modem, if it is already connected. Then click the next button at the bottom of the configuration window.
  4. Then a second configuration screen will appear where you need to insert the username and password provided by your service provider (i.e. SLT). Then select Sri Lanka from the country drop down box which will automatically sets the service drop down box to SLT. Set the combo boxes given according to your preferences. I chose "OpenDNS" and "Strat Connection while user plugs the modem" check boxes.
  5. In the next screen, you will be asked to plug your modem and after that, install your Ubuntu CD to install the additional packages it needs. If the configuration window takes a lot of time to goes to the next step after you inserting the Ubuntu CD, you might have to manually install the required packages from the Ubuntu CD. This happens due to absence of additional packages that UbuDSL is looking for at the configuration time. If it is the problem with you, its worth checking this link out because it carries all the information that is required for a newbie like me to install the additional packages manually. After installing the additional packages manually, you need to again start from the step 1 to configure your modem. Others can proceed to fourth configuration screen where it asks you to reboot your system.
  6. Now reboot the system and try to connect to the Internet using UbuDSL Applet. You can find it in Application > Internet. Hurrah... You just configured your ADSL connection correctly. Now enjoy surfing!!! ;-)
  7. If you still have connection problems, please make sure that the /etc/modprobe.d/options file is configured correctly. You can open that file using the command "gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/options". Locate the line starts with "options unicorn_usb_eth" and make sure it has something similar to "PROTOCOL=pppoe ENCAPS=lllc-encaps". Now you can reboot the system and start surfing!!! :-D
Bookmark and Share


This entry was posted on 12:58 AM and is filed under , , , , , , , , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

16 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Hi friend thanx.
    IM do that it work in kubuntu.butmy modem was not responding with ubuntu 8.04
    be so good as to help me
    rusirumalik@gmail.com

  1. ... on October 2, 2008 at 5:37 PM  
    2. SanJ Wijeratne said...

    Well, I'm very sorry to say that I'm not yet in a position to help you as I'm not very clear on what you have mentioned in your reply. According to my understanding, you have configured your modem correctly on KUBUNTU but you have failed to do it on UBUNTU 8.04. Is that so??? If so, can you please tell me in which step you went wrong, so that I can help you.

  2. ... on October 2, 2008 at 7:24 PM  
    3. Hansa Sadeesha Lokuwaduge said...

    macha thank you very very much ela thnx dear!!!

  3. ... on October 19, 2008 at 7:10 AM  
    4. Ziyan Junaideen said...

    I am going to shift to Fedora 9 at the moment and heard that it doesn't recognize ZTE modem.

    Will this note of yours do the magic for Fedora 9 as well?

  4. ... on October 24, 2008 at 6:40 PM  
    5. SanJ Wijeratne said...

    Well, according to the author of UbuDSL, it only supports OpenSUSE 11.0 and Ubuntu 8.04. http://www.ubudsl.com/en/start.php But you can give it a try, to convert the deb package given in the UbuDSL site to a rpm using alien. I haven't tried it since I'm on Ubuntu but you can try it as described here
    Good Luck!!!

  5. ... on October 25, 2008 at 8:15 PM  
    6. Anonymous said...

    can you send me vista driver for ZXDSL 852; please or an URL

    perfectmomtaz@hotmail.co
    hamidpower@gmail.com

  6. ... on November 7, 2008 at 4:09 AM  
    7. SanJ Wijeratne said...

    Check this post for Vista Drivers for ZTE ZXDSL 852.

  7. ... on November 13, 2008 at 4:38 AM  
    8. Unknown said...

    i want format my computer and i havant slt installing zte zxdsl852 CD.plz tell me how i install mordam

  8. ... on May 19, 2009 at 10:03 PM  
    9. SanJ Wijeratne said...

    @ Yamuna

    You can download the drivers you need to set up your Internet connection using ZTE ZXDSL 852 modem from here. After downloading the drivers you need, just run the setup.exe file found there. Happy Surfing!!! ;-)

  9. ... on May 19, 2009 at 10:13 PM  
    10. Anonymous said...

    Hey...mate..can anybody tell me that is it possible to use this zxdsl 852 modem with ubuntu when someone booting the machine as ubuntu live..(tht means..no hard disk at all)..

  10. ... on July 11, 2009 at 5:33 AM  
    11. Unknown said...

    hey please post a link to a windows 7 driver for zte zxdsl 852 modem pleaseeeeee :(

  11. ... on October 31, 2009 at 6:17 AM  
    12. Unknown said...

    hi frdz

    i'm also having ZTE ZXDSL 852 modem and installed Kubuntu to my lap. so can u guys ple kindly send me that link which having drivers.

    malintham@gmail.com

    tnx
    Malintha Mendis

  12. ... on February 2, 2010 at 11:12 AM  
    13. Damith Senanayake said...

    Ugh... I had some trouble trying to install this UbuDsl thingy... what I got was a tar archive and not a debian installation package.. any suggestions???

  13. ... on March 24, 2010 at 10:58 AM  
    14. anush said...

    do this support to SLED 11 (SUSE)?

  14. ... on November 14, 2010 at 8:03 PM  
    15. anush said...

    hey does this support SLED 11 (SUSE)

  15. ... on November 14, 2010 at 8:04 PM  
    16. Roses said...

    Can someone find me the drivers for this please??

    THank you
    Roshan

  16. ... on August 4, 2011 at 10:03 PM  
Post a Comment