v620 work with a Mac?

Michael · Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 6:10 pm Post subject:

I will be testing the PCI PCMCIA Adapter in both a HP Desktop (and) a Dual 2.5 G5.

After testing, the results will be at:

EVDO PCI PCMCIA Adapter Page
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jon.m · EVDO Newbie Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 3

Michael · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:25 pm Post subject:

Interestingly....

I spoke with 2 people today, who had to return the Novatel V620 card because the guys at Verizon, said it would work. When they returned it, the Verizon guys told them about THIS thread and that they should keep an eye on it for an update.

I am keeping my fingers crossed, that Apple will have Novatel V620 support in Tiger / Mac OS X 10.4 which is due to be in stores in a few weeks.
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lara · Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 10:20 am Post subject:

anyone heard of the v625?

Lara

lara · Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 10:44 am Post subject:

I have the 5220 and it works fine with my Mac. When I went back to the Verizon store 2 days later I found it on sale and the v620 was available for aprox $50. The gal their said that the V620 is their new card but they will soon be receiving the V625 which will not be compatable with Microsoft Windows. Maybe the V625 is going to be the Mac version of the V620.

So what do I do? I have 10 days out of the 15 days I can return the 5220. What makes the V620 better then the 5220 (just the TXT and a low power usb?). If the V625 is tied to Tiger's release do I wait?

I hope a Mac driver for the V620 or the release of the V625 happens in the next 10 days. - Lara

grace2005 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 30 Mar 2005 Posts: 3

Grace here again ---
I returned the the little bugger to Verizon before my 15 days were up. This was a different store than I had purchased. This salesperson said the 5220 is no longer available. He did spend some time calling around to try & find one but no luck. So we wait....
Thanks Michael. Keep us posted.

Sawdustman · EVDO Newbie Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 1

I returned a V620 yesterday originally accepted because the salesman said it was the same as the 5220 which was no longer available. When returning I was told that they could get a 5220 as they were available in the warehouse. I declined for now. No trust in the information.
Art

Michael · Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:02 am Post subject:

It is unfortunate you got the wrong information, but hey, a "salesman" will say anything to make the "sale". That is too bad.

According to my source, they are still in the warehouse (but limited supply), you can get them through us at https://Booster-Antenna.com/verizon/

The PC 5220 and the AirCard 580 are very similar (almost the same according to our contact at Sierra Wireless). We are in the process of getting one, to do some testing on PowerBooks, you can also follow the directions here to do it yourself:

Software Modifications to get the AirCard 580 to work on a PowerBook

For those that do not want to go through all those techinical steps, after we get the AirCard 580, we will build a simple installer (that does all those steps for you) that you can download from us. If you cannot wait, and want to be the first to try this, you can order the AirCard 580 (with option to return it after 15 days), and if you have your PowerBook accessible with a public IP on the internet, we can remotely log in and apply these changes for you.

Also, with Tiger shipping 4/29/2005, perhaps Apple has some additional compatiblity with EVDO cards.
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dnigrin · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 04 Apr 2005 Posts: 12

Thanks for the link to that other thread and the info at macosxhints. Seems to me that in looking at those two XML files, there's likely to be just two values to change to have the existing driver *potentially* work with the Novatel V620: the Vendor ID, and the Product ID.

When I stick the V620 into a PC, one can look at its "Modem Properties", under the Diagnostics tab, I see:

Field: Hardware ID
Value: USB\Vid_1410&Pid_1110&Rev_0000&Mi_00

Those "Vid" and "Pid" values look suspiciously like Vendor ID and Product ID, no? Only thing I don't know is if they are in hex or decimal, and what format the Mac OS is expecting... either way, one could try both and see...

I Mac-less at the moment (Powerbook is being repaired for a broken hinge), but perhaps someone else could try these mods to the two XML files to see if the V620 can be made to work?

Michael · Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:21 am Post subject:

Here are the results from the file on a Mac:

<key>idProduct</key>
<integer>274</integer>
<key>idVendor</key>
<integer>3901</integer>

What we need to try, is if changing the values to this:

<key>idProduct</key>
<integer>1110</integer>
<key>idVendor</key>
<integer>1410</integer>

Allow the Novatel V620 to work on the Mac. I have a PowerBook 15 inch, but do not have a Novatel V620 card.

Can anyone confirm this gets a Novatel V620 to work on a Mac?

(Can it be this easy??)

Please follow the directions to Rebuild the Kernel extension cache and then restart your mac.
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dnigrin · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 04 Apr 2005 Posts: 12

Right, that would be the change required if the format of the numbers is the same as what the Mac is expecting. If it doesn't work, you might have to futz around with some decimal to hex or hex to decimal conversions, and try those too...

Would be quite funny if this is all it takes! Smile

Andy · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posts: 14

I tried the above mods with my G4PB-10.3.8, and couldn't get it to work. The card still seems to show up as an "unknown vendor".

dnigrin · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 04 Apr 2005 Posts: 12

When you stick the card in on your Mac, could you go to System Profiler and see if there's any info there you could glean? Perhaps we're not using the right numbers... or perhaps the existing driver just won't work with this new card...

Thx...

Andy · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posts: 14

This shows up in the USB Device Tree:

Novatel Wireless Merlin CDMA:

Vendor Name: Novatel Wireless Inc.
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Product ID: 4368 ($1110)
Bus Power (mA): 500

Andy · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posts: 14

And this is in the PCI/AGP Card tab:

TXN,PCI1410-02:

Name: cardbus
Type: cardbus
Bus: PCI
Slot: PC Card
Vendor ID: 0x104c
Device ID: 0xac50
Revision ID: 0x0002