[hylafax-users] MT9234ZBA-USB and Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid)

[Jim Nikelski <jnikelski@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi List,

   I'm trying to set up a fax server on a Ubuntu 10.04 machine running
the stock 2.6.32-25-generic kernel, and have run into driver issues
with my MT9234ZBA-USB fax modem.  I've done a fair amount of
debugging, and here is what I've found ...

(1) the default Lucid kernel (2.6.32) *has* support for the
ti_usb_3410_5052 driver [good]

(2) the default ti_usb_3410_5052 driver, while it *will* support a
number of MTS devices which use the Texas Instruments 3410 chipset, it
has not been patched to support the MT9234ZBA-USB device (i.e., my
faxmodem) -- [bad]

(3) as a result of (2), udev will *not* autoload the  ti_usb_3410_5052
driver, since the required modalias is missing. [bad]

(4) loading the driver manually still will not fix the problem,
because the stock driver itself does not have any device-specific code to
handle the MT9234ZBA-USB [bad]

(5) Sooooo .... the only way out of this would be to apply the driver
patches supplied with the MT9234ZBA-USB, and rebuild the kernel [bad,
and uncomfortable]

(6) sadly, the patches included with the MT9234ZBA-USB were created in
2008, and are out-of-date (i.e. poorly written udev rules, use of the
old (no longer used) hotplug system, etc) [bad]

(7) an attempt to merge the MTS patches with the current driver source
results in patch errors.  Manually merging somebody else's old driver
patches is beyond my pay-grade, so the kernel module cannot be
rebuilt. [bad]

    Has anyone on this list had a more positive response with this
modem on Ubuntu 10.04? I suppose that as the world moves away from
serial ports, an increasing number of modems are going to be USB ...
so Linux distros are going to need to cope with these devices (and
manufacturers are going to have to supply current drivers -- those
from MTS are from 2008, and may not reflect the latest developments in
udev (under Linux)). Help? Suggestions?

Sincerely

-jim


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