Today betavine have released our beta version of the Linux connection manager. The application is a replacement for the Modem Manager application installed on default Ubuntu 10.04LTS (Lucid). It also works on systems not running Network Manager, using WVDIAL to connect with, so we hope to keep our 'Hard Core Linux' users happy too! This version is several fixes, language improvements, the ambient fetching of pay as you talk data has also been improved for Chile, UK, Holland, South Africa and Italy. This should make it far easier for our users to use 'TopUp' services, and track there credit status. We have also setup a debian repository for Ubuntu Lucid users, again making installation very simple. For downloading the debian packages our users can go directly to the forge here. There are 4 packages needed for it to run: bcm_2.99.10-1_all.deb python-messaging_0.5-1_all.deb sb-modeswitch-data_20100322-2betavine3_all.deb wader-core_0.5.3_all.deb If you install this way your package manager will alert you to pre-requisites needed, or you could use synaptic to do the hard work! ;-) For people who want the easy life just run the following command which will also update your package management system to get the latest and greatest packages from our repository. sh -c 'wget http://www.betavine.net/repository/bcm_lucid_install.sh -O /tmp/bcm.sh && /usr/bin/xterm -e sudo sh /tmp/bcm.sh' Known Bugs ------------------------------ During testing we have identified some problems when users go through an upgrade route rather than fresh install. We have yet to get to the bottom of this, but it seems to be a profile problem on where Network connections are setup on gconf. We also know that using a Netbook or Notebook with an internal card AND a USB modem can cause problems. We would love to here from users who have noticed this - and help in fixing! As usual, betavine test with more modems than anyone we know on Linux but not them all!!! If you find issues please please let us know, or if you identified issues and know how to fix get involved on the wiki! Betavine needs community help in our effort take have great modem support..... :-) So get busy on our modem section. It's looking rather bare!!! Kind regards, Nicholas

A world first for betavine For betavine's mobile broadband connection manager 2010 has been a game changer. We finally got a chance to raise our heads and take some strategic decisions on where we point our efforts. We have taken a lot of feedback from users in forums/blogs etc.... We have also taken stock on our download statistic. From that respect it seems Africa and Italy are our best customers and see heavy growth in that area - while emerging markets seem to be providing us with more download counts, on the Linux front Ubuntu are the runaway distro success for mobile broadband at the minute. Our version 3 of the connection manager has integrated PAYT Topup. But more that this we took a look at our proprietary software to see how we can improve on this. Our Windows counterpart treats 'top-up' as an activity the user undertakes as opposed to a service that should be provided. The interface has evolved with a default view showing things you do on the left, and what your connected to on the top. You will notice on Windows that your 'check balance', topup' and 'my account' are all activity based. However our first thoughts were this would be good to have pre-fetched, in other words the software should be clever enough to realize 'hey I'm PAYT I need to know this info'. When a user decides to view what his current credit is and when it was checked, a request for top up etc... It should all be under one roof. Like your print dialogue for Word, everything you do concerning 'print' is in one place right? We also noticed things like signal strength were miss-leading the signal indicator is shown next to a connect button, while a nice png image also indicates what looks like signal strength. The UI also shows a lot of empty space, while the Vodafone logo is bottom right, we thought that deserved to be in top left position. Once our Windows guy does select to view his credit it's displayed once then lost! We thought the application should place nice and display this with a date on when it was checked. Once the user does decide he wants to top up he is presented with a voucher code dialogue box and a scrolling time out. Our thoughts were to integrate this process into the same 'topup' dialogue. Why not minimize context switching for our user, let the user learn via sequential memory rather than semantic memory. How many people can remember the 8th line of Holiday by Madonna - well you can if you sing the first 7 right! :-) .... How many people can remember something with semantic memory - much harder! First Stab Our first mock up had voucher topup and credit card top up at the bottom. At the top was your number and current stats, or at least what your stats were with a data stamp. Choosing to check again was center of the dialogue, whilst relevant info at the top. This also gave us a chance to come up with some nice 'top up' concepts four our icons. Our polished icon set was heading towards a type of 'petrol' topup sign. We felt this would be the most familiar way to indicate this type of function. Our topup dialogue once complete did seem to deliver what it says on the tin. A place that lets you do all things for your account. It moves the application towards the idea of an ambient service. When the user clicks topup the app does all the background work, and displays it all in one place up front. You don't go clicking all over the place. The prototype is due to go on alpha release next week. Currently we only support this service for the UK network. The plan is to roll out to a further 3 Vodafone networks in the coming months if feedback is positive and our integration work with Ubuntu 10 goes well. We feel that the design has now improved so much that it now surpasses the proprietary UI. With the inclusion of the new integrated wiki on betavine, topup services, gudev work on the core and test and support for the new modems the application is now the best and most integrated Linux modem manager in the market. betavine hope to continually improve the application to include an improved messaging app, integration with other email clients and even anonymous logging to help Vodafone improve coverage in areas where signal strength is low. Have a sneak look at our video of the app. Kind regards, Nicholas.

Over the past year Linux OS distributions have been going through rapid changes in how network connectivity has been managed. This in part is due to the boom Linux seen in Netbooks. All of a sudden it became important to get connected with Linux. In general much of my effort has been to help out in this area. Unfortunately we have seen a number of problems crop up however due to how successful open source software has become. Open Source normally works like a meritocracy - best software wins! Unlike proprietary software where a dominant player can block other potentially innovative solutions. But in this instance, a change made for a perfectly good and technical reason effected all users of the betavine mobile connect software running on the Ubuntu Linux distribution. In simple terms, applications requiring network connectivity would query a Network Manager about the network state. This would make it easy and lightweight for an app to discover connectivity. On Ubunutu this was a design decision made by the cool Network Manager team. The downside however was that even if the betavine software successfully creates a data connection with a 3G USB modem - the rest of the applications running on a Ubunutu Linux OS would be unaware of that connection. From a user perspective it's a failed app, a failed connection and an un-happy user. The OS community have since implemented a Modem Manager API. Which we are helping with and built our app to that 'modem manager' interface. But the issue has never been far from my mind.... I was alerted by a friend from Warp about a potential solution by Alexander Sack called Ntrack . He has written a small lightweight and easy to use library for application developers which reports on network connectivity by looking for changes to the network route reported by the OS. Brilliant idea! Meaning that app's can easily find out network connectivity state. Leaving the job of connecting to what ever app is delivering that service to you - be it Network Manager or even a specific proprietary solution. I have to say we at betavine have started experimenting with the application. If it's adopted by the community it would play a perfect role in allowing a far more open and free playing field for native applications written by third parties to provide that type of service. In my mind that's what open source is all about - giving choice back to the user. Regards, Nicholas Herriot.