The Sharp-Zaurus C3000 is a cool peace of hardware. I always dreamt about having a capable LINUX box with me at all times. Well, the C-3000 could just be it. More info about the SL-C3000.

After having the wireless 802.11b connecting working (it was plug-and-play with an AMBICOM WL-1100C from Circuit City), I wanted my AUDIOVOX RTM-8000 GPRS card to work as well. After all, what good is a box like the C3000 if you can't go online (almost) anywhere? I purchased connectivity from T-Mobile (Flat-GPRS), approx. US$ 30/month. It took me some time and work, to convince the techi@t-mobile support to move me to the transpartent 'internet3.voicestream.com' APN as the 'internet2.voicestream.com' will not give you a public IP-number.

The modem worked well in my SL-5500 Zaurus (after replacing serial_cs.o) but it didn't work in the C3000. You need an appropriate serial_cs module. Since that module is compiled into the kernel, I had to get the kernel sources and patch a module.

It might also work, if one would only provide a serial_cs.o module. But why not do it the 'right' way? Be aware, just providing a serial_cs.c from a newer > 2.4.21 Linux vanilla kernel will work, but it will lead to complete crashes as there have been some modifications made to serial_cs by Sharp.

WARNING: This might trash your C3000 beyond repair. Do this on your own risk. Don't come to me if you modify your C3000 into an expensive paper-weigth. You have been warned. You should also think about saving all your data on your Z as this might completely erase everything. Don't complain.

This is how you update your kernel (you'll find the files at the end of this page)

Put your Z on the charger (it will not work otherwise)

Put zImage and updater.sh on an empty CF-card. There should be no other files on the card

Open your C's Terminal, become root (su -) and type reboot.

Press and hold the OK button during the complete re-booting process.

The following menus are most likely in Japanese. From the service menue, select option 4 (four). Select CF and acknowledge the upcoming warning by moving to the left button and press OK.

The new kernel will now be transferred on to your system. If the Z asks you to reset, disconnect the charger, open the battery compartment and remove the battery. Wait 10 seconds or so, put the battery back in, close the compartment and slide the little switch back to lock.

Turn you Z on and let it boot.

Replace /etc/pcmcia/serial with the 'serial' provided in the zip-file below. It took me 3 days to find that out :)

From there on, you can configure and use you modem. See the ZaurusUserGroup for a detailed description on how to configure the AUDIOVOX GPRS modem.

Files: c3000-serial.zip contains the new kernel, the updater.sh script and the serial replacement you need.