There is still an unresolved bug in the linux kernel that lets for some users vanish the #bm818 modem of the #librem5 from the internal usb bus.
https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/linux/-/issues/303
Problem is that it sometimes doesn't re-appear by itself and if one doesn't notice (the icon in the top bar of phosh changes and shows no connection) the phone is not booked in and doesn't receive calls, sms and isn't connected to the internet.
I adopted some of the solutions mentioned in the issue, added the service and scripts to bm818-tools in https://source.puri.sm/ChriChri/bm818-tools/-/tree/watchmodem-next#watchmodem and now there is a package L5 users can install.
You can find it in the pipelines of my repo.
Feedback is very welcome!
@janvlug@mastodon.social There are only Librem5 with bm818 around. The other modem is not available as far as I understood. There is said to be one phone in the hands of a developer that has a built in Gemalto PLS8 as originally announced as an option to the bm818.
If I understood correctly a big problem with the Gemalto modem is that one could make it completely unusable inside the Librem5 by issuing a certain AT-command switching the data connection to something that is not connected inside the Librem5.
Would be a big support problem for Purism.
Anyway I'd prefer to get a Gemalto modem, but it seems the option is not available anymore.
Your Librem5 contains a bm818 :).
@me Thanks for this tip! I will try this later. I loose the modem quite often especially abroad. I'm in France now and loose the modem often. It happened in Belgium and Germany as well, but nearly never in the Netherlands where I live. Maybe the bug is related to roaming?
Some people suspect it being somehow related to signal strength which would fit with your observation: the signal strength probably changes more often when on the road.
I didn't find any pattern, yet, when the modem does vanish.
@me Yesterday I installed your script. I'm still in France where I kept losing the connection. Yesterday nearly all the time I saw the modem on. So I confirm the script is a good workaround. This is so great, because especially abroad I need to look up things on my phone more often and losing the modem was really inconvenient. Today, I go back with the Thalys to NL and will observe the modem behavior. When going to France I very often lost the modem in the Thalys.
@me How can you determine your modem model on the #Librem5