In short … Yes.

It turned out to be incredibly simple to tether a Nokia 5800 to Ubuntu 10.04

1. Make sure Modem Manager is installed (sudo apt-get install modemmanager)
2. Connect the phone via USB to the PC.
3. Set the Nokia to “PC Suite” mode.
4. Left click on the Network Manager icon and choose “New Mobile Broadband Connection”.
5. I then chose the recommended values in the wizard.
6. Success. I can now choose the “Virgin” entry and I’m online via 3G.

Yet another example of how simple computing with Linux, especially Ubuntu, has become. In fact this post was written and published via the 3G connection as a “proof of concept” use.

As a side note I also recently wiped my netbook clean, I had it dual booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10, to being an Ubuntu only install, I usually wait until the Beta is released before upgrading but I wanted to experience firsthand the re-branding everyone has been talking about on the Planets. I have to say I love it. Fresh. Clean. Professional. It’s certainly come a long way since Breezy.

Update: Added a step to ensure Modem Manager is installed courtesy of info provided by Ralf Hildebrandt below.

Initially there were a couple of quirks about the Apple keyboard under Ubuntu. I’ve only used this under Interpid and Jaunty. I believe that there are some basic issues with this keyboard in Hardy due to the version of the kernel it’s running.

Let’s begin. Firstly the keyboard function keys only worked when the Fn key is pressed. Ideally I’d rather press the Fn key to access the extra function like Brightness, Volume, etc. The solution is really simple. Add the following line to /etc/modprobe.d/apple_kbd.conf.

Intrepid:

options hid pb_fnmode=2

Jaunty:

options hid_apple fnmode=2

Now run the following command to make this change persist across reboots.

sudo update-initramfs -k `uname -r` -u

Reboot to take effect.

The second problem was a little more confusing. Basically the Apple keyboard doesn’t appear have a # key!

Hint: It does, it’s just not printed on the key.

I initially installed Ubuntu with the United Kingdom keyboard. So the following are the steps I followed to allow me to overcome this issue …

1. Select System > Preferences > Keyboard
2. Go to the Layouts tab
3. Click Add…
4. Under the By country tab I chose Country: United Kingdom and Variant: United Kingdom Macintosh
5. Click Layout Options…
6. Under Miscellaneous compatibility options, select both Default numeric keypad keys and Numeric keypad keys work as with Mac
7. I then removed the old United Kingdom keyboard layout.

Now with the new United Kingdom Macintosh layout enabled you can get a # symbol by pressing Right-Alt + 3. You can now also get the € symbol by pressing Right-Alt + 2

That’s it.

I’ve moved the details of this post to a seperate page which I’ll keep updated for each version of Ubuntu.

Currently supported versions

• Intrepid Ibex (8.10)
• Jaunty Jackalope (9.04)

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Moved …

I’ve moved the details of this post to a seperate page which I’ll try keep updated for each new version of PHPMyAdmin.

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