usb_modeswitch did once upon a time check that a driver bound to the dongles interface(s) and if not then it did a modeprobe of the option serial driver. If it still didn't get option to bind then it added the dongles usb id to option's new_id and if the driver bound then it asked the user to report the usb id to usb kernel developers so that it could be properly added to the driver.
There were too often conflicts between usb_modeswitch's driver loading and the kernels driver loading so it was decided after discussions with among others one of the modemmanager's developers to completely remove from usb_modeswitch any check for driver binding and forcing of driver binding. In short: usb_modeswitch is a userland switching utility which should leave the task of loading drivers to the kernel and not interfere with that. The driver checking/loading function was removed almost 3 years ago: "Version 2.4.0, 2016/06/12 ATTENTION: All ad-hoc driver binding code (using new_id driver attribute) removed - was a potential source of side effects and should now be obsoleted by good kernel support for modems" It seems that canonical doesn't agree and has re-introduced the driver checking/loading in their own implementation of later usb_modeswitch version..... Regarding switching of E3531 with usb id 12d1:1f01 I can say that it is done with the linux switch message given by Huawei. They intend this device to become 12d1:14dc with a direct ethernet interface and no serial interfaces. Huawei has different switch messages for Windows, Mac, linux, and since a few years back also for Android. Early Huawei Android builds did only have support for ppp serial dial-up so the Android switch message brought up serial interfaces instead of net interfaces. usb_modeswitch is also used in Android and has the Android switch message included from version 2.5.1. usb_modeswitch can globally use the Android message by setting "HuaweiAltModeGlobal" in usb_modeswitch.conf or individually per modem by setting "HuaweiAltMode" in the modem config file. usb_modeswitch will continue to use the linux switch message for all Huawei modems, it is up to the end user to either select the right modem for his requirement (which often is serial ports for SMS operation) or to drop a new modem config file into /etc/usb_modeswitch.d which will override the one provided in /usr/share/usb_modeswitch. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1819362 Title: HUAWEI E3531 HSPA+ USB Stick "please report the device ID to the Linux USB developers" To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1819362/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs