It has a M2 B mount. It fits the corresponding mount on the Pocket Reform, located behind the screen.
First I will need to find a screw that fits well and locks it in place.
Then I wonder about the antennas. On other models of modems that I have installed (mostly on Thinkpads), there usually are antennas pre-installed into the laptop case that can be plugged into the modem.
I can’t find any in the Pocket Reform.
Am I missing something or should I get some additional antennas ?
the “FCC lock” situation does not apply to MNT Pocket Reform as there is no such vendor locking in place, you can use any modem card you please as long as its compatible.
You have the EM06-E so I presume you are in a European country?
Do you have a SIM card inserted from an operator that supports data?
Do you have an LTE antenna connected to the “M” antenna connector? The antenna needs to be either stuck to the non-copper part of the inside of the back plate (the signals would be shielded by the copper region) or led outside via a pigtail etc (only if you know what you’re doing).
In ModemManager GUI (apt install modem-manager-gui), do you see any networks when scanning? Do you see useful information under the “Info” tab?
I just set up the EM06-E again on my relatively fresh Pocket Reform install with A311D processor. I used “Edit Connections…” in the tray menu of the network manager applet and selected Create New → Mobile Broadband Connection, and then selected Germany, Congstar and entered my PIN in the connection edit window that appears at the end:
The ones I got get bad reception if placed inside the Pocket Reform (outside the copper area, anywhere inside).
For the moment I placed mine outside, on top of the screen. It gets a good signal. But it looks very suspicious. I’d rather have it inside.
I don’t have a perfect solution yet. I’ve been trying a bunch of different ones. The one that Khadas bundles with EM06 was quite good. At the moment I’m using a Quectel one that’s not so good. I think I’m gonna use an SMA pigtail with an extra hole in the left port cover and external antenna when I find the time.
According to Quectel and a german shop, this module is EOL and thus hard to get.
The newer replacement is EM060K according to the shop. Was this module tested already? I just tested an EM120R, which did not work.
I’ve ordered an EM05-E with a couple of PCB antennas. Once it arrives I’ll update here whether it works or not. The measurements I took indicate it should fit physically & data online suggests it should work just fine under Linux. This is a 4G/LTE modem rather than 5G - that’s all I need really for reading email by the beach
Presumably this is mostly a driver issue, and as far as I can tell there has been a Linux driver for the K in the kernel for a couple of years. I may take a chance on one of these cards on AliExpress and see how I get on.
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 2c7c:030b Quectel Wireless Solutions Co., Ltd. EM060K-EA
I see this in the output from dmesg
[ 15.271925] usb 1-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 6 using xhci-hcd
[ 15.377028] usb 1-1.4: config 1 has an invalid interface number: 8 but max is 6
[ 15.377048] usb 1-1.4: config 1 has an invalid interface number: 9 but max is 6
[ 15.377052] usb 1-1.4: config 1 has an invalid interface number: 9 but max is 6
[ 15.377056] usb 1-1.4: config 1 has an invalid interface number: 12 but max is 6
[ 15.377061] usb 1-1.4: config 1 has no interface number 4
[ 15.377064] usb 1-1.4: config 1 has no interface number 5
[ 15.377102] usb 1-1.4: config 1 has no interface number 6
[ 15.377907] usb 1-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=2c7c, idProduct=030b, bcdDevice= 5.04
[ 15.377954] usb 1-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 15.377960] usb 1-1.4: Product: EM060K-EA
[ 15.377964] usb 1-1.4: Manufacturer: Quectel
[ 15.377967] usb 1-1.4: SerialNumber: 1341fbf1
[ 15.425777] imx-dwmac 30bf0000.ethernet end1: Register MEM_TYPE_PAGE_POOL RxQ-0
[ 15.498127] imx-dwmac 30bf0000.ethernet end1: PHY [stmmac-1:07] driver [Micrel KSZ9031 Gigabit PHY] (irq=105)
[ 15.506717] imx-dwmac 30bf0000.ethernet end1: No Safety Features support found
[ 15.506753] imx-dwmac 30bf0000.ethernet end1: IEEE 1588-2008 Advanced Timestamp supported
[ 15.507113] imx-dwmac 30bf0000.ethernet end1: registered PTP clock
[ 15.507610] imx-dwmac 30bf0000.ethernet end1: FPE workqueue start
[ 15.507631] imx-dwmac 30bf0000.ethernet end1: configuring for phy/rgmii-id link mode
[ 15.541996] option 1-1.4:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 15.542374] usb 1-1.4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[ 15.542712] option 1-1.4:1.1: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 15.543054] usb 1-1.4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[ 15.543428] option 1-1.4:1.2: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 15.544001] usb 1-1.4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
[ 15.544439] option 1-1.4:1.3: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
[ 15.544790] usb 1-1.4: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB3
[ 16.093462] cdc_mbim 1-1.4:1.8: setting rx_max = 16384
[ 16.094000] cdc_mbim 1-1.4:1.8: cdc-wdm0: USB WDM device
[ 16.094834] cdc_mbim 1-1.4:1.8 wwan0: register 'cdc_mbim' at usb-xhci-hcd.0.auto-1.4, CDC MBIM, a2:c5:62:30:c1:08
[ 16.236547] cdc_mbim 1-1.4:1.8 wwu1u4i8: renamed from wwan0
So, we have a modem. However, running modem-manager-gui, I don’t see any devices…
I needed to add my user to the dialout group, of course…
usermod -a -G dialout [username]
And now, the device is visible in modem-manager-gui
Thanks to everyone for contributing their notes in this thread! I was able to easily get my EM06-A cell modem installed and working with Mint Mobile. I experimented with antenna placement both inside and outside the case, and I wound up sticking the antenna to the right edge of the display bezel and routing the coax wire to the inside of the case through a gap in the right hinge. The antenna I got from crowdsupply is black like my Pocket so it blends in a bit and doesn’t look too bad. Adds to the “hacker aesthetic” of it I guess. From there I just installed modem-manager-gui and added my user to the dialout group as mentioned above. Rebooted, then set up the new connection and was online in minutes. Very much worth the effort, IMO. It adds another dimension of usefulness to the Pocket
Future mod ideas: Drill out and install an SMA antenna mount somewhere on the case, and use a vertical whip antenna. Could possibly add mounts to both sides of the case for LTE and wifi antennas…
Yes, I thought about using some of the space on the left side bezel (the side where the standby switch is). I added an external antenna on a ClockworkPi as a similar mod. Also I’m curious about routing the I2C port over to a side of the case as well, for experimentation and access.
