Mode switching tool for controlling “flip flop” USB devices

Several new USB devices have their proprietary Windows drivers onboard, especially WAN dongles. When plugged in for the first time, they act like a flash storage and start installing the driver from there. If the driver is already installed, the storage device vanishes and a new device, such as an USB modem, shows up. This is called the “ZeroCD” feature.

On Linux, this is usually not needed, since the driver is included as a Linux kernel module, such as “usbserial”. However, the device still shows up as “usb-storage” by default. usb-modeswitch solves that issue by sending the command which actually performs the switching of the device from “usb-storage” to “usbserial”.

Forum member MidnightCowboy had problems with this one.

Forum member anlem reports:
I have used Huawei E220 in Bodhi without any problems. Most of the time it's connected to my home wlan-router, but when I'm away from home I just plug it in my netbook. If you have problems with 3G modems I suggest you check if you have “usb-modeswitch” and “modemmanager” packages installed. I have noticed my E220 won't work without them. After you have installed those packages reboot and then click nm-applet icon. New Mobile broadband connection option should be visible there now.

Forum member ChipDoc had no problems whatsoever with this one. It was auto-magically detected and installed after asking only two questions - my country (USA) and my provider (Verizon)