Thanks - I will add this dongle to the list.
I read a couple forum posts that talk about a sctript called usb-modeswitch
This package is designed to stop devices from being registered as a different device. Theory being that a modem or dongle shows up to the OS as CD-Rom or somethin (not sure how to check if that is happening to me). This script somehow tells the OS that it is what it is - so to speak