well, that is what the email said. I finally had to go and order cable. And why is that? Because this morning I wokeup, bootedup and attempted to dialup No diallyuppy. Something I did last night changed permissions on the dang ttyS0 and friends again. Like it was when I did this install and went crazy for days trying to get user the modem. The file modify date was last night. But all I did last night was uninstall and reinstall wine (which didn't work, wine still crashes out). I don't know what changed ttyS*. But apparently modems are such a humongous security risk that meer mortals aren't allowed access to them. Not through ttyS* anyhow. Even though root was also forbidden it somehow worked for root (must be a secret how root does that). So, I ordered cable. At least I will be able to google for answers to the crappola faster.