Please help with Modem love Knoppix but about to give up :(

[SilentJ]

Hello. :)
I first want to say I really love Knoppix, I REALLY want to become an EX windows user but it seems as hard as I try I keep getting stuck useing windows. At the moment I do not have a high speed connection so I am forsed to use my stupid dialup modem. I have a BenQ Joybok 2100 it is a very nice laptop but I can\t get anywhere with Knoppix :(

I would REALLY REALLY REALLY love to ditch Windows once and for all. If anyone can offer any advice I would greatly appriciate it.

Also, I know all of you are going to tell me to buy a REAL modem, and to save you all some time i already bought 2. I bought a serial Modem, US robotics which works wonderfully, without a hitch, the only problem is I don't have a Serial connection on this laptop. So, what I did was went out and bought a Serial to USB connector, which of course dosen't have Linux Drivers, so it dosen't work. Then I went out and bought a USB external modem, again it dosen't work, ALSO, even if It did work I am almost a complete Noobie so I really have no idea how to check my USB devices on Linux. I am so used to Windows automatically installing the files, or at least giving me a pop up or something to tell me I need drivers, with linux I don't even get a notice to tell me if it is working or not :( Anyhow, if anyone could help I would greatly appriciate it.

Thanks alot!!

SilentJ

[rusty]

Hmm, this sounds familiar,


Then I went out and bought a USB external modem

Check out this thread: http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21153&highlight= and then post back what brand external usb modem you have and whether it is a software modem or a controller based one and what chipse it has. We may be able to help.

[Harry Kuhman]

I bought a serial Modem, US robotics which works wonderfully, without a hitch, the only problem is I don't have a Serial connection on this laptop. So, what I did was went out and bought a Serial to USB connector, which of course dosen't have Linux Drivers, so it dosen't work. Then I went out and bought a USB external modem, again it dosen't work....
Yea, you sure have painted yourself in a corner with a notebook without a serial port.

My first thought is do you really want to use a dial-up modem? I haven't used mine in a couple of years, and only then on a few day trip. If a high speed connection is available to you you might find that the best solution if it is affordable.

The other alternative that I can think of may take some research, but there are routers that can connect to your modem through a com port on the router and dial-up your ISP for you. These may advertise the serial modem support as a fall back support for when the high speed connection goes out, or they may just admit being a dial-up router (I would actually suggest going for a high speed router with dial-up fallback, then you would be ready when a high speed connection does become available, and it may well be less expensive than the less common dial-up router). Of course, if you have no high speed service the router should figure out that high speed is "down" and use the dial-up fallback. With such a router you would connect to the router through the ethernet connecton in your notebook and the router would take care of operating the modem.

Multi-tech and SMC both make routers that do this, there certainly may be others as well.
http://multitech.com/PRODUCTS/Families/RouteFinder_SOHO/
http://smc.com/index.cfm?event=viewProduct&localeCode=EN_USA&cid=1&scid=&pid=858

[tdjokic]

http://www.smlink.com/content.aspx?id=132

[SilentJ]

The external I bought was a creative Blaster Modem, Also I bought a ZOOM something or other which didnt work so I brought them back, I still have this US Robotics that I paid over 100 bucks for, If I could find any way to get the USB to Serial connector working that would be great, since I paid for it I would like to use it. Umm.. The lappy I bought I couldn't pass up because I got a great deal on it, so I wasn't so concerned that it didn't have a Serial port at the time. Also, I live in the middle of the Dessert in Saudi Arabia, and am probibly the only person within 2,000 miles who even knows what linux is let alone uses it. And needless to say they don't have DSL around here yet. Anyone know how I can get this USB to Serial connecter working so I can use this really expencive piece of 56K crap.

Thank you :)


Also, How do I find out if my USB device is even working?

Silent J

[rusty]

Also, How do I find out if my USB device is even working?

Open a shell and type:


lsusb

which should show you connected devices, post the output back ( with your usb-serial adapter plugged up to your modem, and your modem powered up). Or, from the desktop k-> system->control center and look at the usb devices.

Are you using this setup under wimpdows with success? Did you have to install drivers for the connector for it to work with ms?

[tdjokic]

"RS-232 Serial to USB adapter
Connect your serial devices to your USB port."

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/usb_serial.htm "Even Linux Drivers are available." : http://www.ramelectronics.net/download/BF-810/Linux/ : ld_pl2303_v0213.zip.tgz

[CrashedAgain]

Does the laptop have a built-in winmodem? If so, you *might* be able to get it to work. Kanotix has ltmodem winmodem driver built in so try kanotix instead of knoppix. (Kanotix is a Knoppix spinoff very similar to Knoppix but better optimised for hard drive installation).
The command to try to configure a winmodem in Kanotix is "detect-ltmodem.sh".

[bigkahuna]

Hi SilentJ,

I had almost the same situation as you (Linux newbie, notebook computer, built-in winmodem, dialup only) and what I found is this: bottom line is if you are a Linux newbie (ie. don't want to spend lots of time doing homework and/or compiling drivers) you've got to have either a serial modem or high-speed connection. Which way you go won't be easy because you don't have a serial port, so as someone else suggested, a high speed connection (through a router) might be the most cost effective way to go for you. Besides a serial <=> usb adapter, you might also try a PC Card (PCMCIA) serial adapter. But you may still have problems with drivers and it's going to cost you a bit more $$ to get the additional hardware. USB modems are almost always "winmodems", so that probably won't work. Heck, it might actually be cheaper to buy a used, older computer with a serial port and a cheap external modem (I got one new on eBay for under $10). No easy/cheap solutions I'm afraid.

But the good news is once you're able to connect to the internet your Linux box will really start to "shine". I've really started to enjoy Linux now that I'm "connected".