advice on modem drivers knoppix3.4

Hi i am new to linux and have recently been given a "linux knoppix 3.4 cd", it boots up ok and all features seem to work however i am unable to get an internet connection (i am on dial-up) i have been told that been on dial up should not be a problem. I have managed to get to the point where it accepts mi "isp" user i enter my, username and password and when i click connect it says "cannot detect modem" i have been told it's possibly not recognising my modem drivers as their microsoft drivers? any ideas...

First of all, you have a very old version of Knoppix. The Get Knoppix link near the top of this page will direct you to torrent downloads for much newer versions of both the CD and DVD if you want them, See the Downloading FAQ for more details of downloading and burning (follow the Documentation link near the top of the page for that).

As to your question, you don't say just what modem you have, but there is an issue with dial-up modems. Many are software modems and there were only Windows drivers for them, not Linux drivers. That was particularly the case when 3.4 came out; it improved somewhat after that but still there are some software modems that are not supported. These are sometimes called "winmodems" or "win-modems" because they require a Windows driver. Knoppix will support true hardware modems (ones that do the signal processing in hardware in the modem and not in software drivers in the computer), this would include all external modems that connect by a serial port. Most software modems (and some hardware modems) are internal modems that live in a card in your computer. You might get a software modem working with a newer version of Knoppix but I don't want to give any unlikely and false hopes. A little Google searching on Linux and modems should tell you a lot more, and our Hardware FAQ gives you a link where you can start .

By the way, is that really the best subject line that you could have used? Are you looking for information on Knoppix 3.4, or on using modems? Many people may just skip over your post because they have no interest in such an old version of Knoppix, and anyone else interesting in finding out about using modems with Knoppix will never find this thread based on that subject line. I suggest taht you go back to your original article and use the little "edit" link at the top right hand side of the article box to change the subject line to something more appropriate and that might get you more on-topic feedback.

Thanks for replying, as i tried to explain i have no previous knowledge of linux as to what version ie old or new, good or bad once again i've no idea. The concept of it i think is great i actually disconnected the power supply to my harddrive and then booted up with the linux cd i was amazed that it worked. As for my modem it is a "generic soft k56" which is supplied by microsoft. I believe that i've gone as far as i can with this version and with my set-up. I think the way forward is to look for a newer version perhaps one that would be more compatible with my system.

Well, "soft" in the name seems to indicate that it is a software or win-modem, although it seems pretty unlikely that Microsoft would actually make or sell anything with "generic" in the product name. If you can post an actual model number of the part (and maybe the correct manufacturer), someone may be able to help you better. I'm pretty much at my limits, I've never tried to make a software modem work under Linux, bought hardware modems back in the last millennium when I still used dial-up modems. Knoppix 5.3.1 EN DVD or Knoppix EN CD 5.1.1 might have better luck, but it will depend a lot on what chipset the modem uses and with the wrong chipset even newer Knoppix will not help. Good luck. Oh, and thanks for updating the subject line.