Ok, I succeeded in getting Knoppix Live CD to see and use my D-Link DSL-200B1 USB modem, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

I'll go through all the steps I took to achieve this so anyone else trying to get this working has a head start as well.

First you will need to grab the EciAdsl USB drivers, freely available at http://eciadsl.flashtux.org/index.php?lang=en . Of course, check on the site to make sure your modem is supported. If it's not supported, don't even bother trying this, as the drivers will not work at all (for my DSL-200, I had to grab the eciadsl-usermode-0.10-nortek-alpha.tar.bz2 archive. Grab the extra .bin package as well while you're there (I needed them) – http://eciadsl.flashtux.org/download...g=en&view=sync

The file you want is eciadsl-synch_bin.tar.bz2

Ok, with both files saved to a directory on my HD, boot the live CD, then open a root console. Extract the driver file, then compile it as root (ie, “./configure”, then “make install”. Extract the .bin archive to the /etc/eciadsl directory as well at this point.

Type “make cfg” to run the config utility. Here you specify your ISP/DNS (TPG Aus for me), login details, modem type (DSL-200B1 for me), PPP mode (default VCM_RFC2363 worked for me), DHCP and static IP if applicable (not for me).

I also changed my .bin package to number 4, which was needed to achieve sync with the modem. Try each one until you find one that succeeds, if you can't sync initially.

Type (as root) “eciadsl-start”, and the modem should sync, then connect to your ISP automatically. That's all there is to it!

I had to play about a bit to get it working initially (hence the need for a different .bin), but now it's working fine (apart from the pain of having to reinstall the driver and re-enter the setup each time I reboot for now). I've already repeated this process several times now with success every time, and am typing this running Knoppix now.

I hope this helps any others having trouble with their USB modems.