[ale] newbie: modem configuration

Joe Knapka jknapka at charter.net
Sat Nov 27 04:22:00 EST 1999


nlucent at mindspring.com wrote (in response to Nick Robinson):
> >My modem dialed in one time, and I couldn't tell if it was connected >or
> >not.  I ran usernet and the ppp0 was red, then yellow
> 
> >I have not been able to get it to dial in again.

(1) It's not a WinModem. Right? Good.

(2) Can you get it to connect under Windows?

(3) [Shot in the dark] It sounds like you have an internal modem.
It isn't by any chance on COM3 or COM4 (DOS terminology), is it?
If so, you may need to build a kernel with serial IRQ sharing enabled.
Or else reconfigure the modem to be on COM1 or COM2 (preferred).
 
> >In Win9x, you have an indicator in the sys tray that tells you when >you are
> >connected.  What tells you in linux?
> 
> If its external then look at the lights, if its internal then tail /var/log/messages.
> 
> >I have had this installed for two months, and this is the third or >forth
> >time I've worked with it to get the internet going.  Not very user
> >friendly, not matter what the hype says.
> 
> Where did you hear that linux was user friendly?
> 
> Its a big learning curve, and its not for everybody, but everyone has a >difficult time at first. youll get it. ppp is a pita for everyone.

And to be fair, while Windows is "user friendly" most of the time,
it can be a righteous bugger when you hit situations that
it doesn't handle well. What I like about Linux is that since
there's so much documentation available, and the inner workings
of the OS are open to view, it's hard to get sufficiently frustrated
that I seriously contemplate taking a sledgehammer to the machine -
I can always dig a little deeper. Not true of the GUI-bound Wintel
and Mac platforms. But it certainly isn't for everyone...

-- Joe Knapka






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