linux question 2

[russed]

hi, i installed fedora on my rubbishy desktop yesterday and everything went really well for a first time user. it was so easy to install and i love it for a non apple computer. however one problem - it wont find my modem! it is just a bog standard 56.6k unknown make, modem. so this is where i need help. if anyone can help me with what to do can you please give me a step by step guide as how to get it working as i dont really know linux. thanks for your help!

 

[robbieduncan]

Is it an internal PCI modem? Was it installed when you bought the computer? If so it is probably a so-called WinModem. These are not true modems. They rely on special windows drivers to provide most of the modem functionality in software. The drivers are part of windows and have not been available on Linux. I did hear that some progress was being made with this though. Try a search for WinModem on the Federo support site/forums.

 

[russed]

yeh its just a bog standard internal pci modem. does thins mean i need to buy a new modem?i have found the make though - it is a conexant one. any ideas?

 

[robbieduncan]

There seems to have been progress since I last tried this some years ago. Give the instructions here a try before buying a new modem. If you do buy a new modem I would recommend and external serial port modem as these are the easiest to get working (and have the lowest CPU usage).

 

[Nermal]

I'd love to tell you to get broadband and use an Ethernet router, but...

...actually, I can't think of a way to finish that sentence

 

[davecuse]

If you're having issues with Fedora, I highly recommend SuSe Yast does a great job of picking up all your hardware.

 

[question fear]

If you're having issues with Fedora, I highly recommend SuSe Yast does a great job of picking up all your hardware.

i've had some odd issues with SuSe on old hardware. just a warning.

 

[carbonmotion]

I hate to say this, but in my personally opinion, people who are not computer experts will fail at using linux for desktop. I consider myself a pretty cool keyboard jokey and yet I was scared away eight times under various different distros from SuSE to Mandrake to Red Hat. If you want a good and cheap server platform, linux or BSD is the way to go. If you want a good desktop platform, windows xp is still king despite all of its flaws. With a bit of tweaking to prevent virus and spyware as well as using Norton Ghost to back up your harddrive, its a whole hell lot more stable then KDE version crap point crap.

My point is, Linux is for servers --period-- ... Maybe in a few years it'll mature to a consumer desktop level, but right now, its definately not there yet. I have a dual althlon mp 1.8ghz servers which run on Debian soomth as a baby's ass --but no way in hell would i ever get any serious work (i.e. im a international relations major so like a 50 page paper) done on O'crap Office or Abi-Crap ...

So, if you're a light user who only needs to type the occasional diddle and don't mind the hassle of having to go through console everytime your want to add or remove a program as well as dealing with the constant KDE crashing problem, the GO FOR IT. Otherwise, stick with windows. Or, better yet get OSX, the best of the the best as far as desktop publishing and office productivity is concerned in my opinion. I know after I got my powerbook w, I dont use anything else for typing and working on websites. Ok, that was a rant, sorry.

 

[garybUK]

Just go down and buy a new modem from pcworld, they are not expensive these days, if you do, make sure its a full hardware modem, safest bet is a external SERIAL modem, not those usb ones, any serial modem will generally work in linux.

Also note, that most broadband modems that are given with adsl connections are usb, i do beleive BT have drivers for linux for their usb frog modem, otherwise you will need to splash out on a ADSL/Router combined device.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/st...235&category_oid=-9904&fm=2&sm=6&tm=undefined

 

[davecuse]

I hate to say this, but in my personally opinion, people who are not computer experts will fail at using linux for desktop.

I know what you mean, User Experience is not a high point of Linux. I use it mainly as a web server for testing and use my PowerBook for basically everything. <rant>The real reason I have SuSe running is because I support Windows apps all day long, and I get so sick Bill's screwy software that I couldn't sanely put another copy of it anywhere near my house.</rant>

 

[Nermal]

Also note, that most broadband modems that are given with adsl connections are usb

Is it common for providers to give you a modem over there? Here in NZ you buy your own modem, just like with dialup. You pay about £34 for a DSL connection (or £86 if you want them to come to your house and set it up for you). Presumably the "connection fee" would be a lot higher over there if you're getting a modem with it?

 

[davecuse]

Is it common for providers to give you a modem over there? Here in NZ you buy your own modem, just like with dialup. You pay about £34 for a DSL connection (or £86 if you want them to come to your house and set it up for you). Presumably the "connection fee" would be a lot higher over there if you're getting a modem with it?

In my experience it's very common for a broadband provider (in the states) to rent you a cable modem wrapped into the normal monthly fee. Dial up is another story, they definitely don't give you a modem.

 

[mkrishnan]

In my experience it's very common for a broadband provider (in the states) to rent you a cable modem wrapped into the normal monthly fee. Dial up is another story, they definitely don't give you a modem.

It does also work the other way in the US, but usually the modem is heavily discounted / subsidized by the ISP. Like for both the DSL I had in Michigan and the DSL in Florida, I had to buy the modem, but it came with a 100% rebate.

Cable internet in Jacksonville (a bigger city in north Florida) includes the modem as a part of the monthly charge, but cable internet in Gainesville, about 70 miles away, where my school is, has the same deal as DSL -- you can buy the modem at Best Buy with a near 100% rebate....

 

[garybUK]

Is it common for providers to give you a modem over there? Here in NZ you buy your own modem, just like with dialup. You pay about £34 for a DSL connection (or £86 if you want them to come to your house and set it up for you). Presumably the "connection fee" would be a lot higher over there if you're getting a modem with it?

In the UK, there are only a handful of cable companies (not very successful), NTL i know rent their modems out and have a sticker "Property Of NTL" most cable modems are usually USB and Ethernet, and most people use the Set Top Box (Digital TV) with ethernet jacks on them as the internet goes through the Set Top box, again rented.

ADSL (more common) in the UK, when you buy a modem in the packs off the shelf that you install yourself or the modems you get free / buy of the consumer ISP's are 90% of the time just USB. Ethernet ADSL modems are supplied at additional cost and since most people dont know the difference they just use the consumer ones.

BT (British Telecom) do provide routers now with builtin adsl modems and wireless. Connection fee's are about £50 if you get BT to come out and install it all for you (including moving the BT master socket to your computer if you want), that usually includes the modem and filters etc..

 

[javabear90]

I hate to say this, but in my personally opinion, people who are not computer experts will fail at using linux for desktop. I consider myself a pretty cool keyboard jokey and yet I was scared away eight times under various different distros from SuSE to Mandrake to Red Hat. If you want a good and cheap server platform, linux or BSD is the way to go. If you want a good desktop platform, windows xp is still king despite all of its flaws. With a bit of tweaking to prevent virus and spyware as well as using Norton Ghost to back up your harddrive, its a whole hell lot more stable then KDE version crap point crap.

My point is, Linux is for servers --period-- ... Maybe in a few years it'll mature to a consumer desktop level, but right now, its definately not there yet. I have a dual althlon mp 1.8ghz servers which run on Debian soomth as a baby's ass --but no way in hell would i ever get any serious work (i.e. im a international relations major so like a 50 page paper) done on O'crap Office or Abi-Crap ...

So, if you're a light user who only needs to type the occasional diddle and don't mind the hassle of having to go through console everytime your want to add or remove a program as well as dealing with the constant KDE crashing problem, the GO FOR IT. Otherwise, stick with windows. Or, better yet get OSX, the best of the the best as far as desktop publishing and office productivity is concerned in my opinion. I know after I got my powerbook w, I dont use anything else for typing and working on websites. Ok, that was a rant, sorry.

No, No, No Linux is not just for servers. I will admit it is harder to set up and junk, but I set up my relitivly computer illitarite friend with SuSe 8.1 and he loves it. He uses it a lot more that Windows XP. However it will never compare to Mac OS X

 

[Flynnstone]

The best desktop UNIX is ... OS X !

I run PCs with 2000 and Linux. Linux is a great server. Its a good desktop if you are UNIX savy. I have emdedded systems running Linux ... great. I have Macs running OS X.
Server:
If you have x86 hardware -> Linux for server. If you have Mac hardware -> OS X server.

Desktop:
If you are masochistic, and computer illiterate go Windows.
If you want the computer to work for you (not the other way around) go Mac & OS X.
If you are masochistic and very computer literate, go Linux (what ever flavour, distro, Linux, BSD, UNIX ..).
If none of the above, go sailing !

 

[garybUK]

If you are masochistic and very computer literate, go Linux (what ever flavour, distro, Linux, BSD, UNIX ..).
If none of the above, go sailing !

Sorry to be picky but, BSD, UNIX are not linux'es

Desktop alternavtives to Windows: BeOS (if you can find it), Solaris x86 or JDE, Unix tree (bsd's) or Linux

Mandrake, SuSE, Lindows or whatever the hell its called now all make very good desktop linux distributions, for the move linux savvy, Debian is solid as is Gentoo or Slackware

 

[Flynnstone]

Sorry to be picky but, BSD, UNIX are not linux'es

What I mean is the BSDs, Linuxes, UNIXes are like UNIX.
For the uninformed they are very similar: multi tasking, multi user, file system architecture etc.
They are not like Windows. Beos is not in the group because its not multi user. Its a good OS, but limited future.

 

[ddtlm]

carbonmotion:

but no way in hell would i ever get any serious work (i.e. im a international relations major so like a 50 page paper) done on O'crap Office or Abi-Crap ...

Open Office 1.1.2 is pretty sweet on Linux.

davecuse:

I know what you mean, User Experience is not a high point of Linux.

What!? Linux has been providing me a great user experience for years through the power of iconless Blackbox and the world's best command-line world.