From LQWiki

Configuring your modem can be very easy or very difficult, depending on the type of modem you have. There are a few major types of modems:

• External modems, modems outside of the computer case
• Internal modems, modems installed inside of the computer

Either of the above types can be of these categories too:

• Hardware modems, which are well supported in Linux
• Software modems, which have questionable support in Linux.

Contents 1 Configuring your modem 1.1 Hardware Modems 1.2 Software Modems (Winmodems) 2 Setting Up a Dialing Application 3 ISP Specific Items

Configuring your modem

Hardware Modems

More about Hardware Modems

The information below on Hardware modems are fascinating to read if you have the time. All you want to do for now is get on the net with your www.ubuntu.org distribution which does not even have kppp. Click on Wvdial. You are guarenteed to be on the net in 4min.

Hardware modems are often very easy to configure in Linux. They can be external or internal. External modems often use a pre-existing serial port to communicate with your computer. Internal hardware modems tend to have a serial controller built-in. This extra serial controller will appear after your other serial ports.

Serial ports in Linux are represented by device files. They usually have names like ttyS0, ttyS1, etc. These names may be confusing at first but if you're familiar with the DOS/Windows names for serial ports they correspond in an easy to remember way:

  Com1 => /dev/ttyS0
  Com2 => /dev/ttyS1
  Com3 => /dev/ttyS2
  Com4 => /dev/ttyS3

An internal modem might appear after your serial ports. For instance, if you had 4 serial ports, the internal modem might appear as a 5th, ttyS4. An external modem would be connected to one of the serial ports you already have.

If your distribution auto detected your modem there will usually be a link from whichever device the modem is on to a link file, /dev/modem. If your distribution doesn't set this up for you automatically you can look through your kernel log to find what device your modem is on. The command:

  #dmesg |grep tty

is a good place to start looking. If you know what com port your device is set up to use then using the mapping above, in conjuction with the dmesg output, should be enough information to create your own link. Otherwise try the dialing application steps using a link of /dev/modem to each of the ports shown in the dmesg command until one works.

Software Modems (Winmodems)

More on Software Modems

Support for software modems in Linux is iffy. If you have a software modem, check to see if it is compatible with linux - see http://www.linmodems.org , or, if you have a PCI modem, then there is a useful database at http://www.pcidatabase.com

Download and install the relevant drivers according to their specific documentation. These drivers will usually create a serial device similar to a hardware modem. You can use the dmesg command explained in the hardware modem section to find out what device your new software modem is on and if needed create a /dev/modem link to it.

Setting Up a Dialing Application

Once your modem is ready, you can use a dialing program to use it. There are many dialing programs:

• minicom - a simple program for modem communication
• kppp - an easy to use dialing program that come with KDE. Instructions for kppp are at Connecting with the kppp program
• rp3 - another dialing program that comes with Red Hat
• wvdial
• GNOME PPP - a front-end to wvdial. Similar to kppp.

To get these programs to work, you basically only have to know three things, the username that your ISP gave you, your password, and the phone number to dial. A username would probably be something like 12345@yourisp.com.

Once you know those three things, the dialing application should take care of the rest.

ISP Specific Items

• You can connect to AOL with PengAOL
• Earthlink
• NetZero & Juno both can be used in Linux via special software.
• please update any special settings to ISPs needed here...