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I recently bought a nice computer off of ebay and it's been a dream to use sofar (two hours) running slackware-live.
However I tried to connect to the internet and it didn't work. So now I'm looking for a new computer modem for my dell 8100. Does anyone have any suggestions for a cheap linux modem? (Cheap as in under 50 bucks).
Thanks a ton.
Harrison
P.S. I am a complete linux newbie. This is going to be my learning experience and I can see it's going to be quite educational. *sigh*
Unfortunatly, any "cheap" modem you would buy is probably a Winmodem, which will be difficult (if not impossible) to get working properly in Linux.
The best modems to buy for linux are external serial modems, since they don't require any special device drivers to use (normally found only in Windows). I purchased a Creative Labs Modem Blaster 56k Serial modem on ebay for around $30 (Normally retails for about $65). That is what I would suggest...poke around on ebay and see what you can find.
Good luck with your search, and just remember to stay away from Winmodems! ;-)
Key thing here is serial, not USB. Sometimes you run into problems with USB stuff in Linux. Mostly varies by distro. Serial just needs to be in the kernel and it works. USB needs some tweaking and such.
Save the headache and get external SERIAL. It will work, as long as the modem is good anyway.
you can get good drivers for winmodem, however, the cost is $14.50
you still can get in trouble on other distros
Get a serial external.
Even if you have to dock down $30, so what.
You use the modem for 5 years, that is $6 per year.
Work it out per day if you feel
You really might want to consider going with DSL and skipping the modem route, as it is much, much faster. The marginal price difference between dial up and DSL these days is not that great.
To echo what others have posted, if you decide to go with a modem, make sure it's an external model, and you want serial, not USB. Good luck with things and welcome to the awesome world of Linux -- J.W.
Hehe, Thanks. I would switch to DSL, but it's 'not supported in our area' which is really really bad. hmm. linuxant has drivers but they are limited to 14Kbps which is WAY to slow for me I could buy their $15 driver pack for full speed
I was actually rather lucky to have this brand of WinModem, as the good people over at Linuxant.com offer a very high quality driver that makes installation a breeze! But, they have recently changed there marketing methods and charge $15 for the driver, so these really lives no viable, free alternative (a rarity to say the least for linux). So you have 2 options, you can use the free version they offer that is limited to 14.4kbps or pay the $15 for the full version of the driver. If you want a high quality, fully supported modem driver I'd highly recommend going to Linuxant.com and buying the driver from them, the support alone should be worth it, but if you want to try and save $15 and go it on your own, the information below may help.
Linuxant.com at one time offered a free, full version of the driver released under a BSD like license (parts are also released under the GPL), as a beta release. These beta version are now totally unsupported, and they do not offer them for download. They also claim these versions to be unstable and un-reliable. Well, I'm running one of these beta version now and it's very stable, and I've yet to have any issues at all! Linuxabt.com makes it clear that they wont support these old beta versions, but if you're willing to go it on your own it might be a good option. (See the Readme & Install files)
Nooooo!!! To bad I didn't get the driver when it was out.... Anyone know of a site supporting it?
I guess I could pay $15.... First I have to make sure that the drivers actually work and I can install them. How am I supposed to get it over to linux anyway? I can't read from my USB drive and I haven't yet 'mounted' a partition I added intending it to be a shared area. I guess I'll try to do a floppy,
Hmm. maybe I can get a serial modem off ebay... Pricewatch is quite impressive.
Ajam: Yeah, I probably shouldn't be so frugal.... Still, I should think linux could access drivers etc. although I understand HSF drivers are quite extensive.
I have redhat linux 9. The compattability says thet redhat is 100% hayes compattable,can some on tell me what are some cheap hayes based modems . under 50$ please i need help
i am completeley new to linux.
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