I'm trying to migrate from a lifetime of Windows to Linux. I downloaded Mandrake about a year ago and gave up after a week of trying to get the install to work. (It turns out later that it was a hardware issue.)

Anyway, I've decided to give it another go-around, this time with Fedora Core 2 (2.6.5-1) and tutorial book.

I've got an external Eicon Diva T/A ISDN Modem connected to COM1. I can get it to sort of initialize the modem with minicom, but I don't think the modem even dials. It just opens the line and sits.

As I said before, I'm brand new to the Linux world. I read somewhere else on the forum that someone used a utility called wvdial with some success, but I really don't know what that means.

I'd really like to connect to the internet in Linux. Right now, whenever I hit a trouble spot in Linux, I have to shut down my computer, swap out my OS hard drives, boot back into Windows, and check the forums. I'm just hoping that someone here can give me a basic, step-by-step approach to get my modem working in Linux.

Thanks in advance.