Hello, I installed Red Hat 9 a few days ago. Since then I havent actually used it since I have had no interenet access, due to my pci modem not being compatable with linux. Today I went out and purchased a creative external serial modem just so I could get online with linux. So with 50$ down the drain I was hopping it was a wise investment.

When the computer first booted with linux and the modem installed it brought me through a configuration screen, it showed it as being a creative modem blaster and continued to boot to the desktop. After that I proceeded to get it working. Only after a firmware upgrade through windows was it able to connect. Before hand it kept telling me there wasnt a modem installed. When I set the connection up I had to use a generic modem for the hardware since it wasnt actually seeing anything else.

After spending hours trying to get it to work I finally suceeded. However when browsing the web everything is very, very slow. I dl at about 0.9k with this modem installed and using xp I dl at 6k. So obviously something is messed up in the configuration. Browsing at that speed is utterly pointless.

Here is hopefully some usefull information. It took me 6 hours just to get all this info so im obviously a complete and feeble newbie with linux, please bare with me.

[root@localhost root]# wvdialconf create
Scanning your serial ports for a modem.

ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 Z -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Modem Identifier: ATI -- 56000
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 4800: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 9600: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 19200: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 38400: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 57600: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 115200: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Max speed is 115200; that should be safe.
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK

Found a modem on /dev/ttyS0.
Modem configuration written to create.
ttyS0<Info>: Speed 115200; init "ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0"

[root@localhost root]# route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
67.1.32.9 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 ppp0
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
0.0.0.0 67.1.32.9 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 ppp0

My ping times are anywhere from 500ms to 300ms and 0% packet loss.

Thank you so much for your time. If you need anymore info please don't hesitate to ask. I really hope to get linux going up to snuff so I can put some productive time into it.

Any ideas? Anything could help right now even a "your screwed buy a new modem". Is it possible Linux for some reason is restricting my serial speed? Is it normal for it to see it as a modem blaster when it’s booting but then use generic drivers for it?

I searched around on google. All I came up with is people having problems with it slowly dieing out after connecting, connecting and reconnecting over and over, serial ports in the bios need configuring, bios updates are needed for serial improvement. But these are mostly people using windows and can’t get it to work on anything else. I however have it working superbly under windows just not in Linux so I know settings somewhere in the os need to be tweaked.

What is your guys' opinion?