Thanks for the above - will do this when I return from the trip to the big city - maybe tomorrow.

Now trying the huge.smp kernel,
dmesg outputs nothing.
lspci -vv shows the right modem as:
00:07.0 Serial controller: 3Com Corp, Modem Division 56K FaxModem Model 5610 (rev 01) (prog-if 02 [16550])
Subsystem: 3Com Corp, Modem Division Unknown device 00d3
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
Region 0: I/O ports at e800 [size=8]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=2 PME-


It looks like I should create a new file in /etc/udev/rules.d/ using a modified form of the line from /etc/udev/rules.d/50-udev.rules,

# serial or dialout devices
KERNEL=="ttyS[0-9]*", NAME="tts/%n", SYMLINK+="%k", GROUP="uucp", MODE="0660"

but have little idea how to do this.

Hey!
I wrote a udev rule, and it worked!
Yesterday I didn't know what udev is.

lspci for the dev number
find /sys -name dev | grep <number>
udevinfo -a -p <longname from find>
/usr/doc/udev-111/docs/writing_udev_rules
for the howto.
And wrote :KERNEL=="ttyS2", SUBSYSTEM=="tty", SYMLINK+="ttyS4"
to /etc/udev/rules.d/10-my.rules


Thanks to LngDstncVygr
et al

this problem is SOLVED.

What do you do if the modem is not found(lspci)? I have an external modem, it works
with other linux distributions( In lilo I have the option to boot either Slack 12 or an older Suse distribution -and that has no problem seing the modem, so the modem is there):
bash-3.1# dmesg | less | grep at\ I/O
serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
serial8250: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
00:0c: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A



bash-3.1# lspci -vv
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Unknown device 2570
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Region 0: Memory at fe800000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=4M]
Capabilities: [e4] Vendor Specific Information

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Unknown device 2572
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
Region 0: Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
Region 1: Memory at ff280000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
Region 2: I/O ports at ec00 [size=8]
Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 1
Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Unknown device 24d0
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
Region 4: I/O ports at dc00 [size=32]

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Unknown device 24d0
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 5
Region 4: I/O ports at e000 [size=32]

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Unknown device 24d0
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin C routed to IRQ 5
Region 4: I/O ports at e400 [size=32]

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Unknown device 24d0
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
Region 4: I/O ports at e800 [size=32]

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Unknown device 24d0
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin D routed to IRQ 11
Region 0: Memory at ff27fc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Capabilities: [58] Debug port

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 0000b000-0000bfff
Memory behind bridge: ff000000-ff0fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 40000000-400fffff
Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- <SERR- <PERR-
BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR+ NoISA+ VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle+ MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Unknown device 24d0
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 5
Region 0: I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
Region 1: I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
Region 2: I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
Region 3: I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
Region 4: I/O ports at fc00 [size=16]
Region 5: Memory at 40100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Unknown device 24d0
Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 5
Region 4: I/O ports at 0400 [size=32]

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Unknown device 9761
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 0
Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 5
Region 0: I/O ports at d800 [size=256]
Region 1: I/O ports at d400 [size=64]
Region 2: Memory at ff27f800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512]
Region 3: Memory at ff27f400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

01:01.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AIC-7861 (rev 03)
Subsystem: Adaptec AHA-2940AU Single
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 32 (1000ns min, 1000ns max), Cache Line Size: 32 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 5
Region 0: I/O ports at b800 [disabled] [size=256]
Region 1: Memory at ff0ff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Expansion ROM at 40000000 [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1
Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

01:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Unknown device 8139
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 32 (8000ns min, 16000ns max)
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 5
Region 0: I/O ports at b400 [size=256]
Region 1: Memory at ff0fec00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0-,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

bash-3.1# lspci -vv | grep ttys0
bash-3.1# ls /sys/bus/pci/devices
0000:00:00.0 0000:00:1d.1 0000:00:1d.7 0000:00:1f.1 0000:01:01.0
0000:00:02.0 0000:00:1d.2 0000:00:1e.0 0000:00:1f.3 0000:01:05.0
0000:00:1d.0 0000:00:1d.3 0000:00:1f.0 0000:00:1f.5
=======================
dmesg | grep ttyS
serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
serial8250: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
00:0c: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
bash-3.1# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
01:01.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AIC-7861 (rev 03)
01:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

svar, if your external modem is a serial modem you should have no trouble setting it up as always since the ttyS0 and ttyS1 device files are created by default.
The OP's problems came from the fact that he is using a PCI modem (PCI card which plugs into the motherboard which use ttyS4-7).
What kind of connection does your external modem use?

Well, I use PPP to connect to the internet if that's what you're asking, but it complains about no modem found.... I tried /dev/ttyS0 and 1
but it does not find anything.

No, I mean what kind of physical connector to the machine. Is it connected to a serial port or is it a USB modem, or perhaps something else like pcmcia card modem?

No, it's an old (com) modem, not usb

svar, serial modems won't show on lspci, no need to check there. As gnashley said, if it's a serial modem, you just have to try ttyS0 or ttyS1. Your problem may be related with permissions, since by default, ttyS devs are owned by root and assigned to group uucp and the permission is 660. That means, others won't read be able to even read it.
Have you tried connecting as root? If you can, add your user to uucp group by editing /etc/group to connect with it.

Yes, I have only tried connecting as root

Try to 'tickle' the modem with a little proggy caled minicom

Check if You have it installed. Once installed on the system, start with
There is plentora info to start with...

Once You find the modem (tyyS0 or ttyS1) it will prompt with
Then issue eg.
and post what it spew out ;-)

The modem must be either ttyS0 or ttyS1 since IT works with other distros on the same box.

The thing is only to be sure and check with minicom.

BTW the 'COM ports (=ttyS...)' are not on the PCI BUS ;-) at all.

I had this kind of 'trouble' with an USB modem (<=controllerless!), but once I knew minicom I was on feet.

Once You sure on which ttyS Your modem is, go and configure it with satandard ppp tools, or just use it with kppp or whatever.

all minicom says is it does not find a /dev/modem device

Does the output of 'ls -l /dev/modem' show a symbolic link to /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS1 ?
Most programs choose to talk to the modem via /dev/modem, but if the link is not being directed to your serial port, then there will be no communication.

There is no /dev/modem, either as a device or a soft link.
/dev/ttyS0 and 1 are themselves, if I remember, soft links for
some other tt devices
So do I just create a /dev/modem as a soft link to /dev/ttys0?

That's correct. /dev/ttyS0 and /dev/ttyS1 are not links, they are the real device files. Slackware used to create a link from /dev/modem to /dev/ttyS0 by deafult, but I guess that now udev doesn't do this.
'ln -sf /dev/ttyS0 /dev/modem' should do the trick for you. You shouldn't need to bother with setserial.