Please post the entire output of the command. The lines you posted from the end of the file indicate that your security update repositories are set up properly - which is good, but they are not relevant to what we are trying to accomplish.

As I will be leaving my workplace in a short while and don't have enough time, I was wondering if you'd be available around the same time tomorrow.

If yes, it'd be very nice. Else, I'll post the required output tomorrow and you may check it out later.

I should be around tomorrow around the same time. If you have time to post the output before you leave, I will look it over and we can try tomorrow.

As per the discussion please find the output of sources.list.

# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

deb http://kw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty main restricted
deb-src http://kw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty main restricted

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://kw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty-updates main restricted
deb-src http://kw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty-updates main restricted

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security
## team.
deb http://kw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty universe
deb-src http://kw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
deb http://kw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty multiverse
deb-src http://kw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
# deb http://kw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://kw.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu feisty-security main restricted
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu feisty-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu feisty-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu feisty-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu feisty-security multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu feisty-security multiverse

As you probably suspected, there don't appear to be any errors in your sources.list file. I checked the archive mirror that you use and I confirmed the build-essential package is actually there. I don't understand why you received a "package not found" error. The only other possible explanations in my mind are either 1. you typed the command incorrectly - you ruled this out already; 2. the server was down both times you tried to download the package - maybe, but not likely; or 3. you are not connected to the internet on the machine that is trying to download the package - stupid question, but are you connected to the internet when you run the aptitude commands?

The compile errors appear to be happening because either or both of the linux kernel headers and build-essential packages are not installed on your machine. If both of those packages are actually installed, then my only other guess is that maybe the tarball you downloaded for the modem driver sources is corrupted. Other than those possibilities, I am baffled as to why your modem driver is not compiling for you.

Hey again,

I was beginning to wonder where you'd run off to :-).

As I am trying to setup my modem and I am not connected to the internet (Of course :-) !!), the only possiblity is like you suggested - a corrupted tarball. Could you direct me to another site/link for getting the same tarball?

I ran off to try to repair a household appliance - a clothes dryer - that suddenly stopped spinning. Belt snapped - so I was looking for a shop that carries a replacement. I'm still looking ...

OK, so now I think I get it. You ran the aptitude commands on the laptop while not connected to the internet and that was why you couldn't download the tools you need to compile your driver. Correct? Also you downloaded the tarball using another computer and then copied it to your laptop. Right? I don't know of another place to get your driver, but you could just try downloading another tarball from the same site; the one I downloaded from the same place compiled with no problems. But I am not sure if the driver actually works because I don't have the same modem as you; I was just trying to help you by seeing if it would, in fact, compile.

You can try downloading the deb packages with another machine and install them with gdebi. Just store the files on your Ubuntu laptop and try double-clicking them if you like. You can download them from here (where you will want the i386 version from July 20, 2007; and the headers are at this link again you will want the i386 ones. I think the headers are somewhat dated at the link, but might be enough to get your modem driver compiled.

Ok...

I got the two zip files from the locations you sent. One on extracting has just one file while the other has a folder with numerous files in it.

What do I do now?

I'm confused or maybe I confused you. The files you were to download were .deb package files that contain some zipped files. I should have been more specific. You should have downloaded the files: build-essential_11.3ubuntu1_i386.deb and linux-kernel-headers_2.6.11.2-0ubuntu18_i386.deb. You don't want to unzip those. The idea is to download both of the files with your machine that is connected to the internet and then transfer both of them to your Ubuntu laptop. You could then either just double-click them or right-click and choose "Open with Gdebi Package Installer" and install the packages. This was to be an alternate way to install the packages without using aptitude on your laptop while it's not connected to the internet. Doing this for both of the files above would be a substitute for the aptitude commands in my first post; then you would try to compile your drivers. BUT read on ...

Now that I think about it more, in fact, I don't think this will work for the build-essential package! The point of this package is that it depends on the tools you need to compile and build packages. So if you are installing the package via aptitude, it would then automatically download and retrieve what you are missing. But since you won't be connected to the internet yet, aptitude wouldn't be able to get the missing stuff you need. You should be OK installing the kernel headers using this method though and since your drivers began to compile at all, that is an indication that your compiler and make are at least both installed. Try installing the linux-kernel-headers_2.6.11.2-0ubuntu18_i386.deb package using Gdebi as explained above and then do all the make commands from the first post. Let's see if that hopefully gets your drivers compiled and then we can try to get your modem working.

Hey there once again,

Was a little tied up with my normal routines. Getting straight back to where we'd stopped last ...

As per your suggestion I installed the package,
linux-kernel-headers_2.6.11.2-0ubuntu18_i386.deb
A-Okay. No problem with that. Where as the package,
build-essential_11.3ubuntu1_i386.deb
was not very friendly. It threw up the following messages:


Error: Dependency is not satisfiable: libc6-dev|libc-dev

informational list of build-essential packages

If you do not plan to build Debian packages, you don't need this package.
Moreover this package is not required for building Debian packages.
This package contains an informational list of packages which are considered essential for building Debian packages.
This package also depends on the packages on that list, to make it easy to have the build-essential packages installed.
If you have this package installed, you only need to install whatever a package specifies as its build-time dependencies to build the package.
Conversely, if you are determining what your package needs to build-depend on, you can always leave out the packages this package depends on.
This package is NOT the definition of what packages are build-essential; the real definition is in the Debian Policy Manual. This package contains merely an informational list, which is all most people need.
However, if this package and the manual disagree, the manual is correct.

Why so?

Hi, Mufy ...

Did you read the final paragraph in my last post? I had already mentioned that you might not be able to install the build-essential package unless you are connected to the internet on the machine where you are installing it. Try compiling your driver now, as I suggested. Post back any error messages you get if it doesn't compile and we'll try to figure out where it's getting stuck.