I am reluctant to buy a new modem because of financial issues, and I have found the driver for mine that was made with kernel version 2.2.
I need to match the Linux version now.
So please enlighten me!

The modem I have is ESS Technology ES2838S, driver I found is located here, if anybody is curious.

For me personally it is much more convenient to match Linux to the modem than vice versa.
Thank you for your input.

"I need to match the Linux version now.
So please enlighten me!"

You can download the source for kernel 2.2.26 from www.kernel.org and compile your own kernel, including your modem driver.

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Steve Stites

Steve, I think you have signatures turned off, in that case a hint: my sig. says "Linux Dufus", I have a very vague idea of what you're talking about, and I'm definitely not capable of doing it (whatever it is).

Try RH 5.9 upwards. You'll be facing very old software, though!!! If you want to keep using a recent KDE etc., the best thing to do is compile a kernel from that era. You'll easily find a recent 2.2 kernel at kernel.org. The difficulty will be compiling it. However, the graphical or text interfaces are reasonably explanatory, and there are kernel compiling howtos littered across the net. There is little danger as long as you keep your default kernel in your boot menu. Hmm, maybe I should rephrase that... as long as you know what hardware you've got, it would be difficult to go wrong. But you should get a second opinion before going ahead, as I'm not sure the kernel compile of 2.2 would be as nicely described as the recent 2.6, which is what's freshest on my mind.

Good luck!

Samsara

Can't I just download the whole deal and install it -- like, the whole Mandrake or Gentoo or whatever? Something, anything that I could simply install and that could accept the driver I already have.
If I can find the darn thing.

It's like being in China without speaking Chinese. You ask "how can I get to the subway", they answer "kong wong dong" and point to the sun, you say "thanks" and keep wondering which way the subway is.
Maybe I should stay with Windows, at least I know what I'm doing to a certain extent.
I'm not getting anywhere, since it appears that pro's are helping pro's and even newbies are pro's and there's absolutely no room for us completely Linux illiterates.

"Can't I just download the whole deal and install it -- like, the whole Mandrake or Gentoo or whatever?"

Like Samsara says you can find old distributions of Linux that ran on 2.2.x when 2.2.x was state of the art. In the case of SuSE I remember that SuSE 6.4 used a 2.2.x kernel. But if you choose an old distribution then all of the software is dated, not just the kernel. And you will have to do a complete Linux install.

Or you can use a current Linux distribution and install 2.2.26 on it. To install 2.2.26 you will probably have to download the source for 2.2.26 from www.kernel.org and compile it yourself. You can install 2.2.26 on your current distribution and dual boot your existing kernel and 2.2.26.

Or you can find a driver for your modem that works with your existing kernel.

Or you can do what I did on my first Linux install. I fooled with my winmodem for two days and then bought an externel serial dial out modem and installed that. I have lived happily ever after.

"I'm not getting anywhere, since it appears that pro's are helping pro's and even newbies are pro's and there's absolutely no room for us completely Linux illiterates"

Installing a winmodem is difficult under any circumstances. The fact that the only driver that you can find is obsolete makes it even more difficult. There is no easy answer that we can give you.

___________________________________
Be prepared. Create a LifeBoat CD.
http://users.rcn.com/srstites/LifeBo...home.page.html

Steve Stites

I have 9.1 RedHat on my computer.
I have downloaded "linux2.2.26.tar.gz", I guess it is kernel source (what is kernel anyway).
What do I need to download next?

"I have downloaded "linux2.2.26.tar.gz", I guess it is kernel source (what is kernel anyway). "

The kernel is the most basic software in an operating system. All other software runs on top of the kernel. You will find your kernel in two places. The bootable kernel is in /boot and is probable called vmlinuz or vmlinuz is symbolically linked to the bootable kernel. The loadable modules parts of the kernel are in /lib/modules/version# where version# is the version number of the kernel. You want to end up with two kernels, your present kernel and a 2.2.26 kernel. Youwill have duplicate bootable kernels and duplicate loadable modules. You can set up your bootloader to dual boot the two kernels.

Here is an explanation of how to compile a kernel from a tarball:

http://www.jasensky.com/howtos/basickernel.html

When you configure a kernel for the first time you will be asked a jillion questions about things that you have never heard of. The best way to approach this the first time you do a kernel compile is to make your new kernel as much like your existing, working kernel as possible. In /boot you will find a config file called either config or config-version#. You can use the old config as a source of answers to the configuration of the 2.2.26 kernel.

At some point in the compile process you will want to merge your modem driver into the 2.2.26 loadable modules. You will have to get instructions on how to do that from the web site where you got the modem driver.

___________________________________
Be prepared. Create a LifeBoat CD.
http://users.rcn.com/srstites/LifeBo...home.page.html

Steve Stites