Hey,
for all those (few) people like me that decided to buy the USRobotics 9000 USB ADSL modem, how on earth are we supposed to configure it?

The website gives some drivers and the commands to go with it - but i cant get it to work on Mandrake9.1 - whenever i sorta go the ADI_PPP_Go command, it says hardware not found - all the other things i think set up ok.


also, what is smoothwall? i hear it has support for my modem (v2.something) but i dont know what it is!

The only news I got is bad - because I had (well have but don't use) a usb adsl modem - an alcatel - under mandy 8.2 it was a real pain to set up, easier under 9.0, but because of the way it worked with my dual boot set up, I "binned" it and got an adsl ethernet modem/router and a NIC card. Which is absolutely no snags to set up.

You will probably get a fair bit of anti usb modem propaganda here, as a lot of contributors don't like them as they CAN sometimes be a real pain to set up!

sorry thats not much help really is it.

And as far as I can recall, smoothwall is a type of commercial distro (not sure if it's available as a freebie) that is supposed to me very good for firewalling and stuff like that. Trygoogles linux stuff for a more precise/accurate interpretation of smoothwall.

regards

John

Dispell some rumor for ya:
1. "Driver X works under Distro Y" (which losely interprets as: A driver for your hardware works for Mandrake")
Drivers are usually supported through the kernel. The kernel has the drivers, or is patched to have the drivers, OR the modules are built against your kernel to create the drivers for your device. SO, for the most part, drivers (aka modules) are built against a specific kernel version, which ALL distros contain (the kernel is the part of the distro that makes it linux). You can build your own kernel, but still, it's the kernel that contains the support, not the distro.

2. USB support is still buggy in linux. This is not completely true. I believe that rather than USB support being buggy, it's the shoddy drivers/hardware that is buggy. If the manufacturers actually created the drivers for Linux themselves I think we'd see a great deal of a difference with USB devices.

So...
{here comes the anti-usb modem propaganda}
Either write your hardware manufacturer requesting them to create Linux drivers for you. Or, get different hardware, OR set it up through a router where you don't have to mess with the USB modem at all.

Cool

right, so what is a router?

i have seen one on sale for about UK£40 - at ebuyer.com - called USRobotics something or other router - will that be sufficient as i do not wish to spend too much money on it!

A router is a device that interfaces with your USB modem and holds the IP, from there it (using DHCP) assigns private IP's (192.168.x.x) to your local machines, and directs the flow of traffic out of your network (Ok, bad description, but it works).

Any router should suffice, I really like the Linksys BEFSR41 that I have, others like what they've got, just do your homework before you get it. See if others have issues with the same device and Linux (although a router should be very OS independant).

Cool

If you are in the UK (or elsewhere for that matter) look here, I got the SAR110 (if I recall correctly, some ISP's offer it as an option - though not mine), I also had to buy an ethernet card from PCWORLD, a tenner if my memory serves me correctly. The SAR110 is a router/modem for adsl, it also has built in firewall etc. The support is via a printed manual and cdrom, or as with me, I just rang their technical department and the bloke that I spoke to just ran me through the config, then ran me through it again for my mandrake, and I was up and running. They also have a forum which is where I went to make sure that I had the security facilities set up correctly.

The result is that I just boot in/out of mandrake or window$ at will, with little or no delay in setting up the connection, and if like Chad (MasterC) who seems to have more than one computer, then you can just buy a switch to go between the modem/router and the computers and plug them into that.

If you have a look here you will be able to find a lot more info about various methods of connecting to adsl, including the write up that led me to the SAR110 in the first place, and I can't praise this piece of kit highly enough.

I seem to recall that there is another model of router that you could plug your modem into and then the computer into the router - it is one that is specifically designed to work with USB adsl modems, but I recall rejecting that idea as at the time it worked out at over £100 (160$), and the SAR110 was the much cheaper (and better) option, hence now my old USB modem is dumped in a corner of my office room.

Finally, I would say that if Chad suggests router or modem router, then it's probably a VVV good idea - this guy will feed you shit about not really knowing much (humble pie etc), rubbish, he has helped me loads, and has more "smarts" than the average bear (by a considerable distance!). So go with the MasterC suggestion!!!

regards

John

p.s. If you checked around, you would find that the vast majority of UK/EU isp's offer usb modem's as part of the deal, or discounted, etc. They expect you to be running window$ and aren't of any help when it comes to linux problems - and that including threads that I started for usb modem help, a lot of them refer to Alcatel USB adsl modem's - which work, but can be a serious pain to set up. Drinks are on me if you ever get this site of "the pond" Chad.

One day I just might take you up on that John

As far as the router/modem router goes, if you can come across a setup like John has (the all-in-one type of router) that'd be your best bet. Usually (I guess not in John's case?.. nevermind, just looked, yes, it looks like the SAR715 is the 4 port version where you don't have to get a seperate switch) there are 4 port versions where you can plug in your ADSL modem to the entry port on the unit and from the unit into a seperate NIC you have installed on your box (via a cat5 type plug). I know Linksys offers a USB version if you are interested check out prices at www.pricewatch.com www.ebay.com and www.ubid.com before you get it anywhere else.

Cool

BTW, thanks for the vote of confidence John, although I don't think I know more than the average n00b.



Cool

i actually managed to set up the usb modem - it wasnt quite as difficult as you all make out - i am a newbie, with no programming experience or linux experience for that matter. All i did was find the right drivers (that was the most difficult bit) which happened to be in french, but i managed to install them and just do the normal 'make' commands that it said in the guide. after this all you do is edit the 3 file (chap-secrets, pap-secrets, adiusbadsl) - and put in your connection details for the first 2, and set vci and vpi (in hexadecimal - i used one of these converter thingies online) in the last one. running mandrake 9.1 it works a dream - but the only problem is i would like to run the 'startadsl' command at startup, but i dont quite know how to do so - i have heard of 'startup scripts' but i dont quite know where to find them and how to edit them to put this command in. aside from this, all you gotta do is set up PPP in the window manager and put in the server address and dns addresses!


thanx for all the help - but i dont think its ALL quite as bad as people make out, even if you have a non-alcatel-non-sagem modem like my us robotics 9000.

Well done 5aboy,

As I said, usb modems can work quite well, but they also CAN be a real pain to set up.

To be honest, the reasons for my change to the modem/router option were because I was impatient when changing from window$ to mandrake, the re-initialisation of the modem seemed to take for ever, and the reconfig, every time there was an OS update.

Also firewalling and security had to be factored in, and my SAR110 basically did this, plus it made my connection independant of whatever OS my partner or me happened to be in (she won't even entertain the idea of trying linux) - and the CAN comment earlier in this post, related to the amount of time it took me to get the alcatel "up and running" in the first place.

But all power to you, and well done in getting it sorted. You will still probably find (like me) that while you can now enjoy the whole new world of linux, that it will still provide much frustration - because there is so much to learn/do/screw up.

I would recommend that you write down/print off the info you have used to config your modem - that way when you manage to screw something up (and it's probable that you will), it's much simpler to get yourself back to where you started.


regards

John

Congratulations!

Quote:

but the only problem is i would like to run the 'startadsl' command at startup, but i dont quite know how to do so - i have heard of 'startup scripts' but i dont quite know where to find them and how to edit them to put this command in. aside from this, all you gotta do is set up PPP in the window manager and put in the server address and dns addresses! thanx for all the help - but i dont think its ALL quite as bad as people make out, even if you have a non-alcatel-non-sagem modem like my us robotics 9000.

Locate your rc.local file, it should be somewhere in /etc possibly /etc/rc.d
Open up that file with your favorite text editor and place (with full path) the application you wish to execute:
/path/to/startadsl
And you can run it with modifiers:
/path/to/startadsl -f -t
If -t and -f are something you need to run it with

HTH

Cool

originally posted by MasterC
.

You see what I mean 5aboy. That Chad (MasterC) is sooooo full of shit sometimes - gives it all the modesty/humility, etc etc.

But not only is he a decent bloke, but knowledgable and vvv helpful.

Chad, just for once, take some f****** credit.

My profile/username bit comes up as user. But I can truely only admit to being a n00b! The only things that I can help people with are anything that I have had direct dealings with (and in most cases, that would have only been possible with the help of the likes of Chad and many many others, here at LQ)

Chad, "I fart in the general direction of your modesty" (copyright of Monty Python - quote pilfered from Monty python's search for the Holy Grail! - your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elder berries etc, etc, etc).

Ha, ha, ha. It always makes me chuckle to remember the scene of John Cleese, slapping himself on the head, and shouting such marvellous insults at "King Arthur" etc.

Anyhow, well done one and all - keep up the good works.

many regards

John

I have configured and installed my USB D-Link ADSL 200 modem under linux with great ease. The drivers can be found at http://eciadsl.flashtux.org/index.php?lang=en . There are 30 or so modems that the drivers support. Its just a matter of installing, running the config and entering in the settings that the ISP give you, then issuing a "startmodem" command. Then your online!

Easier than the windows XP installation for the same modem

i have been on the site u mentioned before - but, unfortunately their excellent multi-purpose drivers do not support my USRobotics 9000modem!



thanx for the tip though, im sure many will find it useful!

with the same driver, for my usb fdx310 modem, i cannot get mandrake 9.1 to recognise my modem. startmodem runs fine, apparantly connects to internet, but i can't use any applications as they don't recognise the connection :s