Ok. I finally made the full (ALMOST) move into the Linux world. I just can't get muy darned cable to work. I'm just installed Mandrake 9.1. I'm using a Dell Dimension 4300. Its partitioned with Windows. Windows reconizes the cable. I do NOT have a ethernet (I realize that that would solve everything but as a 15 year old that is way too much money for me), and i connect to my computer from the USB port with my RCA 235. I've tried to do the regular install from root with the GUI in the Internet Wizard. I can't find a correct driver though. I searched for hardware and it came up with it, but I noticed Mandrake doesn't reconise it as a modem although it does see it. I'm just really lost.

**Things I have tried***
1. Using Mandrake internet Wizard
2. Contacting my ISP for support
3. Contacting my modem maker for support (Not much help when the person doesn't know what Linux is..)
4. Begging my parents for a couple hundred to order an ethernet.
5. Google.
6. Linux for Dummies.

I ran a search in the forums for stuff like this and i heard a couple things about a terminal session under root and doing the ifconfig command.

Thanks for at least reading what I had to say guys.
And i hope I get linux-literate soon.

you need to repost this with a different title

i couldn't tell whether you had a problem with mandrake or wanted to praise it

re post with a title like "newbie needs help with network card setup"

hopefully you'll get some help

and welcome to linux

Alright sorry about that. Will do.

you might try getting a usb > ethernet converter.

Buy a NIC (£10-ish UK pounds) and the converter ( no idea of cost ).
Plug usb cable from the modem into the converter and then plug the converter into the NIC.

Linux might recognise your modem that way (of course, it might not and you've just wasted £15 )

Might be worth investigating.

Just a question, do you have usb up and running at all?

Maybe the problem is there rather than with the modem....

usbview would show if anything was connected. Also, you need to make sure that USB comes up BEFORE network does...

I just peeked at my laptop and my USB starts up after the network...so if I was using a USB cablemodem, it would never get detected on boot.

I have no clue how to check that

as root, lsmod should show you usb something or other, that's the first thing (that USB is running)

The other is to check in /etc/rc.d/rc6.d or rc3.d (depending if you boot into X or command line...I'd do both since you never know when you'll switch from one to the other...or even check all the rc#.d directories).

Inside those directories there are a lot of files, or rather links TO scripts inside /etc/init.d.. Anyway..look at all the ones that start with S something...those are to start a server, and the ones that start with K something are used to kill a service.

Look to see if there's a file S(something)usb. The number (for example S14usb) is the order it will start up in. If that number is higher than the file for network (likely S10network) then that means that usb will start AFTER the network starts.

I had the same problem with PCMCIA starting after network (ie: the files were S10network and S11pcmcia) and I simply switched them to S10pcmcia and S11network by renaming them.