I have just installed Red Hat 9 on my home computer. It recognized all my hardware fine except for my ISA modem (USR Sportster 56k Data/Fax). In the Hardware Browser, it is listed as an unrecognizable device. Is this modem compatible with Linux?

Perhaps a conflict with your normal serial port? Isa should work and be recognized.

In network configuration you can configure a modem (if rh has found it)

else try

modem connected
# statserial /dev/ttySx x = 0 or 1 or 2 or 3
This should give you info if there is a modem on serial 1 -2 -3 or 4.

CB

CB,

Thank you for the suggestions.

There cannot be a conflict with the normal serial ports since I have disabled them in the BIOS.

I tried setting up a PPP network connection in Network Configuration. I tried setting the device to each of the serial ports (ttyS0 - ttyS3) and clicking Activate. It gave me a message about PPP trying to activate but the modem never attempted to dial.

I will try the "statserial" command tonight and report back with what it says.

Andy

The modem must be on Com 2. Here is the output I get:

# statserial /dev/ttyS1


Device: /dev/ttyS1

Signal Pin Pin Direction Status Full
Name (25) (9) (computer) Name
----- --- --- --------- ------ -----
FG 1 - - - Frame Ground
TxD 2 3 out - Transmit Data
RxD 3 2 in - Receive Data
RTS 4 7 out 1 Request To Send
CTS 5 8 in 1 Clear To Send
DSR 6 6 in 1 Data Set Ready
GND 7 5 - - Signal Ground
DCD 8 1 in 0 Data Carrier Detect
DTR 20 4 out 1 Data Terminal Ready
RI 22 9 in 0 Ring Indicator

When I activate the Network Device, it says it is active but "dmesg" reports:

PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
divert: not allocating divert_blk for non-ethernet device ppp0

Have any ideas on how to get it to work from this point?

I'm not sure about the signals, its some time ago I played with these things. My doubt is about CTS and DSR, I thought they should be ZERO.

Ok you can use Red Hat X client NEAT to configure a modem.
Or try red hat's config-networkkit will try to probe the system for an
available modem.If it is not found you can manly enter modem data.

KDE provides the kpp client with the same purpose. Click query Modem to search for the modem.

Follow this link and you get a complete instruction.

http://www.justlinux.com/nhf/Modems/...PCI_Modem.html

CB

I have never run across that web site before. It has a lot of useful info. Thanks! I will give this a try and let you know what happens.

hey andrewstr,

did you have any luck at getting your USR modem working?
i have the same modem and exact same problem. its listed in hardware but doesn't seem to work.

i'm just about to try what it says to do on the link that CloudBuilder posted...

thegreatnorth,

No, I have not gotten it working but I have not had a chance to following the instructions in the link. In the next couple of weeks I hope to find the time to do it.

I will post my results and it would be helpful if you did the same. Thanks!

andrewstr,

I followed the instructions and it worked fine for me!!
I am using Fedora Core 1 and a USR 56K ISA data/fax modem
My modem is still listed as an "unknown device" but it connects and works perfectly every time.

as su:
# statserial /dev/ttyS0 (nope)
# statserial /dev/ttyS1 (nope)
# statserial /dev/ttyS2 (found it)

then i wanted to see settings for my device
# setserial -bg /dev/ttyS2
/dev/ttyS2 at 0x03e8 (irq = 5) is a 16550A

using this info I then issued the command:
# setserial /dev/ttyS2 uart 16550A port 0x03e8 irq 5

then using Fedora's gui "Internet Connection Wizard" created a "modem" connection using my settings for my dialup account. I named my account "Sympatico" and used "/dev/ttyS2" as the modem. I rebooted just to make sure things took effect.

after my system was back up i first tried (as myself):
# /sbin/ifup ppp0 (nothing happened)
so then i tried:
# /sbin /ifup Sympatico (and it started dialing)
# /sbin /ifdown Sympatico (and it disconnected fine)

I then setup the little panel utility "Modem Lights" with my settings and it worked fine.
The connections seems to be fast but I'm not sure how to check at what speed I'm connected?

Thanks for the update!

Did you do an PNP Dump as well?

i'm still fairly new to linux
i'm not sure what a PNP Dump is?
so I guess I didn't...

Don't worry, I am new to Linux as well. The only reason I asked about the PNP Dump was because it is discussed in the link from CloudBuilder. Since you were sucessful without doing it, I will try your way first. I think the PNP dump gets the modem to work with Linux's ISA PNP stuff. I haven't been able to do the pnp dump yet because that program is not included with Red Hat 9.

thegreatnorth,

I did the exact same thing you did but it didn't work for me. The only difference in our setups is that my modem is on ttyS1. I labeled my connection as GTE. When I did ifup GTE it gave me an error about not finding the script. When I tried ifup PPP nothing happened but I found this message in dmesg:

PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
divert: not allocating divert_blk for non-ethernet device ppp0

I guess I'll have to try the PNP Dump next.

I still have not been able to get my modem to dial. I followed the instructions for configuring an ISA PNP modem and the kernel now recognizes the modem when I boot but I can't get it to work.

When I try to Activate the Internet connection in neat it acts like everything worked fine but the modem never dials and this message appears in dmesg:

PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
divert: not allocating divert_blk for non-ethernet device ppp0

I have spent several hours trying different configurations but the modem will not dial. As I have mentioned previously, all COM ports have been disabled in BIOS so I don't think I could have a conflict.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on how to get this thing working or tell me what
divert: not allocating divert_blk for non-ethernet device ppp0 means?

Thanks!

the message normally appears, don't matter.
it's not a problem. my modem was working and it does that too. it's just telling your that your connection was non-ethernet.

did you disable the port that's suppose to be recognized as your serial modem?