Hi guys/girls,

before i ask i think i better explain that i am a COMPLETE linux newbie, i installed it like 2 hours ago and i havent finished my Linux book yet. if this is a typical newbie question that a google search will answer please tell me. (i have searched around before asking btw).

Right, i have Redhat 8.0, and a ntl USB cable modem (Ambit USB Cable Modem to be precise). I have installed redhat and i am using GNOME (not currently, on XP atm, dual boot). I tried configuring my connection using the connection wizard but it didnt work. Sounds stupid, but i dont know what to do now, ive always simply put the CD in and installed the drivers and everything has worked .

From what i have read, there are no USB drivers for my modem available for Linux, so i will have to get a network card and then simply run the connection wizard again?

Basically could someone explain to me what i need to do to get it up and running, because i have no idea what to do and where to go. Im hoping there is a way out of this without having to get a network card?

Many thanks,

Charlie

you may have a usb modem, but you also have an ethernet modem.... just use the other cable and plug it in. there really is no point farting around with all that usb crap, it's so so bombproof under ethernet.

i'm on ntl, and although they are pricks, it works fine most of the time.

i'll keep an eye on this thread if you need any more help.

yea i know i cant plug my ethernet cable into my modem, but i dont have an ethernet card on my PC (getting one tomorrow). im hoping this will solve the problem.

thanks for reply

yes, it's an additional £8.27 at the shop round the corner, BUT it's such a sure fire solution....

thanks for help guys, unfortunately i have run into more trouble . i posted it in the realtek 8139 thread.

thanks for help tho, and it was £8.11

Hey Charlie

dunno if your still watching this thread but here goes...
I'm not quite a newbie but by no means a guru either Hope this helps . As u have been told this stuff is usually less bother sticking with ethernet but alot of people wanna give usb a go usuallly cos they installed the thing with windows and have a dual boot setup.
I have redhat (not 8.0) and have managed to get broadband going via usb with little pain.

I wont bore you with a long explanation of usb and ethernet but i am going to assume a few things

1. you are already registered with ntl but just cant connect

2. the modem is an ntl ambit type modem

If u have not registtered phone ntl and give them your mac address etc so at least the network knows about you box....Once thats done connect the modem to the usb port and boot up redhat ...have a look to see what usb hardware your box saw when it ws booting up - do this by typing the following

dmesg | grep -i usb

hopefully you saw a bunch of stuff like this beginng

usb.c

in particular you are looking for a line that looks like this

CDCEther.c: eth0: Ambit USB Ambit USB Cable Modem (blah blah blah)

where i have put blah blah blah will be a "host id' (i think) and your MAC address - the MAC address is what u should have registered with NTL and is what identifys you to the network as a registtered user.

the part that says CDCEther.c means it is using the CDCEther module to communicate with the device ( a module is just a piece of code that can be "slotted" in and out of the running kernel as required)

the part that says eth0 means that the kernel has decided to "pair up" this modem with the name "eth0"...(short for ethernet 0 which is the first ethernet interface) ..now I know that ur not using ethernet and u could change this name it but its probably easier to leave it like taht for the time being.

assuming all has gone as planned all u have to do know is "briing up" the interface . If the interface is up already u just have to give it an ip address which the ntl dhcp server will do every time u connect so as the superuser ......type

ifconfig -a

hopefully u will see an entry for "eth0" and an entry for "lo"
"lo" is the loopback address which allows your box to communicate withitself and should have an address of 127.0.0.1
the entry for "eth0" should have no ipadress as we have not asked for one yet ..so far so good

now type

dhcpcd -d

this command asks the dhcp server for an ip address and logs the steps it takes to do this to the syslog.

at this point type "ifconfig -a" (dont type the speech marks again. This time u should have an ip address..your on the network!!

ntl should populate your /etc/resolv.conf file with the ip's of its name servers.

ok charlie i hope that helps you (or anyone else). I have tried to keep it simple and of course there are plenty of things that could be a little different on your setup...so if it doesnt work get let me know and i'll go into a bit more depth. If i have stated anything incorrectly than apologies and i am sure that other members of linux community will set me straight

take it easy

Hi silvaman.

I have Mandrake 9.0 and it autodetected the USB connection and CDCether and set it up as eth1. No problem there. At boot, the cable connection works, and works well.

However, after a while the connection to NTL is dropped, probably because NTL change my IP from time to time for security. CorrectConnect in Windows can sort this out, but the only way in Linux is to reboot the computer. Which always works, often for several hours, until it cuts off again.

Obviously if I could find a way to fool the NTL connection into thinking I had rebooted, all would be well.

But this thing about a MAC address. I did

dmesg | grep -i usb

like you said and I got the line

CDCEther.c: eth1: Ambit USB Ambit USB Cable Modem 00D059F19409

So is the 12-digit Hex number at the end the MAC address? And are you saying that if I notify this to NTL I won't get cut off again?

Thanks

Dave

Hey,
I've just had NTL:home installed yesterday and alas all of the servers are awry.
Just my luck.
I've had a few problems setting it up on MS Windows due to hardware conflictions and so on, which has resulted in a format of my whole hard disk, rebuilding everything from scratch again... fscking NTL...

Anyway, my Linux problem:
I'm running Slackware 8.0.
I've registered with NTL, recieved my MAC address etc..
when I,
ipconfig -a

I just get "lo" and nothing for my ethernet.
The card seems to be compatable...

Help.
Cheers

well i t would seem that you've not configured your ethernet card maybe? go through "netconfig" to try to set it up for you using dhcp

Tried using netconfig, asked what type of ip, so I chose the DHCP/BOOTP route, pressed space over [OK], the application seemed to flicker, then stay on the same screen, I scratched my head and then looked carefully at what possibly I could've done wrong, saw the [f12 for next page], tried that, alas no.
HELP!@!
Is there any other way!? I'm using a 3com Etherlink III ISA (3C509b-Combo), cheers.

Bit of Linux newbie, but thanks to top tips here, managed to get RH 8 and NTL broadband (via Ambit USB) to work. For a while.

Is there anyway to maintain a connection to NTL without rebooting the machine every couple of minutes?

I'm not able yet to connect the CM via Ethernet (in case USB is the problem), as the driver for my card is only available with a RH update => need a sustained connection... Bit of a chicken vs egg scenario.

Without the suggestions on this forum, would have got nowhere, so thanks for letting me get this far. I'm looking forward to going all the way!

Rob

it's just SO SO SO SO SO much easier, nicer and simpler to use ethernet, makes it utterly bombproof

A quick summary regarding USB NTL cable modem setup for RedHat 8.0

1) make sure your mac address is registered with NTL If you have already installed the cable modem on your PC via the same interface whether ethernet card or USB port, you can skip this step otherwise a) call NTL and
to get reg or b) set up on windows using the same interface

2) for gnome
system tool -> internet connection wizard
log in as root
select ethernet type (yes even for USB)
chose eth1 (CDC) (if you have an ethernet card as eth0 do use eth1 for your USB otherwise it may get confused, may find it difficult to to get back to the correct state)

3) At Network configuration
Check the profile box and Edit your ethernet device

4) You have a slection of tabs
General, Route Hardware

5) In General Tab
Make sure Auto obtainIP address is selected with dhcp
And auto obtain DNS information form provider is selected

6) In Hardware Device Tab
Hardware is selected as eth1 (CDC)
No device aliases
Check bind to mac address
Click on Probe. This number should be the same as ifconfig -a (root has path set up for this command )
This mac address should be the same as the interface shown in ipconfig
for windows together with gateway and DHCP server infromation.

7) Go back to network configuration
and click activate
If this go through successfully then try opening you Mozilla browser to see wheteher it is working.


----------------------------------------------------


This is what i get when I type ifconfig, where etho is my ethernet card and
eth1 is my USB port

[root@waiming etc]# ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:90:99:16:01:8D
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:10 Base address:0xda00

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 000:59:F2:CE:E3
inet addr:80.7.173.13 Bcast:255.255.255.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:21325 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1127 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:1860510 (1.7 Mb) TX bytes:189047 (184.6 Kb)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:291 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:291 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:19384 (18.9 Kb) TX bytes:19384 (18.9 Kb)



I have done one other thing added
"ddns-update-style ad-hoc;"
to /etc/dhcpd.conf
Probably not needed.

Thanks, Wai that is helpful.

But my problem is that my machine connects to NTL cable for long periods then drops the connection, and the only way to restart it is to reset the computer. At least that is the only way I know.

Is there a script that would make the Ambit Modem or NTL world or whoever matters think that I had reset my computer, without me actually resetting it?

NO REBOOT NEEDED for NTL USB CABLE Modem
The problem with usb connection is that we lose our MAC address every
now and too often. This can be fixed via the following procedure.
If someone has written a script for this pls post it here. Perhaps I might do this myself but later.

1) Open a new terminal
2) Log in as root
> su -
3) Deactivate your interface (this step may not be needed - just incase)
> ifconfig eth1 down
4) Reset your hardware address (or mac address or physical address)
with the command: ifconfig eth1 hw ether <addess>
> ifconfig eth1 hw ether 00059F2CEE3
5) if you can't remember your mac address go to
system settings -> network
edit your interface (or double click) and go to hardware device tab
you should find that your Mac address there (DO NOT press probe else
you will lose it!!!!)
6) Finally you can activate your network interface from "Network Configuration" at
system settings -> network


I have previously tried to installed the latest patches from RedHat and messed up the state
of my USB interface. I just reinstall the base kernel and internet packages and then my USB
interface started working again. The problem could have been an incomplete autodownload installation. If anyone has the latest patched auto installed and using USB socket interface successfully let me know.