i recently found an old 14.4 motorola external modem. I heard somewhere that all external modems should work, right? Now what do i do? do i have to find the drivers for it online first because it doesnt automatically recognize it. is there a utility in linux to help me detect it and get it working? the weird thing about the modem is i have to use a parallel-parallel cable cuz thats all i got and that is what fits.
also, can you dial out from the console mode, and how would i set this up? i have a unix for dummies book but i think it assumes you should know all that.

What use is a 14.4 modem? Its not fast enough to surf with. Maybe email at best.

its either that or nothing, i just want to get on the net with linux, not do anything productive

If you are using a graphical interface, which is likely and advisable, you can run a modem dialing utility, for example, kppp. Gnome has (had?) one, but it was not as well developed as kppp. Once you've got kppp up, you simply point the program to the serial port where the modem is located (remember that the ports start being numbered at 0 rather than 1). Kppp should find the modem on the port and begin talking to it (if it is a standard modem, they DO exist, however rare, external winmodems, which this is likely not).

Then just set you connection correctly for your ISP and you are off to the races...

Since this is obviously a very old modem, it is highly unlikely to be an external Winmodem. It is likely to connect to your computer through the serial port, and as such, should be accessed as a serial device. Using something such as kppp you should set the modem device to your serial port, using the guide below:

COM1 = /dev/ttyS0
COM2 = /dev/ttyS1
COM3 = /dev/ttyS2
COM4 = /dev/ttyS3

If you have more than 4 com ports, how/why? Anyway, if so, you can get the picture!