I got redhat to work! It's a beautifull OS, I love it.

However, like I expected, internet did not set itself up.

I've never had to do anything like this with linux, so I am not quite sure what to do.

When I go to network connections, it shows an inactive connection. When I try to activate it, it says "Determining IP information... Failed. No link present. Check Cable?". I have a wireless router tower hooked up to a USB port on my computer. It's a generic tower, and the light is on so I know it's recieving a signal.

I really have no idea what's going on. Could anybody instruct me on what steps to go about to set up my connection?

I read somewhere that entering your IP info manually might help. In windows I could go "ipconfig" and it would give me my IP info, but I'm not sure how to do it on linux.

How do I find out my IP information with linux??

Ok, I figured it out. The command you need is ifconfig . If your redhat installed like mine, you need to copy ifconfig from your /sbin folder to your /usr/bin folder. I did some work in the console with root (I'm so excited that I'm actually using the console) and got ifconfig to work.

After I put in IP adresses, the connection activated. I have been reading through forums for redhat help, and I found a person who had a similar problem to mine.

After they got their connection activated, they still couldn't get online. They figured out you need to put in the DNS settings to get it to work.

Problem is, I have no idea how to find out my DNS settings. Any help?

you should prolly be able to get the dns setting from your isp? they're usually listed on the home page of your isp, someplace...

Well, it gave me an IP adress allright, but not the right one. I highly doubt 127.0.0.1 is my IP.

I can find out the ip adress, subnet adress, and router adress of the computer I'm on right now that's directly hooked up to the router. Would any of these be applicable?

Does anybody know where to find the DNS setting on the roadrunner site? Because I sure don't..

Perhaps you could post the output of your 'ifconfig' command. The mention of USB connection for the router has me wondering if your connection is setup for ethernet rather then usb access. Perhaps the output of 'usbview' would be helpful.

Also, do you have the usb modules loaded? Probably, but check the output of the 'lsmod' command to make sure.

I've never used a usb network connection, but I have seen a NIC card light up even though the computer was off. The usb system has different levels of drivers, and the light might just indicate that a lower level driver is working properly.

Does your ifconfig output look similar to this?
I got this output from a web page on the usbnet driver:
http://www.linux-usb.org/usbnet/

This webpage contains setup information for Red Hat and Mandrake.

Good Luck!

I think you are correct. I'm not on that computer right now, but I'm sure it said it was an ethernet connection on the network connection screen. (If anybody wants to tell me the difference between a USB and ethernet connection, feel free)

As for ifconfig, I just typed "ifconfig", with no "usb0". The connection I am using is labled "eth0". You probably are onto something.

I tried running "lsmod" earlier, but I suspect it isn't in my /usr/bin file yet. I'll relay those results tonight.

Eth0 is for NIC cards, so your computer isn't set up for USB networking. The webpage I supplied should help you get setup. The graphical internet section of MCC may also help. You may also need to run the GW setup there to make sure that the correct interface is being used. It is the last thing asked for, even if you do nothing else.

I think I am over my head currently.

Since I have a wireless router/reciever, I am trying to connect to the network, right?

"Eth0 is for NIC cards, so your computer isn't set up for USB networking." NIC is?

USB networking is just a network that is connected to a USB port, correct?

"The graphical internet section of MCC may also help." MMC is?
"You may also need to run the GW setup there to make sure that the correct interface is being used." GW is?

This is my first experience with setting up a network at all, so please keep it as simple as possible.

I tried ifconfig usb0, said "no device".

I read slowly through that link you gave me, it was very helpful, gave me a much better understanding, but it never really gave any instructions on how to do it.

It had a ton of information on everything USB, but I don't have the knowledge base to implement any of it.

Any sort of step-by-step instructions on how to at least get me started would be much appreciated. I have a basic knowledge of bash commands and the KDE OS, and alot of not-so-technical experience with winXP.

USB is just a port on the computer right? So what is ethernet, a port also? More info!!

I tried making an ifcfg-usb0 thing, but it didn't work (or I don't know how to make it work). I used the specifications that it gave in that link, except with my IP adress. Then I did "ifup usb0" and it didn't do anything, just went to the next line (possibly a good sign since it will give you an error if that device doesn't exist, Intrestingly enough, it doesn't reconize eth0, even though that is the only connection that shows up on the network connections).

There must be 6 questions up there, I know somebody can answer at least one of them.

You might want to post the output of the lsusb and lsmod commands. Having the kernel modules loaded in that you need is a prerequisite to setting up the network.

1st I would try to connet you computer direct to the cable/dsl modem......If that works then you may have a router issue? Is check too see if the router manufacturer
is supported on the RH site...

It's possible that those may be the problem. But there is an even
bigger problem than that. I don't know what I'm doing. So far, my
efforts to fix this problem have been extremely random. So far, the
meathod of picking up random pieces of linux knowledge and trying
to utilize them with subpar knowledge of the linux system has proven
ineffective. What I really need is a starting point. I need to know
what is causing my problem, what I am going to need to modify, what I am going to have to do to
initialize those modifications, ect... ect... I've already copied
the output of lsmod, ifconfig, netstat to text files, and I'll post them as soon as I figure out a way to transfer them to a working computer.

How do I set up a USB wireless connection to my PC with redhat?

Sorry to hear about your troubles joeuser11...Linux on the desktop is not for the squeamish....LOL....I am also fairly new at this ...I Just finished taking the LPI AdminI and am working on II.....I have some issues hear w/GNOME and applets...sound issues and so on....but for the most part I am learning that the hardware must be l matched up almost exactly before loading the o/s...The HCL's are very important...
I have not hung a wireless router off this computer as yet I am running a dsl westel modem and a linksys hub....I will be attaching wireless later on but I am not sure if usb is supported? I just upgraded my o/s from version 8 w/ the 2.4.16 kernel to version 9 w/ the 2.4.20 kernel.....not exactly sure what the major differences are yet other than obvious ones...I think there are som lib changes....
I don't really know if I can help you...
Have you had any linux training at all?