I am a newbie and disabled so I rely on my computer to communicate with the outside world. I am currently unhappily using Windows ME and I would love to change to LINUX. I have installed the Knoppix CD to test it out, and I love it!!
except for one problem-I Cannot connect to my ISP using the PPP dialup feature. My modem stalls at "initialization" and does not dial out. I have a hardware modem-US Robotics 56K PCI fax/modem, is this OK? Do I need a linux driver or must I supply a new initialization string? Please help. I would love to use LINUX but I desperately must dial out to communicate with others, so this is an EMERGENCY. Please help.

TIA
Dr. Joel Krumerman

P.S. If possible please use my e-mail address.
joelherb@freenet.tlh.fl.us

Celeron 634 MHz 256MB RAM Windows ME (Ugh)
USR 56K PCI fax/modem

Hello Dr Krumerman, welcome to LQ.org.

I have WinMe. And a US Robotics PCI/Fax modem. Coincidentally, it looks like the hardware you've got is very similar to mine.

Emergency. Well, the good news is that as you've presented it, your modem is well supported in Linux, and WinMe's drive will be readable and writeable (if you've not already found that out).

The less than good news is that by using the Knoppix CD (which is great for trying Linux out), you need to consider the "initiation test" which is partitioning your drive to fit a Linux partition on. If your modem wasn't autodetected (have you tried leaving it switched on when you boot up?) then you might need to get a driver for it, compile it an insert it into the kernel. Sounds tough, eh?

Well, there's more good news. A modern distribution like Redhat will autodetect your modem as it installs and it will be ready to go after you log in - at least that's what heppened when I installed Redhat 7.1.

Can I suggest Redhat 8.0 as a good starter distribution? It's not exactly compact but will minimise the transition.

Buy a good book on Linux like O'Reilly "Running Linux" (if you buy "Learning Linux" from the bookshop you'll get redhat 7.3 free!). There is such a thing as a free lunch but you need directions on how to get it.

Welcome to the free world!

Bert

Love the Santa game!

My top score is 1745. If you get over 1780, can you post a screenshot? (I've got a bet on )

Bert