Need a bit of advice.
Firstly I am about to get hold of a machine running Red Hat 5.2 with Linux Kernel 2.0 (I belive).

I am wanting to use this machine as a web server, however there are a few problems. I have a USB DSL modem, so I was planning on installing a USB PCI card. I have identified a few (D-Link is one) which I believe to work with Linux.

1)As I have never used Linux, do I have to consider the Red Hat part of the system when choosing a USB PCI adaptor? Or is the fact it can be used with Linux OK?

2) Should I upgrade the Linux and Red Hat to more recent versions? Will this make USB support better?

3) Were is best to learn about installing the PCI card and then the USB modem (BT Voyager ADSL modem).

Hope someone can help.
Cheers

As soon as you can, you will want to upgrade that puppy to 9.0. For starters, USB is not not supported under 5.2--at least the support was minimal if at all. Secondly, those old linux kernels have security holes you can drive a truck through, which should be a major concern if you are planning on being connected via DSL.

I'm not sure how DSL modems work, but if you can connect via ethernet instead, do so. It's the ONLY option available to cable modem users (Linux, of course). Of course, with a 2.0 kernel, USB isn't possible anyway.

You're on the right track--you just need a bit of an update, that's all!

as suspected, cheers for the advice!

does Red Hat cost to upgrade?
also were is the best place to learn how to upgrade the kernel?

I have got hold of a Qube2, which means I will need to connect remotely, or telnet(??) - having never done this, is it different from the normal command line interface?

i think i may be coming back here for a lot more advice!!!
Cheers.

for references, u can goto:
http://www.tldp.org

and as someone had posted earlier:
http://linux-newbie.sunsite.dk/index.html

also chk out :
http://www.osnews.com
under their "features" section for step-by-step guides.