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external, serial port, modem recognition
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  1. #1
    caieng Guest

    external, serial port, modem recognition

    I debated whether this question is better posed here, or in the installation section, or in the general questions section. There are two (related) aspects to this question. I attempted to find the answer by inserting the terms "modem recognition" into the search engine on the forum, without success.
    Yes, it is a modem problem. In a nutshell, from previous attempts, (all futile), over the past decade, I know that all of my half dozen dialup 56k modems are unrecognized by Linux, THEREFORE, I purchased, a new modem, last year, to use with Core 5, which I finally got around to installing yesterday. The modem is BEST DATA V.92. It is an EXTERNAL modem that connects via the old fashioned serial port cable, much beloved by Linux.
    PROBLEM 1. Fedora installs beautifully, almost dare I say, EFFORTLESSLY, but for the annoyance of requiring various passwords and users, etc. However, there is no MODEM in the list of devices. The operating system acts as though it is not connected. I received numerous prompts to test my "sound card" (there is none, the audio chip set is integrated), but nothing to help in configuring the "non-existant" modem. I tried to find a method to access the serial port, or adjust it, or confirm the presence or absence of a problem with the modem, (--which works perfectly with both win98SE, and winXP(--the GRUB loader is excellent!!!) so I know the problem is not with the modem itself.)
    PROBLEM 2. (Maybe this is really, the main problem: ) In attempting to find out why the operating system does not recognize the modem, I endeavored to locate a link or drop down menu to "hardware", and found none. I found "system", and various other possible alternatives, but nothing comparable to M$ Win98SE System Control Panel, which lists EVERY device, and indicates need for adjustment or repair. WHY? or WHY NOT?
    When I sought "help", I typed in "modem installation" in the recently installed Fedora 5 help engine, and received zero information. Is it just me, or is this situation genuinely counterintuitive? By now, with Core 5, shouldn't this be a tad easier? I had this kind of trouble ten years ago, with the Infosys Linux distribution, from 1995...The computer hardware is 4 years old, i.e. not the most recent, but works well with other operating systems. I purchased another three distributions, KUBUNTU, SUSE, and MANDRIVA. Alas, none of them worked better, than Fedora Core 5, and some of them were even unstable. None of them recognized the modem. None of them offered any help on "modem recognition" in the installed Help search engine, and none of them offered a drop down menu corresponding to the Win98SE "Control Panel". Perhaps I expect too much--since other features of the operating system seem quite excellent, games, etc...? I would like to connect to the internet, and that is why I purchased this external modem, at a cost five times that of my "normal" internal modems, all of which work fine with M$, but are unknown entities in the Linux world. I know that this expensive modem works very well with my Internet service provider, but how can I interact with Fedora 5 so that it will recognize this external, serial port based, modem? Thanks for your suggestions.

  2. #2
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    I don't now if this well help you or not but I used KPPP to set up my external modem on ttyS0 and than setup the modem commands to make it work using commands that I found on a different website. It really set up easier than I thought it would.
    Dan
    Registered Linux user #432525
    Linux Box # 337563

  3. #3
    caieng Guest
    Thank you DCOH. May I ask, does one use KPPP in the "terminal" mode, or does it have a graphical icon? Is it found in Fedora Core 5? It is my understanding, maybe incorrect, that K something or other, generally, but I guess not always, refers to KDE, which, I think, maybe also incorrectly, IS NOT FOUND on Core 5.
    Are you at liberty to share the particular web site, where this information on setting up the modem is located?
    Here are a couple of urls for locations I have searched, thus far without much accomplished. I still seek to know how to visualize the modem, with or without its proper configuration, using the "control panel" equivalent from Core 5.
    I appreciate your advice.
    http://www.freeos.com/articles/4298/
    http://www.mepis.org/node/9464
    (These guys suggest that the ethernet connection is interfering with the modem recognition...is that possible???? One is RS232 port, the other is a completely different communication device, how could Linux confound them--with different IRQ's , different addresses?)
    http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/li...er99/0246.html
    http://docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdenet...bal-modem.html
    (yeah, but this is DEFINITELY KDE, here, not Core 5, unless I err on this point, that Core 5 does not embrace KDE)
    http://www.troubleshooters.com/tpromag/200006/kppp.htm
    ("Kppp is an extremely well thought out front end to pppd that makes connection to the 'net almost trivial") Well, perhaps, but, I am at least ONE STEP removed from this notion, I am nowhere near preparing to access the internet, I am still trying to find the modem....

  4. #4
    caieng Guest

    incredible capability....

    most amazing part, when I sought to find a way to run KPPP, ( http://www.troubleshooters.com/tpromag/200006/kppp.htm
    unsuccessful, thus far), I came across an icon for network, and unbelievably, there are all the files, on my three XP computers, readily visible from FC5. Wow. I can read a text file from a machine with an alien file format, from across the room, but I cannot observe the modem, physically resting upon and directly attached to the FC5 computer!!!
    click on desktop icon: "computer": four new icons appear: network, floppy, dvd, file system. Hmm. click on "network", only the three XP machines appear....
    click on search, enter modem, no information.
    Dead end.

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    You can use yumex to install KPPP which is a gui in gnome and it does work in FC_5 as that is what I use. A lot of KDE programs work with gnome.
    The site that I found the Kppp set on is:
    http://linmodems.techion.ac.il/packa...e.Vouters/Inte...
    it will tell you how to set up Kppp
    Dan
    Registered Linux user #432525
    Linux Box # 337563

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    I forgot to mention KPPP should be on your installion disk along with the KDE desk top. I have both Gnome and KDE installed in my FC_5 along with the desk top switching tool so that I can use either one. If you can't install using yumex or yum find the KPPP rpm on your disk and double click it to install.
    Dan
    Registered Linux user #432525
    Linux Box # 337563

  7. #7
    caieng Guest

    Slackware!

    Quote Originally Posted by DCOH
    ... The site that I found the Kppp set on is:
    http://linmodems.techion.ac.il/packa...e.Vouters/Inte...
    Sorry, Dan, the link is truncated. I was unable to find it....
    Here's another interesting site, though:
    http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/sh...p?product=1203
    Upon reading this, last night I attempted four new installations on two different computers. What a surprise. Three of the four had KDE, Fedora Core 5 does not offer KDE, maybe I have a defective or incomplete version (it came with a book....), or, alternatively, perhaps KDE is available, but I don't know how to ask the installation program to include it.....
    Among the three KDE versions, one of them, Mandriva, (from a DVD which included Ubuntu as well,) not only recognized the modem, it began DIALING the ISP!!! Wow. What a difference from Fedora Core 5, AND the other two KDE distros!!! So, now, I have ordered Slackware, Mepis, and Damn Small Linux, to compare how they work. I have decided, upon reading some of these other forum responses, to attempt to install these various flavors of Linux on my OTHER computers, all of which have the dreaded "WINMODEM", i.e. software based modem, as internal devices. I guess they are no longer the evil, satanic devices of yesteryear.....

    With respect to my external modem, Best Data 56SX-92, I am astonished that this comment on the forum corresponding to the link above, from 06 July 2004, remains valid today:
    "My FC 1 did not recognize it either..."
    and this comment as well, posted earlier on 12 May 2004:
    "For some reason Fedora Core 1 did not see it though,..."
    May I add, to these two gentlemen's remarks,
    AND IT REMAINS UNSEEN, AND UNRECOGNIZED THIRTY MONTHS AND FOUR NEWER VERSIONS LATER.
    Well, at least I learned something.... that's not all bad....I learned that Slackware seems to be the distribution with the fewest problems recognizing my external modem, at least if we judge by the comments of those folks on that forum. Works for me: I am ordering same, today.

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    Fedora Core 5 does include the KDE desk top on the disk when you install you are given the choice of gnome or KDE or both if you check them for install.
    the web site you need should be as follows:
    http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/pack...lippe.Vouters/
    use the intel file in the directory
    Dan
    Registered Linux user #432525
    Linux Box # 337563

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    By the way you should feel free to use any distro that works for you and fits your needs.
    Have a great day
    Dan
    Registered Linux user #432525
    Linux Box # 337563

  10. #10
    caieng Guest
    Thanks again for your encouragement, Dan. I have downloaded DS Linux, and will try to test it this weekend. I will also REINSTALL FC5, this time with the ethernet disconnected, to see if:
    (a) KDE is offered during installation, as an option
    (b) the default environment can detect the modem.
    Frankly, it is SHOCKING to me, that a problem of this importance (failure to detect a serial port, external modem) could have been identified more than TWO YEARS ago, with FC1, and still, remains unattended. I hope it is merely my incompetence, not a feature of FC5, that a fresh new installation cannot detect this modem, which has been HIGHLIGHTED as being compatible with Linux, for SEVERAL years.
    I have accessed the link you provided, THANK you very much. I found a text file there, it is quite detailed, not particularly facile to comprehend at a glance, but, this weekend, I hope to have more time. Looks like the sort of activity which would require a tad more competence with the OS than I have at present. Still, it was great, I mean it sincerely, THANKS very much, for your help.
    Umm. Well, maybe not immediately, but in the next few weeks, I plan to perform a more systematic exploration of half a dozen distributions, including Slackware, which should arrive next week. This time, I will be focused on recognition of the hardware (purchased because of its ostensible compatiblity with Linux) during installation. I will prepare a chart, and post it here, when I have completed the survey.

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    As far as I know FC_5 will not auto recongize your external modem. It didn't mine, I just knew that my Rs-232 port was com 1 which is ttyS0 in Linux and that is where i set it up.
    Dan
    Registered Linux user #432525
    Linux Box # 337563

  12. #12
    caieng Guest
    Thank you Dan, for providing this reference:

    http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/pack...tel-Readme.txt

    "6/ Configuring with KPPP. KPPP on Fedora Core 4 Gnome desktop can be configured clicking on Applications->Internet->KPPP and clicking on Configure and New. ..."
    Unfortunately, well, maybe I have erred in my INSTALLATION of FC5...but, if not, then there is a second problem, (apart from not yet recognizing the linux compatible modem), I do NOT find KPPP when I follow these instructions and click on "Applications->Internet->KPPP". NO KPPP visible. Instead, I have:
    "Contacts
    Firefox Web Browser
    Internet
    Browser
    IP telephony, voip, and videoconferencing"
    Hmm. Interesting list of choices. I should imagine that a distribution of Linux that is unable to recognize a simple modem, more than two years after the problem was identified, is now able to participate in videoconferencing???
    Since KPPP is not found, at least not on my installation of FC5, I search elsewhere for "Network", since that seems to be the organization of Linux, for locating a modem connected to a serial port. Of course, why would anyone seek to look under "hardware", or "devices"? How stupid of me. "Network" is MUCH more logical and intuitive, RIGHT???? Even a little old grandmother shopping at BestBuy or Walmart could understand that a modem is located NOT in the hardware, or devices section of the operating system, but in the "NETWORK" section. I am such a jerk, for not intuitively grasping that fundamental fact.
    From the top menu bar, i.e. at the superior most portion of the screen, one finds "System". clicking on that text reveals "Administration", clicking again, gives "Network", which however, now demands that I again enter my "root" password, how childish, and then shows "network configuration", where I entered the modem by hand. I rebooted, and used the same password(s) to return to the same place, and found "INACTIVE" next to "PPP0", so I clicked, naturally, on the icon to "ACTIVATE", but, then received this error message:
    "Activating network device [ISP name] , please wait.
    About half an hour later, I realize, this device is NEVER going to activate. Worse, FC5 is NEVER going to INFORM me of that fact. This is not simply a DREADFUL operating system.
    This is abominable software. The "user interface" is MORONIC. The "engineers" who designed this software need to take a holiday for a few decades, and learn something about THINKING. They can start by returning to windows95, i.e. software designed twelve years ago, to see how simple, and how intuitive, a "desktop" installation can be. I am utterly dumbfounded by the ineptitude of the architects of this Linux distribution. My fingers are crossed, in the hope that the Slackware distribution will not be so terrible.

  13. #13
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    You can go to your FC_5 disk open RPMS and check for KPPP when you find it double click and install. You may also need to check your BIOS to make sure that your RS-232 plug is set up as comm1. I had no luck with network to set up my modem. Other than that please try other distro's and see if there is one that will fill that bill for what you need. Myself being an old fart i've found fedora easy to work with.
    Dan
    Registered Linux user #432525
    Linux Box # 337563

  14. #14
    caieng Guest
    Hey Dan, thanks again for your patience with me. I am frustrated, as you can see from my writing, by the UNNECESSARY difficulty with this modem, which I purchased ONLY because of its reputed compatibility with Linux.
    Ok, I will try this manoeuvre of "open rpms..." tomorrow, but I want to first try and REINSTALL FC5, this time with the ethernet cable disconnected, to find out if maybe there is something I have done, unconsciously, to prevent the OS from recognizing the modem. I appreciate your patience! Wish the cognoscenti of Fedora were available so I could give them a piece of my mind!!!! Someone needs to hold their feet to the fire, and ask WHY fc5 cannot recognize this modem? I can't imagine trying to do something like "videoconferencing" with such a mediocre tool as FC5. How can anyone support this endeavor? I can agree with the "old fart" image, which characterizes me perfectly, but, the "easy to work with" aspect of FC5 is WAY OFF base, in my opinion. Someone from Fedora/RedHat needs to be held accountable. This os is an utter FRAUD, as far as I am concerned.

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    Sorry you are having so much trouble setting up your modem, and I hate to brust your bubble but i have my external modem setup on a dual boot machine with Windows XP pro which doesn't recongize the external modem and when I had the modem hooked up to my Mac with OS 9.1 it did not automatically recongize the external modem either. It has to be setup by hand in all OS that I have. An interal modem is a different story.
    Check the following for more info on setting up a modem:
    http://linmodems.org
    Last edited by DCOH; 19th November 2006 at 06:28 AM.
    Dan
    Registered Linux user #432525
    Linux Box # 337563

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