Serial Modem...

[Norberto Quintanar]

Configuring a new dial-up modem
Once you've physically installed the modem and connected it to the
phone line, log in as root, click the Main menu button, click 

System Settings, and select Network. This will open the Network
Administration Tool, which is used to install and configure network 

devices such as network cards, ISDN modems, and dial-up modems. You
can also start this utility from a shell prompt by issuing the 

command, redhat-config-network.

Once the Network Administration Tool is open, take a few moments to
familiarize yourself with its four main tabs: Devices, Hardware, 

Hosts, and DNS. By default the Devices tab is selected and from here
you can add, edit, copy, delete, and activate/deactivate 

various communication devices, such as network adapters and modems.

To add a new modem make sure the Devices tab is selected, then click
Add, select Modem connection from the Device Type list, and 

click Forward. If you have already configured your modem on the
machine's hardware list, the Network Administration tool will use 

that one to make the connection. If no modem is configured, the
Network Administration Tool will search for one. When the search is 

complete, you will be asked to select the appropriate modem device,
set the modem's volume, baud rate, flow control, and use of 

Touch-Tone dialing. Once you have configured the modem, click
Forward.

You will then be asked to enter information about your ISP, such as
phone number, user name, and password. Enter the required 

information and click Forward. The Create Dialup Connection screen
will appear displaying the information you have just entered; 

click Apply. You will return to the main Network Administration Tool
window, and the modem connection should appear under the 

Devices tab. Click Apply to save your new modem connection settings.

Once the modem has been added, you can further customize its
configuration by clicking on the modem in the device list and
clicking 

the Edit button. The Modem Dialup Configuration screen appears, and
from here you can customize the modem by editing the information 

under the General, Route, Provider, Compression, Options, and
Advanced tabs. But I recommend leaving the default settings unless
you 

are an advanced Linux user. When you're finished making changes,
click OK to save your settings and return to the Network 

Administration Tool's main window.

One final step before you can begin using your modem: By default new
network devices are listed as inactive. You will need to 

activate your new modem by selecting the modem from the device list
and clicking the Activate button.

Troubleshooting dial-up modem problems
So you’ve done all your homework, entered the correct configuration
information, and the modem still fails to function properly. 

When this happens, you'll need to do some careful thinking and some
intensive digging to find out what went wrong.

You might get an error message that says something like, “No modem
detected” or there might not even be an error message. When this 

happens, your first step is to watch for hang-ups during the boot
process. If you notice this happening, it's likely Linux cannot 

find the modem on the serial port you specified. Go back into the
Network Administration Tool and ensure the modem is on the correct 

serial port.

If you don’t know on which serial port your modem is located, you can
use a program called, WvDial to find it. WvDial is 

automatically installed during the typical YDL installation and has
two main components, wvdial and wvdialconf. For your purposes, 

you should be concerned only with wvdialconf. When run, this program
searches your serial ports for modems, determines the 

capabilities of any modem it finds, and saves this information to a
configuration file. To run wvdialconf, enter wvdialconf at a 

shell prompt followed by a configuration file name. For example:
wvdialconf mymodem

The results of wvdialconf's search will be displayed on the screen.
If wvdialconf fails to find your modem, the problem may be that 

your modem isn't installed properly or isn't compatible with Linux. 

=====
--Norberto Quintanar 

"You belong to something bigger. From birth. And your life is spent rediscovering the underlying principles, through various players -- coaches, mentors, teachers, spouses, kids. It's in your genes. Your responsibility. Destiny. Is all on you.  Lead, follow, or get out of the way."  
--Norberto Quintanar


	
		
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Friends.  Fun.  Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/