“You have mastered the intricacies of the X Window System,
your sound card is finally working, Linux is installed
successfully, and everything seems fine — everything except that
one final, nagging question: How do you get that darned modem to
work?”
“When connecting to your ISP, your Linux box will need to use
the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) software in order to transmit the
Internet’s TCP/ IP protocol over your modem. PPP is part of most
Linux distributions, and a number of graphical programs, including
Kppp… will get it up and running on your computer. Once your
modem is plugged into your computer, you can launch Kppp and use
its setup options to completely configure your modem.”
“When you set off to buy a modem, it’s best to go to your
computer store armed with a Linux modem compatibility list. That
way you can be sure to buy a modem that is proven to work with
Linux. You can find this list at
http//www.o2.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html. As a rule of thumb, if
the modem says “HCF,” “HSP,” “Winmodem,” or “soft modem” on the
box, it probably won’t work. If the modem is “controller based,”
then it will almost certainly work with Linux.”