PCI ltmodem help

Forum: Networking
Topic: PCI ltmodem help
started by: DuncanM

Posted by DuncanM on Jan. 18 2004,17:47

Hello there,

I have recently downloaded DSL which I think is brilliant!

Works fine on my Laptop (1yr old) but my plan with DSL is to drag people like my Dad away from windows

.

I managed to get DSL working on his old p100 machine with the help of a boot disk. the only problem at the moment is that DSL is not recognising his LTmodem (pci slot).

I know there are drivers that you can d'l for LTmodems but I think you need the kernel source code to use them?

Any help much appreciated

I shall carry on trying in the mean time.

BTW, my Dad is totally sold on DSL and will be doing the HD install! Just want to make sure he will be able to access the net when he does

Duncan

Posted by ChrisX on Jan. 26 2004,17:55

I'm interested in this topic too. I have DSL installed on an old P166. Bought a no-name winmodem with the idea to get this PC set up as a basic web-station and give away to a low income family member. However the instructions for identifiying and installing linmodems at linmodem.org involve running a script with the pcitools, which didn't appear to be on the distro.

I don't know what all would be involved in getting the rudiementary pieces for winmodem support, but doing so would really "open up" DSL as a real possibility for recycling old computers and getting more people online cheaply.

Other than this snag, I've loved the disto, and can't be more impressed with it! I've looked into a few different scaled down linux distros for this purpose, and none have been as easy to install, or had the basic browser/email/word processing pieces that DSL has.

Posted by cbagger01 on Jan. 26 2004,19:49

I doubt very much that a WinModem would work on an old computer like a P166.

On such an old computer, a WinModem uses up so much of the CPU power that your system will behave very sluggishly while the modem is in use.

So even if you can get the proper driver installed, the WinModem will still be unusable.

My advice is to get an external modem instead. It works well with old and new PCs.

Posted by ChrisX on Jan. 26 2004,21:33

Yeah, I know it would be "Better" to use a real modem, but cost is an issue here. I got the P166 for free, and paid $4 for winmodem. So I have four bucks in this thing so far.

Based on past experience with Windows 95 and a P166, using a winmodem is pushing it, but not too far. I used Windows 95 an a P166 for years with a winmodem, and the only time the modem would get flaky and drop the connection was when I tried to be online and print, or do something really CPU intensive while being online.

Since I won't be providing a printer when I give this away, and since it's only use will be web browsing and word processing, I don't think its going to be a problem --unless Damn Small is really piggy with the CPU compared with Windows 95. A possibility, I guess, but it didn't seem so when I was playing around with it.

Posted by cbagger01 on Jan. 27 2004,04:32

I guess the only real way to find out is to go ahead and try it. If you can't get DSL to work with your WinModem, maybe a newer version of Knoppix will work. At least you could find out if the modem will work under Linux with a P166.

Good Luck.

Posted by TiYogi on Feb. 04 2004,03:26

Hi DuncanM,
Why done you give this place a look. "The LT modem can be used in many Linux systems"

< Linux Support >

If not you are going to pull the modem out and look at the chips that are on the modem and do a search on Google for the chip set.
That is how I got the drivers for my no name modem.

Posted by trigggl on Feb. 15 2004,17:53

Is there a debian package for this LT-modem? I'm trying to get this working on my computer, which is much faster. I am currently using Mandrake 9.2 with this modem as I type. It works well when supported.

Posted by trigggl on Feb. 22 2004,00:19

I did it!

I managed to make a deb for the ltmodem. You'll have to find a way to dpkg-restore to use it, but if you get an ltmodem driver working in any other distro on the same computer, you can log on to the net and chroot to the DSL partition. Then since the internet connection will still be there, you can then give the command

Code Sample

dpkg-restore

and dpkg will then be able to be retreived from the server. That's how I did it.

If you need to know how to chroot to the DSL partition, there is a tutorial < here. > :blues:

I sent the deb to the maintainer of the ltmodem driver page. Whether it is posted or not remains to be seen, but I can email it to someone otherwise.

Posted by hasty on Feb. 22 2004,12:10

Well done.:)

<sitting smuggly behind a router and thanking God I don't have to wrestle with the bloody things � :laugh:

Posted by WonderAboutLinux on Mar. 17 2004,17:34

Hi trigggl! I have to admit that your idea sounds very interesting, I would like to know more about it and understand it! coz this would be a better way to get acces to the net for people who have Windows modems on another partition. Can U explain it more plz? I thought that dpkg restore didn't work, coz I tried and I didn't succed at all! THx

Some who doesn't know nuffin in Linux!