[TriLUG] Hello I am buying a US Robotics Modem...Need help

[Michael Mueller/bhu5nji]

I am very happy to report that I now have SSH2 over PPP/CHAP over dial-up
using a pair of the cheapest external modems I could find (Diamond Supra
Express).  I implemented both the dial-out and dial-in segments.  It's a
very retro-1980's kind of experience. In the process, I was able to dial in
to my ISP (Mindspring) using PPP.

If I can succeed with cheap no-name modems, my bet is that you'll succeed
with your US Robotics modem.  My cheapies generate a NO CARRIER when the DSR
drops on a logout command.  mgetty is no so happy about that (he killed
himself and respawn in inittab starts it again - its a bit ugly, but it
works).  I tried the same test with a real Hayes modem and mgetty was happy.

The interface that you're probably most concerned with is the Hayes "AT"
commands.  The V.9x stuff is what is described below - the protocol of
information exchange between the modems.

Get Modem-HOWTO from www.linuxdoc.org.  It's well written.  I use the
old-fashioned scripts: ppp-on, ppp-on-dialer, and ppp-out.

The PPP-HOWTO is well-written as well.

If you're planning on dial-in, then you'll need mgetty
(http://alpha.greenie.net/mgetty/).  This dial-in doc is about the best
that's out there (http://www.swcp.com/~jgentry/pers.html) but it could be
written more clearly in my opinion.  That document is really a guided tour
through other documents.  Be sure to read all the man pages and the
documentation inside configuration files like
~/etc/mgetty+sendfax/login.config.  Plan on getting mgetty and compiling it.
I choose the latest beta version (1.1.27).

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Broome" <mbroome at employees.org>
To: <trilug at trilug.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2001 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Hello I am buying a US Robotics Modem...Need help


> I haven't dealt with modems in a while, but I think any external modem
> (at least, any one that has an RS-232 connection) should work with
> Linux.  There shouldn't be a dependency on the OS for an external modem.
> (Internal modems can be a whole different kettle of fish.)  I haven't
> kept up with the V.90 vs V.92 standard, but I think the V.xx standards
> only apply to the connection, tones, encoding, etc.  between the modems
> and not to the modem<->computer connection.  Also, with the way the
> standards usually work, V.92 is most likely backward-compatible with
> V.90 so you should be OK there, too.
>
> Most of the above it conjecture based on my previous -- but no longer
> current -- experience with modems (including using a USR external V.90
> with Linux).  If anyone else has a more current clue, feel free to
> correct me.
>
> Mike
>
> On Thu, Dec 20, 2001 at 02:23:48PM -0500, Randall Eric Nevins wrote:
> > Hello,  I am buying a US Robotics Modem 5686 External V.90 56K.  I
believe that this modem will work fine with Linux Mandrake 8.1.  However it
is not the new V.92 type.  I can get it upgraded at US Robotics site.  But
US Robotics was not sure if the V.92 will work with Linux.  The exact modem
I am getting is the new 5686D.  I have not bought it yet but I would hate to
get it and then find out it does not work with Linux in anyway.
> >
> > Do you know an answer to this problem?  I would really appreciate any
help you could give me.
> >
> > Thank you so much and Happy Holidays to you!
> >
> > Randall Nevins
>
> --
> Mike Broome
> mbroome(at)employees.org
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