Basic Guide to Dial-Up Fedora and SuSe - www.reallylinux.com

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Basic Guide to Dial-up Internet with Linux by Mark Rais, senior editor reallylinux.com and author of Linux for the Rest of Us 2nd Edition. Our other related articles: Basic Guide to DSL/Cable Use Commands for Beginning Server Administrators Full list of our exclusive Linux articles This beginner article summarizes Mark Rais' experiences using a dial-up internet connection with SuSe and Fedora. It's intended as a review for the many people who are still using dial-up all around the world and need basic help getting started. In his desire to help everyone switch to Linux Mr. Rais did not want to leave out the dial-up crowd! However you can also read his article Basic Guide to DSL/Cable Use if you are using broadband. Before you start, please note that some modem manufacturers rely on Windows to operate their modem hardware (aka WinModems), and therefore your internal modem may not work.   If you experience trouble then hopefully this page and this web site may help resolve the issue for you.   Those with non-Winmodems and external Hayes compatible modems don't need to worry about this at all. Step 1 Start by Connecting and Rebooting Once you have properly connected your modem and made sure it is on, reboot your Linux system. In all likelihood, your modem will be detected by the Linux hardware detection tool and automatically installed. Step 2 Get Details from Your ISP After successfully loading your desktop, you will need to configure your modem, which will require some information from your ISP. Most ISPs will accommodate you and provide clear answers to your questions, since you are paying them! However, some ISPs require you to use proprietary software to dial in and log on to their service. This may inhibit using the generic Linux tools and require you to use some form of emulator to run your ISP’s software under Linux. If you are stuck with such an ISP, you may want to consider an alternative FREE ISP who fully supports Linux. I’ll provide some tips later on the subject. In most cases you will simply need to know the local dial-up number to call your ISP. You should take the time now to contact them if you need to get this information. Here’s what you may want to communicate: Mention that you are planning to dial-up to your account through your Linux PC Ask for one or two local dial-up numbers And get their Domain Name Server IP addresses TIP: If your ISP tech person mentions that the ISP “does not support Linux,” acknowledge you understand this and repeat your questions, since you’re not asking them to help provide tech support for Linux, you’re asking them how they allow access to their network for your use. You will find out shortly something I’ve noticed from my experiences — some ISPs are far nicer about helping you do this than others! Step 3 Configure the Modem and ISP Info Once you have your ISP information, you can quickly configure the modem and enter details for accessing the ISP account. You will also need your account id and password, so have them handy as you begin. As with other configuration examples, I will use actual steps from two of the major flavors (Fedora and SuSe). I’ve successfully used this information while installing other popular flavors too, so they will apply to most of the newer flavors. The tools are often determined by the Desktop you use and so Fedora (uses Gnome) and SuSe (uses KDE) help give a rather well rounded view of how to setup your modem across most flavors. Step 4: Fedora Dial-Up     (for SuSe Dial-up click here or scroll down)

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