ubuntu-ca Digest, Vol 45, Issue 7

Tue Dec 9 22:31:45 UTC 2008

Thank you very much for your Detailed Reply. I'll try this latter this
evening. I'm using Ubuntu 32 bit Gnome on a Home made AMD Box. The Modem
is an External TFM 560X TRENDnet through Com Port 1. There is an SCSI
Card for an HP Scanner.

I liked External modems in the past, USR, Trendnet, and even an AOL
Modem??? 

I'll let you know how it went.

Thank you Alfred!
-----Original Message-----
From: Mac <dhltd at telus.net>
Reply-To: The Canadian Ubuntu Users Community
<ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com>
To: ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com
Subject: Re: ubuntu-ca Digest, Vol 45, Issue 7
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 07:14:49 -0800
Mailer: KMail/1.9.10

On Tue December 9 2008 04:00:10 am ubuntu-ca-request at lists.ubuntu.com wrote:
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:57:51 -0500
> From: Alfred <alfred.s at nexicom.net>
> Subject: Re: Ubuntu Installation.
> To: The Canadian Ubuntu Users Community <ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Message-ID: <1228766271.6846.7.camel at alf-desktop>
> Content-Type: text/plain
>
> Hi:
>
> Today I installed 8.10 Ubuntu 32 bit on a 250 Gig Partition. It went
> well in the second time. Just one little problem:
> Here in Brigadoon :) we still have Dial-up and no access to High Speed
> Internet. How does one set up the Modem, and the Dial-up with 8.10. I
> see that there are lots of options in Network Tools, but Dial-up does
> not seem to be one of them. Is there an option to load Dial-up Tools
> from the DVD (I bought the DVD Install from Ubuntu in England, and had
> it shipped here.)
>
> Any hints or help would be appreciated
>
> Thank you in advance
>
> Alfred!

I had to configure a dial-up connection for a friend back in the summer on 
Ubuntu 8.04 and it can be done using wvdial which was packaged with 8.04 to 
make the initial connection using terminal commands.  For a GUI interface, 
after establishing a connection to the Internet, I downloaded and installed 
GNOME PPP which provides a graphics interface that is easy to use.

It took several attempts and was a bit frustrating, but I documented my 
experience and saved it in case I ever needed to re-visit the problem.
Once gnome ppp was installed and configured everything worked perfectly and my 
friend, who knows absolutely nothing about computers, has no problems using 
it daily.

One comment, we were pressed for time and I could not get the internal modem 
working so to save time I purchased a USRobotics USB modem but support for 
internal modems may have improved so you can try.

To use wvdial, you'll need to edit the file:   /etc/wvdial.conf  as root or 
use the sudo command to open the file.   I assume you are familiar with using 
basic editing but if not and you need some hand holding, please ask.

Here's an example of a configuration in  /etc/wvdial.conf that works using a 
USRobotics USB modem.  Save a copy of your existing /etc/wvdial.conf under a 
different name before you replace its contents with those below so if 
everything goes to H you can get back to your starting point.
NOTE that "Modem = /dev/ttyACM0" ends with a zero not a capital "O" 

Code:	[Dialer Defaults]    
New PPPD = yes    
Stupid Mode = yes    
Modem Type = Analog Modem    
ISDN = 0    
Auto DNS = 1    
Auto Reconnect = 0    
Modem = /dev/ttyACM0    
Baud = 230400    
Init1 = ATZ4
Phone = {Insert the telephone number of your ISP} eg. 250 123 1234
Username = {name}  This is the login name to ISP 
Password = {password}  This is the login password to your ISP

After saving the new  /etc/wvdial.conf ,  in a terminal, type:
sudo wvdial

After entering your UBUNTU root password, your modem should dial & connect.

After making the correction and re-trying the connection you should see a 
terminal display similar to that below which indicates you have a connection:

mac at T-61:~$ sudo wvdial
[sudo] password for mac: 
--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.60
--> Cannot get information for serial port.
--> Initializing modem.
--> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
--> Modem initialized.
--> Sending: ATDT250 388 5747
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT250 388 5747
CONNECT 48000/ARQ/V90/LAPM/V42BIS
--> Carrier detected.  Starting PPP immediately.
--> Starting pppd at Fri Sep 26 20:53:23 2008
--> Pid of pppd: 16576
--> Using interface ppp0
There should be four more lines which list 
--> local  IP address
--> remote IP address 
--> primary   DNS address 
--> secondary DNS address 

If you get that, you have a connection but then I found that I could not 
connect with Firefox due to a bug in Firefox.  That may have been fixed or 
you may not be using Firefox.  If you have a problem, ask for help with that 
one and I will look up my old notes and dig out the solution.

When you do get a connection, use the Synaptic Package Manager to install 
gnome-ppp to get a GUI modem manager.  If you are using Kubuntu it may have 
kppp installed or you can install it using Synaptic.  Kppp provides somewhat 
more detailed feedback on problems that it encounters but gnome-ppp is 
quicker to download over a dial-up connection, requires fewer resources and 
once configured works a treat.

Good luck
MacDuff