Modem woes (no WvDial?)

[fiskhall at labyrinth.net.au]

Having installed Ubuntu 1.1 in a dual boot partition, I'm finding that the
modem isn't recognised.
I have a 56K Swann modem set up on COM1. (/dev/ttys1?), and it works OK under
Windows.

During installation, I was asked to provide details for my ISP in order to
download updates. Not having DNS details to hand, I declined this, figuring I
could do it later...
However, any attempt I make to activate the modem device is greeted with the
message along the lines of : 'WvDial package not installed. Modem can't be
configured'
Browsing through the synaptic app, I don't see any reference to WvDial. I have
obtained the wvdial package from Debian, but haven't had much luck getting
that installed either (however, that's probably unfamilarity with apt-get)

I'll keep poking around, but thought I'd drop a line here to see if anyone can
make any suggestions.

- Tony Fisk