support for USB ADSL modems

[yokozuna]

Hi!

I would like to see the support of USB ADSL modems. It should be done out of the box. I have to say that it is the Achilles' heel of almost every distro. The drivers are available online (mostly closed source) but how to install them if one should install them before connecting the Web? It makes no sense.

Why did I mention these two particular modems? Well, I live in Poland and these two types constitute around 90% of all USB ADSL modems. I know that they are popular in other Central European countries, as well as in France and the UK.

What is interesting there was a distro with the support out of the box. The name of the distro is Aurox but it has beed discontinued since October. There is a special installer for openSuse (link here: http://www.startsuse.iplaneta.info/suseneo/suseneo.sh ) but I want something for newbies, right one click away. Every time I want to convince my friends for using Linux they answer: "no support for my modem? No thanks". And I think they are damn right. I do not think that anyone who uses Linux for first time will find this http://www.xs4all.nl/~pschram/english.html particularly helpful.


Thanks in advance for your help. Save newbie souls

[quickstart]

Hi yokozuna,

I gave up with USB modems a long time ago. As you say, they are a problem. For the last 18 months, I've used an ethernet modem/router from Netgear. All the pc has to do is connect via LAN. I can't remember the last time I had to do anything to set up an internet connection with any of the many Linux distro's I've used, whether live or installed.
Most of the USB modems here in the UK come free of charge from the Internet Service Providers, hence they supply software driver CDs. If only they could include Linux.....

[yokozuna]

quickstart, I think we are twins, but I use an US Robotics (USR 9105).

But seriously, I think that the USB modems should be supported out of the box (at least Thomson provides firmwares/microcodes/drivers free of charge, but closed source). Moreover, believe or not but British and Polish phone standards are exactly the same. Our "beloved" national monopolist (aka known as national operator, something like BT in the UK) decided to not reinvent the wheel but copy the standards of one Western European country. By coincidence it was Britain.

Why do I think it is so important? Well, quite a lot of my friends want to install (or at least try) Linux. The problem is that they own the modems supplied by their operators (almost all of them!). Of course they fail with the installation and ask me for help. I explain them how it works and they tell me something like that: "Wait a minute, nobody told me that I will have to spend quite a lot of money for a router. I thought that Linux is free as a beer and does not have any hidden costs. It makes no sense if I have to spend money for a router which costs almost the same as a copy of Windows".

And I have to admit that they are damn right. The Net must be installed out of the box, it is far more important than any other driver. Why? One can install the rest of drivers from repositories and/or if some good souls from help forums will help him. But he must be connected the Net anyway. What I see today is a weird situation, there are more and more drivers for different hardware included, but not the modems. I am a Linux enthusiast so I bought a router, but I do not want to force anyone to spend money, so answer them "Yes, I think you are right. Do not spend your money and forget Linux as long as Linux forgets you".

[clem]

Can you detail the steps and packages needed for your modem to work?

[quickstart]

, there are more and more drivers for different hardware included, but not the modems.

Thanks yokozuna, you make a valid point. It would make running linux on an older pc more financially attractive.

[nick]

Hi
I agree, with support for the USB modems, I have a router myself but when i try to demonstrate Linux to people using the speedtouch, the "demo" usually stops there:
If they cannot connect to the intenet and play their music straight away, they do not want to
know:
There is and RPM which gives a nice GUI interface on Suse, will try to find.
There is a Debian package:
speedtouch_1.3.1-2_i386.deb
http://speedtouch.sourceforge.net/index ... ad.en.html
Regards-Nick

[yokozuna]

I think that everybody agrees that drivers which can be used out of the box are far more convenient that messing with long lasting installation procedures. I can understand that some people like Richard Stallman want to eliminate any closed source software. On the other hand software (incl. Linux) is IMO for human beings, so it should allow for easy installation, work and maintenance.

I have an idea, but I do not know if clem will agree with me. Let's make an interview with our friends and check what kind of USB ADSL modems they use (2-3 types max.). I know that they may be not a representative sample, but it is better than nothing. Why do I think it is so important? It will allow for making a short list of the most popular USB modems in the world (or at least in a part of Europe), so clem will have a bit easier life if he will be able to include their microcodes to Linux Mint.

BTW, the installation procedures for Ubuntu & Speedtouch 330 are here: http://linux-usb.sourceforge.net/SpeedT ... index.html

Thank you all that you support the idea. You are great!

[mh4]

In Poland we have a great program UbuNeo for Ubuntu http://ubuneo.googlepages.com/ Contact with authors for details: (main author: email: kalicki (att) tlen.pl skype: kalicki1977) (second author: adrian5632 (at) gmail.com) new UbuNeo0.8: http://forum.ubuntu.pl/viewtopic.php?t=21955
And for the Suse we have the SuseNeo: http://www.startsuse.iplaneta.info/suseneo/suseneo.sh

[adrian5632]

I have solution for You. There is a small program named gnome-ppx that can connect to the internet via ADSL modems (via PPPoE, PPPoA and PPTP protocols). It supports many ISPs. I'm using it to connect with Neostrada (ADSL internet service in Poland). But to modem work You will need installed firmware for your modem (I had installed ueagle-firmware in /lib/firmware).

PS. To connect to the internet via PPPoE, gnome-ppx needs "pppoe" package installed.

Link to the gnome-ppx on gnomefiles.org:
http://www.gnomefiles.org/app.php?soft_id=343

PS.2
I have downloaded rpm package and converted by alien.
Sorry for my bad english

[yokozuna]

Wow, UbuNeo works flawlessly! Can I ask for including the proggie to the installation CD of Mint? Can the program serve as an universal solution (not just Neostrada in Poland) for all USB ADSL users? It would be great!

PS It seems that the newest version of the application is here: http://forum.ubuntu.pl/viewtopic.php?t=21955 I can can translate this and that if needed, because Polish is a hard language.

[adrian5632]

Hello again.
Today I've released the first version of UbuDSL - an application to configure your adsl connection. It supports many providers (I don't know if all works properly - needs some testing).

So, now I want to add a support for Mint. I need to know which mint version is based on which ubuntu, and I have to have the result of "cat /etc/issue" for all the mint versions based on ubuntu 7.04 (and up;) whether it exists)