Drvers for Cable Modem

[daycoming]

I have installed Red Hat Linux 7.3 for the first time. Everything went fine I have it duel booting with XP Pro but I have now hit a brick wall in configuring my modem. It is a USB Motorola Surfboard SB4100. My ISP Tec Support can not help they tell me they do not provide Tec suport for Linux. I am hoping that somebody can point me in the right direction for drivers if they exsist and some tec help.

[fancypiper]

Aren't ISPs so considerate of their users? My ISP runs on SUN and they don't support Linux. :confused:

Maybe the modem howtos (http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/hardware.html#HWMODEMS) will get you on the right track.

Does the probe find the modem from the redhat dialer (rp3)?

[kam]

Get a cable modem with an ethernet connection instead of USB. You won't need to get drivers (I think).

EDIT:

I am using the exact same cable modem! Right now mine is hooked up to a router, though, but when I first got it, I used an ethernet connection like I just described.

EDIT again:

That modem should already have an ethernet connection built it, right next to the USB one.

[daycoming]

Yes the probe finds the modem and names it corectly.
But i cant load it. I will try that link you posted.
Thanks for the help.

[kam]

Ahem? No offense to fancypiper (I know he knows what he's talking about), but I'm telling you, connecting it to your NIC is hella easy. You simply plug it in and tell your NIC to get IP via DHCP.

[daycoming]

Thanks everyone for your help. I went and got an earthnet cable
and it works fine.

[FargoUT]

Here's the problem with Linux... I have a USB port and an Ethernet port on the SurfBoard modem. Windows2K will use either. I can use either, and it works perfectly well. When AT&T installed my NIC card, I had an old computer with ISA slots. They used an ISA card instead of a PCI card. Now my new computer does not have ISA slots. So I was forced into using a USB port. Why should I have to buy extra hardware to support an OS? I'm not bashing Linux, but it's just... that's definitely something that will keep Linux out of the mainstream. Why shouldn't Linux be able to detect the modem on the USB port, and utilize it?

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by FargoUT
Here's the problem with Linux... I have a USB port and an Ethernet port on the SurfBoard modem. Windows2K will use either. I can use either, and it works perfectly well. When AT&T installed my NIC card, I had an old computer with ISA slots. They used an ISA card instead of a PCI card. Now my new computer does not have ISA slots. So I was forced into using a USB port. Why should I have to buy extra hardware to support an OS? I'm not bashing Linux, but it's just... that's definitely something that will keep Linux out of the mainstream. Why shouldn't Linux be able to detect the modem on the USB port, and utilize it?

Why are you blaming Linux. Linux is not responsible for writing 3rd party drivers the same as MS is not.

Blame the manufacturer of the USB Cablemodem for not providing Linux drivers.

[kam]

No, it is NOT something that will keep Linux out of mainstream. 10/100 network cards are very cheap nowadays: $30, usually less. I'd also like to point out that you said AT&T installed your NIC: why did they use ethernet instead of USB? Because ethernet is much, much better. My cable company told me USB was also much less reliable. The only reason they even have it is for a last resort. It is unreasonable for you to say that buying an NIC is EXTRA hardware, when many computers come with NICs nowadays. You should think of an NIC as another piece of hardware you must have if you want broadband.

And the reason Linux can't use your modem on USB isn't Linux's fault; you should blame the manufacturer for not making drivers. The same goes for winmodems. It is not Linux's fault that manufacturers don't make drivers.

[FargoUT]

kam: They did install a NIC card... an ISA NIC card. I specifically told them not to install anything until I was there. But they did it anyway. And the moron of an installer put in an ISA card instead of a PCI card. My new computer does not support ISA cards.

Also, on a side note, I believe the AT&T installer took my PCI NIC card that I once had, because I can no longer find it. This irritates me a lot. I have no way to prove it either.

[sharth]

I skipped the last 3 or 4 replies but I think I have the same Cable modem too :-D

If you are running Debian, then the one thing that probably will do it if you connect it to a nic is

pump -i eth0

It took me a while to figure that out, but I have it auto running it from an init script and my internet works fine now. I dunno if pump is universal or debian specific though. :(

-edit-

Yeah, i really should read posts... ecspecially the ones that says it works now :rolleyes:

[tim44202]

I have the same modem. I am running it as a USB device. After much research I got it to work fine. The driver is PEGASUS, which can be found at http://linux-usb.org/ . The only problem I have is that I must do an "rcnetwork start" from the console after booting/. Apparently the reason for this is a timing issue related to the boot scripts ( /etc.init.d/network ). I am running SuSe 8 and all I had to do was insert the driver name in the network card config screen. You will also need to specify the ISP UP address.

I still have not solved the auto enabling problem, so I just manually start the network from a console.