by teststrips » Sat Mar 06, 2004 2:02 pm
no distribution of linux/unix plays well with winmodems. Winmodems don't have a hardware communication controller... all of the data conversion is done via software. To keep costs down they generally only develop drivers for one OS... windows.
Some people have hacked/cracked the windows drivers and ported them to linux, or even have created new ones from scratch, but they are generally not easy to install, and not something a linux newbee would be able to do. (one reason why i don't recommend linux yet for your main OS)
If you HAVE to have internet access in linux, i'd suggest getting an external serial modem. I have 2 US Robotics modems, one which is now in my parent's computer, and the other acts as a fax machine on my computer (since i have broadband and no longer need it for internet)