Linux-internet connection problem

I need some help with a potential problem I will probably face.

I am planning on upgrading my OS from XP to SuSe Linux 8.2 at the end of this month. I have been reading about all the problems about winmodems not working with Linux and I can't seem to find the answers no matter where I look.

I have a 56K PCI Telephony Modem(Lucent Win Modem). So I know that this is a soft modem and doesn't have a hardware controller on it.

However, I have a Toshiba PCX 1100U Cable Modem. At first an online friend of mine insisted that it was hooked up to my 10/100 PCI Fast Ethernet NIC, which I do have. But I just found this:

"Toshiba's PCX1100U, also known as the DAZ8813, the latest in the family of PCX Cable Modem products. The "U" in this product stands for USB, the latest hardware technology that eliminates the need for an Ethernet (NIC) Card to connect your cable modem to your computer.
The USB cable (supplied) simply plugs into your USB-capable Windows 98SE/2000/ME computer and your modem."

At: http://www.str8buy.com/tospcx1100ud.html

Which is what I originally thought. So I'm not even using my ethernet card right now.

The technical support at Toshiba said that my Cable Modem relies on my computer for a controller and doesn't have one of it's own.

And the technical support at DELL could barely understand what I was talking about with Linux and couldn't tell me **** that was useful. He couldn't even find what the chipset number for my ethernet card was. I found on my device manager that my ethernet card is a Realtek RTL8139. Is that the chipset?

So, what I need help with is that I know where I can get the driver that should make my internal modem work. But what if I use the ethernet card????? Will that work without me having to download drivers? And wouldn't using the ethernet card be better anyway?

I've searched Google and old posts, but can't find the answers. Can anyone help?

Watcher

DELL Desktop Dimension 8200
2.4 GHz
512 RD RAM
80 Gig HD Two Partitions: C: 55 GB/45 free D: 20 GB/16 free
Currently Win XP soon SuSe Linux 8.2 Professional

Quote:

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So, what I need help with is that I know where I can get the driver that should make my internal modem work. But what if I use the ethernet card????? Will that work without me having to download drivers? And wouldn't using the ethernet card be better anyway?

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With linux and drivers there are never positive answers. You almost always have to 'tweak' something around a bit to get it working. As for hooking up the cable modem, I would strongly recommend just doing it through your ethernet card, it works the best that way from my experiences.

As for what to do now, I would suggest you to just create another partition and dual boot windows / linux. This way, you have windows to fall back on if you have any problems. (Scary thought, falling back on windows for Linux problems) But your best way to find out if drivers are going to work correctly with your hardware is just experimenting. So, just create another partition, install Linux, and start trying stuff out, that would be your best bet.

I don't know about the winmodem but I am using the same NIC as you and Red Hat came with the driver and I have had to do nothing to it. Hope that relives some of the stress!



hjack