FN-FORUM: The final (for now:) chapter in My Newbie Linux Experience Series
date posted 1st September 2004 18:38
So...
I get the network set up, and the next thing on the list is to get the USB
modem working on the Slackware box. Now, I've been googling around a lot,
and from what I read this is supposed to be muchos tricky to nigh-on
impossible. I start to sweat a little, but determined to do this, I plunge
in.
I read the my modem, a sagem 800 series, is something akin to the devil's
hardware, and that folks with mandrake 10, Suse 9, Redhat and etc appear to
be having a hell of a time getting it to play nice with their linux
machines. I sweat some more. I then read that I can try the eagle-usb
drivers for the modem. I find that most of the site is in French, and it
takes a bit of messing around to find the download and install instructions
in English
[http://eagle-usb.ath.cx/eagledev/wakka.php?wiki=TestEagleUs] .
On the site it says that, for slackware 10, only the CVS version will work.
I try that, but I can't get it to go past the autogen.sh command, so I
download the 'normal' version from
http://download.gna.org/eagleusb/eagle-usb-1.9.8.tar.bz2. The instructions
say to run ./configure straight, and that you only need to run the
autogen.sh command if you have the CVS version - this, as I discovered is
actually incorrect. For this version you need to start the instructions from
the point of ./autogen.sh and go on from there.
So, I follow all the instructions and go through the config, start adsl and
try an nslookup...nada. When I try diagnosis I'm told that the modem is
working properly, so I am now very confused. I go back to google, and spend
ages trawling through various posts to see what on earth I'm doing wrong
(but in the back of my mind is the niggling doubt that I am trying something
a bit too out of my depth here). Then, after many failed attempts, and
writing copious notes in which I start to find my way around the operating
system (always a good thing!), I calm myself down and remember that, despite
all the gloom and doom on these same forums about a newbie like me
attempting a Slackware install, Slackware has behaved like a perfect
gentleman from the moment I started using it. It has done everything I have
asked it to, without fault, and given me no hassles whatsoever...so I say to
myself, "maybe it's not Slackware?" ... and that's when I realise that I
have put in the wrong password for connecting to my ISP account (doh!).
After that it's a breeze. I test the modem, works like a charm. Stop adsl
quickly and go and find myself a firewall (shorewall :
http://www.shorewall.net/ ). I follow the instructions, set it up, and
viola!, I now have a firewall behind which my
newly-connecting-to-the-internet Slackware box is hiding. The final step is
to tell my windows xp laptop (from which I am sending this) to see the
Slackware box as the internet gateway and ...ta-da! :)
My next project is to connect the other two machines on my network (one
windows 98, and one windows NT 4) in the same way. In the meantime, knowing
that I have now opened a machine up to the wide-world, I'm checking out ways
to lock the server down more tighly, and I've bought myself a copy of 'The
Complete Hacker's Handbook' to find out where the holes are.
For any other newbies out there looking to give Linux a try, all I can say
is don't be afraid of Slackware - it's a beautiful beast - and the Windows
XP O/S on my laptop looks as though it's days are now seriously numbered :)
Cheers
Caz
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