Modem configuration

ISA Modems

ISA hardware modems are generally set to specific IRQ's and I/O ports by jumpers. If you are having trouble getting the modem detected, make sure of the following:

• Confirm the settings. Most ISA modems should be set to ttyS1
• Disable serial port 2 in the bios. Make sure serial port 1 does not conflict.
• Reserve IRQ 3 for Legacy equipment in the PnP/PCI settings

PCI modem (ttyS14)

If the modem isn't found. or, modem shows up on the "serial" step in basiccheck (at ttyS14), but it doesn't respond when tested with the dialer. and anyway, what the heck is ttyS14? or - if the modem isn't found in the serial step (you only have one serial port detected), you can check if this applies using dmesg. try

guest@freekbox:~$ dmesg | grep ttyS | less 

(this searches dmesg for lines that contain the string ttyS) and see if you have a line that refers to ttyS14. If you do, this is your issue.
solution: To talk to this modem, you gotta create ttyS14:

guest@freekbox:~$ su
freekbox:/home/guest# cd /dev
freekbox:/dev# MAKEDEV ttyS14
freekbox:/dev# ln -s ttyS14 modem

Linmodems

Our freekboxes can now deal with pci software modems, but only pctel and lucent (sometimes called agere).

To get them to work, su to root and:

cd /opt
./fb3<tab> (either 'p' for pctel or 'l' for lucent)<tab> 

and that will install the drivers, set up the modem link, and have you on your way. (sorry i didn't fill in the names of those files, but tab-completion is just so easy!).

if it complains of any errors, it's likely you have one of the few unsupported models within those manufacturers, so go ahead and try a different one.