I've just installed puppy linux 2.14; I have been trying for days to connect to the internet with my usrobotics, ext modem.
I finally have it dialing and trying to connect, but when the sd and rd lights blink off and on for about 3 seconds the modem will disconnect. I have read all I can, and tried all I know how to try, but still can not connect! I want to get rid of windows, but I need to be able to connect to my isp, which is peoplepc. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated, for I do not want windows any more, ever!!! Thanks, in advance. ardelite

Hi there
The very first thing you should do is this:
Check in your BIOS, and see if there is an option to disable any second/virtual serial port(s), especially if your machine has only one serial port on the back.
If you've done this, and/or it doesn't help at all, then post some more details, ie: the make/model # of the modem, what type of computer it is, and what program(s) you are using to dial/connect with.

Congrats, hopefully we can help you toss Windows

to grapefruitgirl; I went in bios and changed from auto to assign it to com2. It is an old emachine, 400mhz, 64mbram machine! model 0701 usr ext modem. I am so close, but really have no clue what to do next. oh, I'm using gkdial. It is strange, because when I click connect, it immediately says it can't, but the modem dials regardless. I've read recently that maybe gkdial is not really that good a choice, wvdial doesnt connect me either. I know i'm close, but not sure where the prob is. Any insight you can add, will be appreciated. I really don't want to give up on this, although I'm ready to re-install puppy, and try from scratch, although I prefer not to have to do this. Regards, Ardelite

OK, COM2 is just fine. Now, here's a link to another thread where I helped a user to get a serial modem working on Ubuntu. Much of the information should apply to your situation.
Read the whole thread first, to see where it goes, and then start at the beginning and check all the stuff that this user went thru to get his working. It now works perfect for him, but he also spent a lot of time where you are now, with the modem dialing, but not connecting, or dialing, connecting, then hanging up again.
He ended up finding that wvdial was the best working tool to use, and as I understand it, that is the back-end for many dialing GUI's anyways.
You will especially want to make sure you have the necessary kernel modules available and installed to use the parallel port, and tell wvdial to use /dev/ttys0 (I think; double check this) for the modem device.
Also, you may likely need to read up on some HAYES commands to communicate with the device. Get yourself a copy from the internet, of the Hayes Command Set, and also, if you don't have it, get a copy of the documentation and/or Users Manual for the modem.
Here's the thread:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...X+serial+modem

Best of luck If I can help with anything else specific, I'll try my best.

EDIT: Here's another link to a thread about the USR 0701 External modem under Mepis-linux. Looks promising, and has a couple of links within the thread too. Stick with it, I'm sure you will get it working. And use Google, for loads more info. Now the link:
http://www.mepislovers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4899

SUCCESS!!!!!! Had to reinstall puppy-linux and used wvdial, had to fiddle and finally got it to connect to my isp. Now the problem is it is connecting at 1/10 the speed. I've been on line reading how to increase the speed up to 50bps, but so far nothing. Anyone know what to do to make the usr external modem connect at hight speed than .5???????????? Help, I'm ready to use Linux full time now!!!!!!!!!!!! Ardelite

in a console, if you havent yet, try typing 'wvdialconf'.
If it returns a zero, or nothing at all, try using the modem again. Maybe there will be an improvement.
If it doesn't work, investigate the file wvdial.conf (which might be located in /etc) and check that everything looks ok in there.

Success. Had to add a init string to the modem. I connected at 46+ and that is great! Thanks for your encouragement; I do believe it is still a challenge to get Linux up and running without a lot of potential problems. This will end my comments on this subject! Ardelite

Excellent Nice work.. Perhaps you can see if that modem is listed in the HCL, and either add it if not, or if it IS there, add a review with maybe a couple hints about how you got it working, for other users.
Happy modeming