How can I tell if my modem is being detected and working in Linux?

[The Coder]

I just bought a Cendyne External modem for my PC. I am currently dual booting WIn XP Home and Slackware 9.0. The modem is 56K/V.92 and is connected to my PC with a Serial cable to the one and only serial connection. I first tried to get this Modem to work in Windows, but ran into problems. I am using AOL and can't change ISPs right now. WHen I try to use the Modem in Windows I run into 2 problems.

1.) It does not like the driver that comes on the CD, but I installed it anyway.

2.) It tries to dial outside but doesn't seem to work. It is slow and finally dials, but I keep getting "modem found no dial tone".

I just want to know if this modem is working. I also started slackware up to see what it would do with it. So is my modem on Com1/tty0? How can I tell if slack detected it? When I installed Slack I have a symbolic link from /dev/modem -> ttyS4. How to I change it? I just want to know if the hardware of the modem works(dials out properly) and I will worry about connecting to the Internet 2nd. Thanks.

[error27]

> I just bought a Cendyne External modem for my PC.

I googled for it and it should work.

> So is my modem on Com1/tty0?

dmesg | grep tty

> When I installed Slack I have a symbolic link from /dev/modem -> ttyS4. How to I change it?

rm /dev/modem ; ln -s /dev/ttyS<number> /dev/modem

To test that the modem works, just try dialling a phone number and see if the phone rings.

[o0zi]

And about the dial tone problem in Windows, look for a "Do not wait for dial tone" option somewhere and enable it. In the UK, modems have problems with answering machine services, so they generally don't wait for a dialtone.

[The Coder]

Thanks for the responses guys. I am not sure why this modem does not work in windows. I went to Cendyne's site and it was total crap, almost nothing there. I have tried different drivers with it and it just does not work, and I am not going to worry much about it in regards to windows. I will try to get it to work in Windows later since I have an internel PCI modem to use but I definatly want the externel it to work in linux.

I was fooling around with Kppp yesterday and it looks like the externel works on Linux. I did the "query modem" opition and it returned with the modem diagnostics and I typed the command AT&F on the command line and received ok, so I think things look ok. I tried to dial the AOL number but I got Authentication problems with their server. I will try dialing a phone number, myself and see if that works. SO what do you guys think, are these good signs that the modem is working?

[o0zi]

I'm not sure if you can just dial the AOL number from an ordinary PPP program. You may want to check out PengAOL, a Linux port.

[The Coder]

THanks for your help guys. Looks the Modem is working fine. I had it dial my friend's number and it rang the number properly. I used kppp and dialed AOL and I can only get to their server using Terminal based authentication. When I do connect in this manner their server asks me for a Username and Password and when I type mine in it says "bad password", even thogh it is correct. I am not sure why. When I set the authentication to PAP/CHAP ? the ppp deamon dies unexpectedaly, and I don't even reach their server. I will see if I can find PengAOL, somebody also told me about a product called Penggy?, I will keep you posted on how I do.

[The Coder]

Well guys,
I downloaded PengAOL and compiled it from source. All I have to say is that sucks in my opinion. I am sure somebody put a lot of hard work into it, but it is very poorly organized in my opinion. I couldn't find a Readme or INSTALL file anywhere in the tarball. It forces you to run some recompile script rather than the standard configure script and you can't even pass it the --prefix=... parameter. I have it installed it , sort of, but I don't know where it put most of the files:mad: Frankly I just want it off of my box. Anyways does anybody know of any other free software that will dial AOL and is reliable? I know AOL is no good, but I get so much free time with them that it is hard to resist, and I haven't really had too many problems getting a connection and staying connected. If I can dial AOL in Linux, I can really reduce my time with WinXP. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.