DSL and other live distros and cable modem USB

Forum: Networking
Topic: DSL and other live distros and cable modem USB
started by: ejbibbee

Posted by ejbibbee on April 07 2005,01:25

I am a Linux newbie who has experimented with several of the live distros in search of a (semi-) permanent installation on a couple different boxes I own. I'm having a blast and would like some insight into a rather interesting situation regarding linux distros and my cable modem setup.

One of the older machines I own is an HP Pavilion with 192MB of physical RAM and a 466 Mhz celeron processor. Nearly every live distro I have tested operates just fine on this machine, but Damn Small Linux is the ONLY one I have tested that is able to detect and use my cable modem (Motorola SB5100), which is connected directly to the computer via one of the USB ports.

Why a USB modem connection you may ask? Answer: This machine did not come with a NIC card and I just don't feel like putting one in.

1) Would anyone be able to explain what DSL has/does differently that allows it to instantly detect this USB modem connection where others (Ubuntu, Knoppix, SLAX, elearnix, BeatrIX) have failed?

2) Does anyone know of any other distros that would be liable to detect this USB modem connection? I have seen posts elsewhere suggesting that SUSE would, though I have not yet tested it.

Thanks!

Posted by cbagger01 on April 07 2005,03:49

I don't know the answer to that question, but my guess is that typing something like:

modprobe cdcether

in knoppix or other distros would manually load the driver.

Then

netcardconfig

should get your network up and running.

But I could be wrong. I don't own a SB5100.

I do have a SB4100 but I don't use the USB port and instead use a router and NIC card.