alex wrote:
My grand children gave me a Windows XP computer (made for Staples by Northgate)
good kids (sortta - Windows?!)
for my 86th birthday
Happy Birthday!
not realizing that I do Linux
You've got some proselytizing to do.
and now I'm trying to make the best of the situation. I had 7 different Linuxes, 5 were Debian and its derivatives installed on my old computer and I'd like to do similar on this new one.
As a test, I installed KNOPPIX on the harddrive and it works fine except for the modem and sound so I'd like to fix this problem.
The modem is not surprising; the sound is only slightly surprising.
The motherboard has integrated video and integrated sound and it has an Agere Systems PCI Soft Modem . As far as I can tell, video seems OK in Linux, at least it's there but I'm just comparing it to another WinXP computer where the video didn't work at all in Linux. Perhaps someone can enlighten me on this..
.I could use some recommendations about installing a modem that is more suitable for Linux, an internal PCI.Hardware version or external (which is preferable, series or USB?)
All other things being equal, external. Always. Serial. Always. But, things aren't equal (serial ports are disappearing from new computers, PCI modems are cheaper, etc).
I've been under the impression that any external modem will work in Linux but the data for some models.omits Linux in their operability list.
If it's a real modem that plugs into a real serial port it'll work. Anything else is iffy.
I'd like to have audio but it doesn't have to be super quality---- I'm not a music fanatic so the cheapest sound card would be OK as long as it works in Linux..
I've checked Hardware Compatability Lists but they seem somewhat behind the times. This computer is quite up to date, enough so that a 4 way card reader was installed in lieu of a floppy drive. I had to install a floppy drive before I could run my Partition Manager to partition the 120 GB HD.
Run "lspci" to get a list of the sound chipset, video chipset, modem (maybe), etc. Then you'll be better able to determine if the different components will work with Linux. It may be that everything will work, but that it'll take a bit of work. If so, you won't have to replace parts.
For example, one flavor of integrated video/sound is the Intel 810 series. In such a situation, running "modconf" and selecting the "i810" video and the "i810_audio" modules may be all that's necessary to get your video and sound working quite well.
I believe that modems with a Lucent chipset are fairly well supported, but not "out of the box". For me, I've found that it's easier just to dump the whole modem way of thinking and move up to broadband/ethernet. Much much faster, reliable, easy, but at considerably more monthly expense (typical $15/month for dial-up vs $50/month for cable internet - shop around, DSL might be cheaper in your area, or if you're already a cable tv customer you might get a break, or if you already have a second phone line for dial-up you can drop that and apply the savings to your broadband, etc).
You might need to upgrade your kernel to get support for some things.
I know this doesn't actually answer your questions, but maybe it'll give you a direction in which to go.
-- Kent
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