[sclug] What to do with a Linux newbie like me

[Antony Bartlett]

Perhaps start them off on something simpler than
trying to install and configure what is by all accounts
a bloody awkward ASDL modem to get started
with (BT Voyager USB ADSL Modem - anyone else
have one?)
 
Trouble is, there's very little worth doing on a
computer without an internet connection, these days
(this posted from Outlook Express :-( on my other
partition btw).
 
So I've got eciadsl out of sourceforge/flashtux.  The
rpm, not the source, because commands like autoconf
and configure certainly don't want to work for me as
easily as the documentation implies they will.  It installs.
Following the instructions I run ecicon.sh and enter
some plausable values into the dialog and commit
them.  Then
 
 [root at localhost src]# startmodem
 
 setting up USB support (1/5)..
 
 loading firmware (2/5)..
 
 modem not found
 
 
 Oh well; nothing like trying to use a new operating
system (Mandrake 9.1) to make you feel about two
inches tall.
 
     Best regards,
 
         Antony