Cable modems and Linux. Try Knoppix, seems to recognize w/o configuring

Wow. need some subject material. Seems many modems don't work well under Linux, except serial port modems, which would be 56k.

Knoppix, from Adrianne on seems to recognize the cable modems w/o any work.

Unfortunately the core fronts on Knoppix are blindingly awful.

reply to post by yourmamaknows


The real problems are with what is called "Winmodems".

These are pretty dumb bits of silicon which require your processor to do most of the work. i.e; they require software drivers, most of which are only written for Windows.

Because of the commercial nature of Windows code, the brilliant people behind Linux were able to quickly reverse engineer the drivers for Linux but the Windows developers deemed that "naughty" (some sort of technical term) and demanded that the Linux drivers which had already been reverse engineered be surrounded by some sort of acceptance of the terms of the original software owner's rights and that they would be then freely available for those who'd already legally paid for the hardware but only if they acceded to some sort of BS acceptance of terms.

So, the drivers are available and probably on your distribution CD, but you've got to go through some stupid "acceptance of terms" EULA before you can use them.

reply to post by yourmamaknows


Hello, my Knoppix Brother.

It does work right away which is a lot to say for any distro.

I am only about a year old Linux-wise, could you tell me what you mean by this?

Unfortunately the core fronts on Knoppix are blindingly awful

Thanks, Brutha.

reply to post by Frater210


The fonts look like a twenty year old sign by the side of the road. Got the modem working under PCLinuxOS. Very pretty, XP like look, easy on the eyes. Had to let the OS system install Apache so I was a server then it worked. I'm under PCLinuxOS now. Knoppix is on a USB drive with persistence and Windows XP is on the front of the main disc as a dual boot. Took two days to get them all to recognize the cable modem. Nice speed. Take care.

Originally posted by yourmamaknows
Wow. need some subject material. Seems many modems don't work well under Linux, except serial port modems, which would be 56k.

Knoppix, from Adrianne on seems to recognize the cable modems w/o any work.

Unfortunately the core fronts on Knoppix are blindingly awful.

edit on 11-8-2011 by yourmamaknows because: not done

Seems like you have a unusual cable modem then, as any distro I have used in last decade have supported dhcp with cable and dsl modems.
My guess is that you did not hook it up using ethernet??
Any ethernet based modem/router should work automatically.
I am writing this using ubuntu with a 10mbit adsl2+ connection.

Don't want to be a jerk but WHY anyone would use a cable modem without a router? You want your computer to be exposed without any firewall before it?

No driver need for a router. Or, use your modem with Ethernet cable instead of that dumb usb..

Peace out.

Ummmm…….. If you are connecting to it via Ethernet, then your computer doesn’t need to detect it!!
Just set up DHCP on your Ethernet adapter and run.

Using Ethernet, it doesn’t give a dang what brand the modem is, it just has to talk to it using standard TCP/IP protocol.

If you use USB then you have to have drivers.

Personally, I use Mint 8, and it auto-detects everything hardware wise, and use (of course) a router to supply ethernet, with a simple three PC network. I don't use DHCP, but have static IPs behind the router, NAT configured, and wireless toggle through the internal network when someone needs wi-fi access.

I know, Mint 10 is out, and I HAVE dl'd and burnt the .ISO, but hey, WTF, everything works fine, so WHY do I want to upgrade right now?

Seriously, you would love Mint. It's based on Ubuntu, which I've run for years, but Mint is like, wow! You know where to find it.