Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gatsby]

I decided to give Linux another try. Loading it onto a hard drive was simple; you can even run it from the CD-ROM. Figuring out how to use the basic stuff was mostly pretty intuitive, though there's a bunch of new terminology to learn.

But trying to connect it to the Internet through a DSL modem proved to be a conundrum I couldn't crack. If it was a phone modem, or a simple fiber optic broadband connection, it probably would have been simpler. I am getting a link, but can't figure out how to log on with name and password.

Does anyone use Linux and have advice?

If I get that down, I guess the next step would be figuring out how to dual boot.

I tried Ubuntu 9.10

http://www.ubuntu.com/

and Ubuntu Studio:

http://ubuntustudio.org/

That Ubuntu Studio sure has some cool programs included!

[Underwaterbob]

We're missing some information. How do you connect your DSL modem to your computer? Ubuntu has had some issues with network card compatibility. Most of them are easily fixed.

[Senior]

I have a 15 GB drive partition sitting idle on my hard drive because I can't get the WIFI or LAN to work. It worked at first but an update killed it. I have a netbook, so updating the OS is kind of a conundrum. I'm probably having the same issues as you. Some advice on how to fix it would be lovely.

[Gatsby]

It does not seem to be a driver problem. There seems to be communication with the ISP.

I have a DSL modem box. The box connects to the phone line. The computer connects to the box via a fiber optic cat cable into the ethernet port.

There seems to be communication with the ISP. What I need to do is find a way to sign on with the ISP, providing my user name and password.

With Windows you either click the network icon or can put a shortcut icon on your desktop that produces a pop up sign on box when clicked.

I need to find something like that in Ubuntu. And with windows you can instruct it how quickly and how often to log on again if you lose your connection. This happens sometimes when I am on Windows.

[Underwaterbob]

[Gatsby]

Let me tell you something, Underwaterbob.

I've been using computers since before there was a Linux, before there was a Windows, before there was a Mac, before there was a DOS, even before there was CP/M. (And I've used all of these OS's.) I used a pre-DOS laptop I was handed before boarding a plane to send in a story from the middle of nowhere on deadline to my newspaper's computer via modem. I hooked up a DOS laptop via modem to bulletin boards and online services like Prodigy. I connected to the Internet in the early days of the Web on Windows 3.1.

I am not a computer genius, but if I can't figure out how to connect my laptop to my ISP using Linux, I think it's safe to say they are losing a lot of potential recruits. This is one of the first things anyone is going to do after installing Linux, and before they master all the arcane Linux lingo. A google search suggests I am far from alone.

[aphase]

Does the web browser get re-directed to your ISP's login page? If so, and if it's a web page that works only with Internet Explorer, there are a couple of things you could try. The easiest solution would probably be using a router between your computer and internet modem, and having the router clone the MAC address of your computer so that the modem thinks that it's yoru computer so you don't have to keep logging in.

But if its a internet service that requires you to login every time that could be a problem, especialy if it works only with Internet Explorer.

If that is the case, and if your adamant about using Linux, then I suggest you switch to an internet company which is more OS friendly. I would think it would work tho, as Apple's Macs are all BSD-Unix based, and they seem to work on almost all ISPs.

I used to use Ubuntu on my work computer, and it didn't work plug-n-play style, but all i had to do was enter my network settings (which i found by seeing what they were under windows).

Anyways if this post seems unstructured and difficult to read, it's because i'm super tired at the moment.

[crossmr]

[denverdeath]

[crossmr]

[aphase]

[Gatsby]

The computer is sending a little data back and forth to the ISP. What's missing is the login page.

I think there are a lot of people here who can't grasp that in some parts of Korea what KT calls Megapass Lite is old-fashioned copper wire DSL. We're talking Internet through the copper wires that run your phone.

For this you need a DSL modem (technically called an ADSL modem)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSL_modem

From the modem comes a fiber optic line into your ethernet port. To the naive, this makes it look like a true broadband connection. When the KT suits finally figured out how to hook it up, after four hours, they proudly pointed to a pop up on my screen that said I had a 100 mbs connection. (Either they were even stupider IT techs than I have ever encountered in my life, if they believed that, or they thought I was a complete fool, if they thought I believed it). In fact, I was getting about 150kbs download, and about 15 kbs upload, or about five times the speed of dial up. For this Megapass Lite service I pay KT 30,000 won a month.

I must logon every time I turn on the computer, even after sleep, and after the connection is dropped momentarily. Windows can reconnect automatically, and you can set how often and how quickly it reconnects.

An interesting side to this setup is that each time I logon on I have a different IP address.

At any rate, initial logon is easy: You just put your ID and password in the boxes. Subsequent logons with this saved only involve clicking a box to instruct the computer to logon.

This is what I need in Ubuntu: A place to tell the computer to logon info, and a way to tell the computer to logon.

If this is too much like Windows for those Linux geeks, and they want to make logging on into an exercise in technobabble, then I guess Linux is not for me because I've got other things to do with my life. I saw one posting where a guy spent about 14 hours figuring out how to log on with Ubuntu.

But the rest of the Ubuntu OS looked nice and fairly easy to figure out. So I don't understand why this should be so complicated.

[crossmr]

[aphase]

That sounds weird that you would have to login every time with that DSL modem. I would just change your service if that's really the case, because it seems like something is not working right.

Also, you pay 30,000 won for that? You could upgrade to FTTH and pay about the same. I think I pay 35 dollars a month for mine. FTTH (Fiber to the home) is a true fiber optic line.


Another thing I wanted to mention is that Linux might indeed not be for you. Usually linux is for the more technically inclined. I maintain a debian linux system for a web server I'm running, and I would definately not recommend it to others unless they knew quite a bit about computers.

[Mr. Pink]

My suggestion is to buy a router and have it so the router does the dial up for you...then your computer connects tot he router and problem solved.

That is how I have handled having DSL. IMO DSL sucks. I prefer cable or a straight CAT5 100Mbit line going from the wall into my computer.