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### RH7.1 onThinkPad 560X cannot find ttyS00

From Shawn Koons

Answered By John Karns, Heather Stern

I have installed the prepackaged laptop version of RH7.1 on an IBM 560X P233 w/48Meg Ram. dmesg lists ttyS00 as the serial device but when I try to find the modem on that port the "K Add New Internet Connection" wizard says it cannot locate a modem.( I read in a search of the Linux Gazette that ttyS00 indicates that multiple ports are present or enabled.)

`/dev` lists all tty(x) [or at least I think all are listed]

I have also checked under KDE's Control Module and it does not list any Interrupts on 4, which is what dmesg lists as the IRQ for ttyS00.

The modem does work and the computer serial port worked under win98 (no longer on the HD - I have RH using the whole HD)

Can you help me get the modem (and later my palm pilot sync) working? Feel free to ask for further information. Be fairly specific on any commands you want me to run as I am not familiar with much beyond doing standard installs and rudimentary Linux commands.

Thank you.

Shawn

> [John] A good starting point might be to check the "Linux on Laptops" web site. There was recently a thread on it here.

> [Heather]
>   http://www.linux-laptop.net

> Please note that is singular. The plural version goes to some opportunistic laptop vendor, who as far as I can tell, doesn't actually know nor care much about Linux specifically.

> There's also Werner Heuser's Mobilix, http://www.mobilix.org

> wvdialconf is good at spotting modems. It won't tell you what kind, but it will tell you the far more important detail, which is, does it work when I try to ask it about doing dialup? And in the case of softmodems, yes, if your softmodem driver is properly loaded, then it will also properly respond to wvdialconf's tickling.

> [John] Unfortunately, most laptops these days use a form of the dreaded winmodems. Which one your particular machine has will determine your chances of success, so checking the laptop site will probably save you some time.

> Also the command "lspci" might give you specific info about which modem your particular machine has installed.

> [Heather]

> From that you may be able to visit the search engines and see if it is a known real modem or if it needs "linmodem" support. Linmodems.org will tell you what is currently supported. It seems like every time I turn around something that was previously an absolutely lost cause is barely supported, or the vendor is now on the bandwagon. If yours isn't on the good-boys list I wouldn't hold my breath though. The things tend to stay in the "barely" phase for way too long.

##### This page edited and maintained by the Editors of Linux Gazette Copyright © 2001
Published in issue 72 of Linux Gazette November 2001

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