Finally got SuSE

Today, I finally got SuSE 9.1 and installed it..., it looks awesome...

I am really going to enjoy using this..., it is a little uncomfortable when I expect to right click and find properties, amoung other things...., but I'll get used to it...

A few problems I am running into...

My sound is only being played on the 2 regular speakers instead of my 5.1 surrond sound...., I have a Creative SBlive!.., I am not sure of the exact make at the moment...

My graphics card.., ATI RAEDON 9600 SP 128MB, will not do anything 3d on SuSE.., says that openGL isn't supported on it...,
not really anything big since I dont plan on doing anything in that area on SuSE anyway...

The Biggie...- My Winmodem..., I have a really off-brand modem.., it's an Encore V.92 FAX MODEM
but it does have a Intel 536EP chipset.., and I looked on Intel's site and I found a driver for SuSE 9.0 (I assume that it should work with 9.1)
I downloaded it using windows and put it on my FAT32 Partition.., and now I have it in SuSE...
The problem is that I can't find out how to install it...

From Readme-

3. INSTALLATION

Prerequisites:
1. root access
2. bash shell to run install scripts
3. an Intel536ep modem
4. KERNEL SOURCE HEADERS FOR THE KERNEL YOU ARE RUNNING.
and programming development tools installed as well

6 steps to install
1. login as ROOT
2. extract the archive into a directory with "tar -zxvf <archivename>.tgz"
3. cd into the directory it created.
4. Type: make clean
5. Type: make 536
6. Type: make install


Please examine the Intel536_inst script if you have a different distribution.

The Intel536 driver registers itself as character device
major number 240, minor number 1.


ATTENTION: if the driver compiles but the script just wont work for you.
Here are the bare minimum steps to get your modem to work.

0. log in as root.
1. insmod -f Intel536.o
2. you can start "hamregistry" at this point if you wish.
3. rm /dev/536ep
4. mknod /dev/536ep c 240 1 (note "240" is the default, if it does not
work see what /proc/devices says 536ep's major number is)
5. ln -s /dev/536ep /dev/modem
6. start a comm application like minicom and use the modem.
7. see section 3 (International Users) for info on setting the correct
country settings.

.................

I clicked on the button that says consle on the taskbar, and followed the step..., I got to "make clean" and it gives me an error, basically saying there is no make command....

Link to download- http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...x&submit=Go%21

after going round and round in circles trying to figure out why it wouldn't work.., I discovered that the drivers are incompatible to the new kernel...

so basically I need to downgrade from the 2.6 kernel to the 2.4 kernel

can anyone help me out with this?

thanx again,
Byan

I've found that it's easier to switch hardware to something supported by Linux than to search endlessly for drivers. Winmodems are troublesome with all Linux distros. Here's a link to the SuSE 9.1 supported hardware-modem page.

http://cdb.suse.de/productSearch.php...ist=23&f_arch=

well...., if I am going to buy new hardware, then I mindswell get a External modem...

Are there any of those that anyone can recommend?

but I did find these drivers that say they work for the 2.4 kernel.., and I dont think that the kernels are so much different that it would really matter if I went back down to a 2.4 kernel from a 2.6....

thanx again,
Byan

You've probably already done what you're gonna do. BUT, for my 2¢ worth,

1) I never buy "WinModems" and

2) I always buy external modems

(exceptions to 1 and 2 where laptop is concerned -- there you have a choice between whatever they'll put into it or nothing.)

BTW, FWIW, I'd stick with the 2.6.x kernel and get a modem. If you wanted 2.4.x you didn't have to get SuSE 9.1 :D

ALSO, do NOT install support for IPv6 (at this time). I read the other day about someone who found his Internet connections very slow and came to find out the the system was trying to resolve IPv6 and most DNServers don't have that yet, so he'd have to wait for timeouts before it would drop back to IPv4 and then quickly get the address.

He recompiled with support for IPv6 left out and he said it made all the difference!

Good luck and enjoy! (I'm jealous!)