modem services. Just a few years ago, getting a dial-up connection working
was difficult—hence, an entire chapter of this book was devoted to it. Today,
as long as you have a hardware modem, dial-up configuration is simple,
although this is quite rare these days. The Ubuntu developers and the wider
Linux community have made great progress in making connectivity easier.
Although many experienced Linux users continue to use manual scripts to
establish Internet connectivity, new users and experienced system
administrators alike will find Ubuntu’s graphical network configuration
interface much easier to use. You learn how to use the Internet Connection
Wizard in this chapter and how to configure Ubuntu to provide dial-in PPP
support. The chapter also describes how to use Roaring Penguin’s DSL
utilities to manage connectivity through a cable modem connection.
Common Configuration Information
Although Ubuntu enables great flexibility in configuring Internet connections,
that flexibility comes at the price of increased complexity. To configure
Internet connectivity in Ubuntu, you must know more about the details of the
connection process than you can learn from the information typically
provided by your Internet service provider (ISP). In this section, you learn
what to ask about and how to use the information.
Some ISPs are unaware of Linux or unwilling to support its use with their
services. Fortunately, that attitude is rapidly changing, and the majority of
ISPs offer services using standard protocols that are compatible with Linux,
even if they (or their technical support people) aren’t aware that their own
ISPs are Linux friendly. You just need to press a little for the information you
require.
If you are one of the few remaining people using a dial-up modem account
(referred to in Linux as PPP, for the Point-to-Point Protocol it uses), your ISP
will provide your computer with a static or dynamic IP address. A dynamic IP
address changes each time you dial in, whereas a static IP address remains the
same. The ISP also might automatically provide your computer with the
names of the DNS servers. You need to know the telephone number that your
computer will dial in to for making the connection; your ISP supplies that
number, too. You also need a working modem and need to know the device
name of the modem (usually /dev/modem).
NOTE
Most IP addresses are dynamically assigned by ISPs. An ISP has a pool of
addresses, and you get whatever address is available. From the ISP’s