April 7th, 2003, 02:42 PM
not to be weird, but to break it down pretty easy:
1) AOL is a pain to use with linux, you're almost better off just getting a local internet account. Local ISP's almost always will support linux, because they are usually using linux themselves.
2) your modem. USRobotics and a few other companies make what is called a controller based modem. Basically, it still fits in a PCI slot, but it's enormous compared to a winmodem. (If someone else explained this already, my apologies) Basically a winmodem uses your processor to handle most of it's dirty work, it just serves as a phone jack. A Controller based modem actually thinks for itself, and thus doesn't require any special software (read: Windows) to be used. It works the same way as an external modem does, but sits happily inside your box. >>>>My actual recommendation - go to your local used computer shop and get someone's old ghetto external (pawn shops are also great for this) you'll pay like 5 bucks for it, and you can easily move it to another box if you want to dial up on another machine.
i\'m starting to think that i\'m bound to always be the first guy on the second page of the thread.