Setting up the broadband modem

1. To get the modem working the first thing we need to do is adjust the USE flags in /etc/make.conf, adding: atm.
2. Create or amend the file /etc/portage/package.keywords by adding:

   net-dialup/ppp ~x86
   

3. I assume at this point that you have USB and hotplug working.
4. Recompile the kernel, ensuring that the following are selected:
   

   Device Drivers -->
       Network device support -->
           PPP (point-to-point protocol) support
           PPP Deflate compression
           PPP BSD-Compress compression
           PPP over ATM (as module)
       USB support -->
           USB DSL modem support -->
               USB DSL modem support
               Speedtouch USB support (as module)
   Networking -->
       Networking options -->
           Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) (EXPERIMENTAL)
           Classical IP over ATM (EXPERIMENTAL)
   

5. Now we need some drivers from portage. So do:

   emerge linux-atm
   emerge ppp
   

6. Download the firmware extractor (found here). Now go into /root/ and untar the archive.
7. Next we need to get hold of the microcode for the modem. This can be found on the same website as above, or here as a backup.
8. Uncompress and copy the ZZZL_3.012 file to /root/firmware-extractor/. Run ./configure ; make ; make install in this directory. The firmware binaries should have been copied to /lib/firmware.
9. Now edit /etc/ppp/peers/adsl and put in the following:
   

   lock
   defaultroute
   noipdefault
   noauth
   holdoff 4
   maxfail 25
   persist
   passive
   asyncmap 0
   usepeerdns
   lcp-echo-interval 2
   lcp-echo-failure 7
   user "<username>"
   name "<username>"
   plugin pppoatm.so
   0.38
   

10. Fill in /etc/ppp/pap-secrets, and copy this to /etc/ppp/chap-secrets.
11. Reboot and surf the web!
12. If you have an account with dyndns, you will want to update your IP that is held with them periodically. For this you will need to emerge dyndnsupdate.
13. Ensure that you have a cron daemon installed using emerge vixie-cron.
14. Make a file in /root/updatedyndns.sh with 711 permissions, containing:
    

    dyndnsupdate -f -i ppp0 -h <dyndns_hostname> -u <dyndns_user>:<dyndns_password> 
    

15. Use crontab -e to edit the cron file and add the following:
    

    0 1 */25 * * /root/updatedyndns.sh
    

    This would force an update every 25 days so that your account is kept alive.
16. To update your dyndns account everytime ppp restarts (including boot), add the following line to /etc/ppp/ip-up:
    

    cat /root/updatedyndns.sh | at now + 1 minute
    

17. Make sure at is emerged and always running by executing emerge at ; rc-update add atd default.

• In /var/log/messages, I get something like cannot find microcode!
  You must have the wrong version of the microcode or you have specified the path to the microcode incorrectly. There are many versions of the microcode out there - do a search and try some other ones. Watch the /var/log/messages file closely, and check out dmesg. Or just get the silver modem :)