UGN Security Forums UGN Security: Knowledge Base Operating Systems *nix & *nix Security Linux Modems

Well i found out that the modem in my other pc works for linux but i got to reinstall linux on there sence the pc was given to me and the guy wont tell me the root password or anything. so i was wondering is there any commands or anything i need to know for installing it with this modem or should it work just fine and pick up during the install.

I dont see any reason why you would have to have to root password of the current install to format the hard drive and reinstall. If the distrobution that you use right now supports it, and you install it again it should detect the hardware, and be able to use it. Btw moved the linux forum.

GIYF, do a search for linmodems, your distro, the modem brand/model, etc. There are tons of help and howtos. Also search some forums and give some more specific information to us to help.

A good linux forum is here and linuxquestions.org

And I think we have a linux section here btw, so if so, I will move this after I post it.

I think he wants the root password so he doesn't have to reinstall. To get the root password you could just use a live distro like knoppix or something like gentoo to mount the drive then copy the /etc/shadow file to a disk and crack it or modify it.

As far as your modem being detected, if it's a winmodem it most likely won't be detected but that all depends on what distro you use. Fedora or SuSE or a distro like that might detect it, otherwise you'll need to get some special drivers Here Just follow thier instructions and installing it should be easy. Once again it all depends on what distro you use.

yea thats what i ment. thanks for the help.

There are packages for win modem detection, and quite a few flavors support it detection that I've found. If you boot from cd, on your select flavor, there may be a recovery console of sorts, even the install console, mounting your partition. YOU CAN CAUSE DAMAGE, but it also gives a physical backdoor into your o/s to "possibly" delete, or augment system files, allowing access again. Which I don't recommend for the neophite. But whatever.

If I'm off, this is what's confusing.

"i got to reinstall linux on there sence the pc was given to me and the guy wont tell me the root password or anything"

You have a install fresh that a guy did, and he set a root password for you. Not giving it to you. Or you installed a flavor fresh, and you didn't set one? Or you set one, and forgot it? If you installed it yourself, and think there's a root password you need. If you don't set one the default is just [enter]. AS in the enter key on your keyboard.

I'd be willing to help you out if you need help, but I believe I'm a little confused by your wording up there.