Red Hat Knowledgebase

The Modem Lights applet can be added to the Panel to allow for simple one-click connection and disconnection when using a dialup modem. It also provides information on connection speed, download and upload activity, and connection duration. The following will show you how to set up this helpful utility:

1. Right-click in the Panel (the bar that contains the Hat menu) and choose the menu item Add to panel. Then choose Internet and Modem Lights to make the Modem Lights applet appear. If the applet is in an inconvenient location right click on it, choose Move and drag the applet to the desired location. Left click to drop the applet when the desired area is reached.
   
   
2. If the modem has not been configured, configure it now. If you need assistance, we have additional articles in the Knowledgebase that can help you set up a modem. Once the configuration process is complete, go to the directory /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts and write down the name of the configuration file associated with the modem. It will be named ifcfg-ppp0 if the Knowledgebase article on how to configure a modem to connect to the Internet using a PPP dialup account was followed to set up the modem. If the graphical tools were used to set up the modem, it will be named ifcfg-providername, where providername is the name of the ISP provided during setup.
   
   
3. Right click on the Modem Lights applet and choose Preferences. On the General tab, replace the Connect command with /sbin/ifup interfacename where interfacename is the filename from step two without the ifcfg- portion of the filename. For example, if the configuration file was ifcfg-ppp0, the connect command would read /sbin/ifup ppp0. Edit the Disconnect command as well, which should read /sbin/ifdown interfacename.
   
   
4. Under the Advanced tab of the Preferences menu, the modem lock filename needs to be changed. To determine the proper lock file, subtract the number one from the COM port number that the modem is attached to and add the resulting number to the end of this string /var/lock/LCK..ttyS. For example, if the modem is on COM1, the lock file should read /var/lock/LCK..ttyS0. If it is on COM2, it would read /var/lock/LCK..ttyS1 and so on.
   
   
5. After making modifications to the configuration, click the Close button on the Preferences window to save the changes.

Now that the application is configured, users may click on the green button on the left hand side of the applet dial or hang up the modem.