1. Installing the iBurst drivers

This page gives instructions on how to install the drivers for an iBurst modem on Edgy Eft 6.10 or earlier. Currently there is two types of iBurst modem - PCMCIA (laptop) and USB/Ethernet (desktop).

To install the drivers you will need to download some software. If you are relying on your (not yet installed) iBurst account for internet access you will first need to go somewhere you can download stuff and copy it onto USB drive/CD/floppy, then transfer to your (K)ubuntu system.

Now to the installation: First off, don't connect the modem to the computer until instructed to do so. With the USB modem you can hook it up to the mains power and try to find a location for good reception .. there is 5 green LEDs on the front panel of the modem - the number of illuminated LEDS indicates the reception strength. A stronger signal -> faster connection.

1.1. Download software

Step 1: Download the iBurst drivers from our good friends at sourceforge:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ibdriver

As of May 2007, the correct driver to use for Feisty Fawn is: {{{ibdriver-1.3.2-linux-2.6.20.tar.gz }}} For Edgy Eft, use: {{{ibdriver-1.3.1-linux-2.6.17.tar.gz }}} For earlier versions (Dapper and before) use: {{{ibdriver-1.3.1-linux-2.6.tar.gz }}}

Then download the Roaring Penguin PPPOE dialer (Note: I can't get it working with the Debian dialer):

http://www.roaringpenguin.com/penguin/open_source_rp-pppoe.php (seems to have moved here - http://www.roaringpenguin.com/products/pppoe)

Open up a terminal and make sure the two tarballs (files) you just downloaded are in the directory you want to work in. Extract the two tar files:

{{{tar -xf ibdriver* tar -xf rp-pppoe*}}}

1.2. More requirements for Feisty Fawn 7.04

With Feisty, you'll need to install libc6-dev, as follows: {{{sudo apt-get install libc6-dev }}}

1.3. More requirements for versions earlier than Dapper 6.06

These steps are not necessary on Dapper or Edgy.

Versions earlier than Dapper need to to have installed the build-essentials package, plus the linux kernel headers. For some reason ibdriver only compiles with gcc3.4, so you need to get that too.

If you cannot run aptitude then download the packages from packages.ubuntu.com and install them using dpkg (check dependencies!)

{{{sudo aptitude install build-essential gcc-3.4 linux-headers-386 linux-kernel-headers }}}

Sometimes you need to make a symbolic link to the headers. Better safe than sorry, so do it anyway:

{{{sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r) /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build }}}

1.4. Make and install drivers

Now cd to the directory with the ibdriver source, then make and install the drivers.