I am a total beginner at Linux/Ubuntu. I do not know if (nor guarantee that) this will work for you but it did for me. Also, there might be other ways of getting your internet up and running but after extensively searching the web for a week this is the only solution I could find. The steps below are written for people (like me) with no knowledge whatsoever about Ubuntu 10.10. Lets get started:

1. You must:
Download the iburst driver from this link:
http://www.meow.co.za/support/linux/ibdriver-2.6.36.tar.gz
Download ppp-2.4.5.tar.gz from this page:
ftp://ftp.samba.org/pub/ppp/
Download the Roaring Penguin pppoe dialler (rp-pppoe 3.10) from this page:
http://www.roaringpenguin.com/products/pppoe

How do you download something if you don’t have an internet connection?
Well, chances are you’re connected at the moment as you’re reading this. If not, hopefully you’ve installed Ubuntu alongside your Windows operating system so that you are able to boot in Windows where your modem is still of use. Else, try connecting your cell (mobile phone) via usb and (for now) setting up a Mobile Broadband connection. Last option, use a friends connected PC and save on flash disk or CD.

Save all the downloaded items where you will remember.

2. Boot in Ubuntu 10.10 (if not already).

3. Create a folder named ¨iburst¨ (without the quotes) in your Home Folder.
-Left click on ¨Places¨ (Top left of your screen).
-Left click on ¨Home Folder¨.
-Left click ¨File¨.
-Left click ¨Create Folder¨.
-Enter the name ¨iburst¨ for this new folder.

4. Cut/copy and paste the three downloaded items (archives) from where you have saved them into your new iburst folder.

5. Right click on each of the three archives and from the pop-up menu select ¨Extract Here¨ (do this for each of the three archives).

Note that steps 3 to 6 is only to make sure the next steps are understood clearly as it involves using the terminal.

6. Open a terminal window.
-Left click on ¨Applications¨. (Top left of your screen)
-Move your mouse pointer to ¨Accessories¨.
-Move over to and left click on ¨Terminal¨.

7. In the Terminal, change directory to your iburst folder.
-Next to xxxxx:~$ type ¨cd iburst¨ (without the quotes) and hit enter (cd;space bar;iburst;enter) the following should come up: xxxxx:~/iburst$

8. Check the contents of your iburst folder:
-Type ¨ls¨ and hit enter (as in letter L and S), the following should come up:
ibdriver-2.6.36.tar.gz ppp-2.4.5 rp-pppoe-3.10
meow_ibdriver-2.6.35 ppp-2.4.5.tar.gz rp-pppoe-3.10.tar.gz

9. Change directory to the driver folder:
-Type ¨cd meow_ibdriver-2.6.35¨ and hit enter

10. Build the modules:
Type ¨make¨ and hit enter. A few things happen now, don’t ask me for any explanations!

11. Install the modules:
Type ¨sudo make install¨ and hit enter. (I still don’t get the sudo thing, I think its like logging in as administrator or super user or something)

That’s it for the driver! If all went well you should be able to see the device by doing the following:

Close the terminal window and open a new one (This is my –for dummies– way to get to a fresh start in the terminal)
Type ¨iwconfig¨ and hit enter. You should see the device listed as ib0.

*******************************************************************************

12. In a (fresh) Terminal window change directory to your iburst folder:
-Type ¨cd iburst¨ and hit enter.

13. Change directory to the ¨ppp-2.4.5¨ folder:
-Type ¨cd ppp-2.4.5¨ and hit enter.

14. Run the configure script:
-Type ¨./configure¨ and hit enter.

15. Compile the stuff:
-Type ¨make¨ and hit enter.

16. Install the stuff:
-Type ¨sudo make install¨ and hit enter.
-Enter your password and hit enter. (This is the password you used when you installed Ubuntu)

That’s it for the pppoe stuff.

*******************************************************************************
14. In a (fresh) Terminal window change directory to your iburst folder:
-Type ¨cd iburst¨ and hit enter.

15. Change directory to the rp-pppoe-3.10 folder:
-Type ¨cd rp-pppoe-3.10¨ and hit enter.

16. Change directory to src folder:
-Type ¨cd src¨ and hit enter.

17. Configure:
-Type ¨sudo ./configure¨ and hit enter.

18. Compile:
Type ¨make¨ and hit enter.

18. Install:
Type ¨sudo make install¨ and hit enter.

19. You will now be prompted (in the terminal) to – Type pppoe-setup to configure the software.
-Type ¨sudo pppoe-setup¨ and hit enter.

20. You will now be prompted to enter your user name. THIS IS YOUR IBURST USER NAME
Mine is something like: gfl432@iburst.lantic.net . Enter yours and hit enter.

21. You will now be prompted to enter the Ethernet interface connected to the DSL modem.
-Type ¨ib0¨ (i;b;zero) and hit enter.

22. The next prompt is up to you, read and decide. I entered ¨no¨. I think that’s the best choice. (You can always change this later by typing ¨sudo pppoe-setup¨ which brings up all these prompts again).

23. You will now be prompted to enter the IP address. As far as my (limited) knowledge goes for any iburst connection you will have to type ¨server¨ and hit enter. Read and decide.

24. You will now be prompted to enter your PPPoE password. THIS IS YOUR IBURST PASSWORD (I think…?- well it works for me). Mine is something like gfl432. Enter yours and hit enter.

25. Again the password as above.

26. You will now be prompted to enter your choice for firewall settings. I chose STANDALONE and thus typed ¨1¨ and hit enter. Read and decide.

27.A summary of what you entered is now displayed. If correct type ¨y¨ and hit enter.

YOU’RE DONE !!!!!!!!

To activate your connection type ¨sudo pppoe-start¨ and hit enter, if all is well you should see a message in the terminal that says ¨Connected!
¨
To stop, type ¨sudo pppoe-stop¨

NOTE: You might have to uncheck the ¨Work Offline¨ checkbox in Mozilla under the File menu before you can browse.

I really hope this helps someone. I had a hard time getting mine up and running. Good Luck.

While you are correct that the ibdriver isn’t getting full-time maintenance, it is getting work.

Secondy, I agree that the ideal is to get the driver included in the mainline kernel.

We did some work quite some time ago to get the driver into an “acceptable state” (eg, no #ifdef, …), but we still didn’t achieve inclusion. I wasn’t directly involved in the contact with the kernel group, and when I tried to pick this up, I found myself going in circles in terms of finding the correct person or persons to contact, etc.

If anyone can point me to current documentation on how to get a driver accepted into mainline, I am happy to do the work to achieve this.

In the meantime, I am working on getting the driver working on kernel 2.6.36 (there seems to be a patch around that either works, or forms the basis of what’s needed), and have a more structured plan on keeping up with the evolving kernel until such time as the the driver becomes mainline.

Cheers!
Nik

To be honest – I get the impression the ib-driver isn’t really being maintained much more and there is probably two (one long term way only, really) ways to solve this:

a) get iBurst involved in funding developer time to maintain the driver.
b) (and this is crucial) – push for inclusion into mainline kernel.

b is crucial in the long run as it means subsystem maintainers will ensure that it at least compiles when updates to the core are made, and very likely make the required adjustments to the driver to work correctly with newer core systems.

We will however need some time devoted to getting the pcmcia driver into shape first (the usb variant looks OK from my rudementary knowledge).