The Internet is growing at an incredible rate. Much of this growth is attributed to Internet users who have cheap and easy access to DSL, cable, and other high-speed permanent network connections and who use protocols such as PPP to dial in to a network provider to retrieve their daily dose of email and news.
This chapter is intended to help all people who rely on modems to maintain their link to the outside world. We won't cover the mechanics of how to configure your modem, as you can find detailed documentation of this in many of the available modem HOWTO documents on the web. We will cover most of the Linux-specific aspects of managing devices that use serial ports. Topics include serial communications software, creating the serial device files, serial hardware, and configuring serial devices using the setserial and stty commands. Many other related topics are covered in the Serial HOWTO by David Lawyer.