knoppix 3.8 and usb modems

so i decided to get a try at linux and got a knoppix cd. successfully changed the language to english (by default the cd boots in german) and wanted to browse the net. but i couldn't. rebooted to windows and started searching for a solution. after about 3 hours on almost every forum i search everybody said that it is either impossible ot very difficult to get an usb device running under linux. wtf ?
that got me even angrier so i did what i've should've done from the start: went to the source and searched the knoppix site for questions and luckily through reference from another post got to this thread:

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=82705.

initially that guy's advice didn't work for me, but was great for a start.
i installed the usbnet package and as this wasn't enough i remembered having read somewhere about the tulip package and that it was somehow connected with usb devices on linux. after that i run the network card configuration and .... voila! welcome internet! :) the only remark is that for broadcast 192.168.1.255 should be used, the network card wizard came up proposing another ip...