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Modem Success Stories With Linux?
lasindi writes "Whenever I install Linux, I have trouble with the modem (unfortunately I'm stuck on dial-up). On the first installation, I found out it was a Winmodem and when I tried the solutions and drivers offered by linmodems.org, it still wouldn't work. I finally got an Intel PCI modem, but Intel only provides drivers that work on the 2.4 kernel. I have also have a Conexant modem lying around, but I found out that the only drivers that work for it are provided by Linuxant. These drivers, however, cost money (unless you want to crawl along at 14.4 Kbps for free) and are closed-source. I've found that, although I have five modems, I can't run any of them at full speed under the 2.6 kernel. I would like to know how common such problems are and how Slashdotters have gotten around them."
A lot of internal modems are winmodem-style or something like it these days. Just get a good old external modem on a serial port. As long as it supports AT commands you're gtg in any OS that supports modems and serial ports in general. Or if you wanna get all high-tech about it, get a USB modem that does serial-over-USB and acts like a plain external modem on a serial port.
11*43+456^2
It was an "Actiontec Dual-PC External Modem".
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Here's a link to the gadget info:
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriter
Here's a link to the slashdot article where I learned about it:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/01/024
Religion is poison to rationality, and we lose sight of that at our own peril. -- Lurker2288
This is a hardware modem, requires no drivers, I am using it on 2.6.6 now. Downside is it costs $60
A good, real hardware PCI modem is fine -- it is just as simple as an external modem; you just plug it in the slot, boot, and all of a sudden there is a modem on /dev/ttyS4. I recommend the Zoom 56k PCI internal, it costs $80 at Fry's. I have bought and used (for my work, setting up remote servers that dial into a server for updates) about 5 of these in the last few months, every single one worked perfectly. And they support vgetty, so you can do cool things like vocp.sourceforge.net.
My laptop has an internal modem and i use the slmodem driver and it works great(Its an IBM G40 laptop) running with a 2.6 kernel. I think for every PC(workstation), I've always used an ISA modem. I tink you've got 4 options:
? sku=USR5610B .. i blieve this is a hardware PCI modem .. many do work .. really .. they do
1 - buy an ISA modem(if possible)
2 - Buy an external modem
3 - http://www.usr.com/products/home/home-product.asp
4 - Do your research on the drivers before you buy a winmodem
I used to work tech support for a mid-sized ISP, and we used to take calls from unhappy Winmodem users constantly. No matter what your OS, don't waste your time with a Winmodem -- it's just not worth the time and hassle.
You probably spent at least a few hundred dollars on your computer, perhaps much more. Chances are, you'll be spending some time online with it. For many people, web browsing is their computer's primary use, but they insist on using a $13-on-Pricewatch modem (usually the one installed by the manufacturer -- Gateway, this means you!) to dial up.
Buy a US Robotics (or 3COM) modem, and spend at least $80 for it. Yes, I know that you can buy an HSP Micromodem for $8 on eBay, but as long as your computer can handle running IE (or Firefox, etc.) your modem is the single greatest influence on your dialup experience.
This goes for any operating system. Linux users are often forced into such a choice by the fact that Winmodems are rarely supported, and never work well.
Many here say "buy an external modem" -- initially, all modems were external, and plugged into a computer's serial port. This worked well, because serial ports are standard hardware, and no special drivers were required at all.
Modern quality modems (such as an $80+ 3COM) have a built-in serial port -- picture a serial port with a modem plugged into it, all contained within an ISA or PCI card. This is why they work so well, as dedicated hardware does what it was meant to do, and has been doing well for years.
Winmodems are like the bargain-basement "shared memory" video cards often shipped with home systems. Such video cards have no memory of their own, and consume system RAM for video memory. Similarly, software modems consume force the CPU to emulate an actual modem. While the CPU is a general-purpose computing device, it simply isn't a DSP, and isn't meant for signal processing. This means that it's less than efficient at processing signal data, and you'll notice the inefficiency in dropped connections.
Anecdotally, I once convinced a friend at my ISP to disable the auto-disconnect feature for my account. I was connected through a 33.6k US Robotis modem for 29 days before a power outage interrupted the connection. Soon after, I switched to broadband, but every winmodem user who has ever complained to me about dropped connections while refusing to shell out money for a real modem still brings a smile to my face.
I know I'm repeating myself here, but ANYONE USING DIALUP UNDER ANY OPERATING SYSTEM OWES IT TO THEMSELVES TO SPEND $80 OR MORE FOR A MODEM. And a PCI 3COM card (not a Winmodem -- again, be sure it's a hardware modem) will work fine under Linux. It'll show up as a serial port.
(Why $80? Sure, you may find a hardware modem for $75, but $80 should be a high enough bar to weed out even the priciest of Winmodems.)
Somebody get that guy an ambulance!
I phrased my request like this:
"PCI internal modem with a real UART that appears as a serial (COMx) port without any drivers"
The clueless sales people who answer emails at some vendors got themselves struck off my list, while the cluefull ones replied that they knew what I meant but didn't have any - except for one vendor who guessed I most be running linux, and had one in stock. It cost me 45NZ$ (About 25US$) - they're more expensive than other modems because they have all the hardware to modulate and demodulate without using the cpu.
One you insert the real modem inside the PC and reboot, then type:you'll get a message likeor something like that. That would mean that the modem is at
The hard part is finding a real PCI modem, cause not many places sell them. If you phrase your request like I did you're more likely to get the real thing.
You make the mistake of thinking you can educate the fundamental stupidity out of people. You can't.
I second the above.
Back when I started experimenting with Linux I spent quite a bit of time dual-booting. (Didn't have the second PC back then...) The irritating thing was that my (internal) modem was a Winmodem. So I could get online easily in Windows, and not at all in linux. At first this was not a problem.
After a while (year 2000, I think) I got fed up of not being able to troubleshoot or do email when in Linux. And having to reboot into Windows to search online for a solution to a Linux problem was a total pain. At that point I decided that it was worth the cost to get an external modem. (U.S. Robotics. FaxModem I think)
It worked. I mean literally it just worked. It served me faithfully until I got broadband, and then got bequeathed to a colelague of my dad's who needed a modem for dialup. And as far as I know it's still working.
Plus bear in mind that if you've got a serial port, there a good chance nothing else is using it these days.
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