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The Linux Modem Problem?

Posted by Cliff on from the no-carrier? dept.

muonman asks: "There is a business in town which refurbishes old computers and distributes them to kids, roughly at cost. Part of this cost is a $5 license for Windows 98 (they do use OpenOffice, tho). I have outlined to them the benefits of migrating to Linux, but the showstopper is modems, which most of their customers require. They buy in bulk at $4 each, with unpredictable chipsets. I can find reliable(?) drivers for Smartlinks, but cant buy them for less than $6 each, and I hate to recommend the switch in suppliers without more info. I haven't had luck getting license info from linuxant for using Conexants. It seems there has been no activity on the linmodem front for some time. Any wisdom from the Slashdot crowd?"

4 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Not much help, but... by DavidNWelton · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... be sure to let the rest of the world know about the modems that don't work at the Linux Incompatibility List:

    http://www.leenooks.com/

    --
    http://www.welton.it/davidw/
  2. Try Free Geek by conform · · Score: 4, Informative

    contact the people at Free Geek -- all the machines they give away come with modems, and all the modems they get are scavenged from donated machines, so this is probably an issue that they have dealt with. they're also just a great organization. they can probably help with some of the other issues as well; they've been giving away refurbished linux machines to computer illiterate people for years now (a machine comes with a class on how to use a computer, and i think 18 months of tech support), so they've tackled a lot of these problems.

    1. Re:Try Free Geek by Ki+Master+George · · Score: 3, Informative
      Free Geek is awesome.

      They don't get new modems. Actually, most machines they take in are recycled (aka destroyed) rather than refurbished. They just take the good modems they get. This is always an option, but then you have to be prepared to throw away some machines.

      --
      Before you walk a mile in someone's shoes, you should insult them so you know how they are and what they're doing.
  3. linmodems.org by Curmudgeonlyoldbloke · · Score: 4, Informative

    Probably a silly question, but you have checked http://www.linmodems.org/ haven't you?

    The main site is full of information to help identify and get working "windows" modems under Linux. The list still seems to be active. Before ADSL arrived in my corner of the world I was dependant on them to get connected via inbuilt modems. I can't fault the helpfulness of the people on the list.

    It doesn't matter if the modem cards you're getting are unpredictable provided that you know that it's one of a small subset and you know how to get each one (or most of them) to work. When I was last looking at this (over a year ago - but I guess that the kit you're seeing isn't new) the most manufacturer that modems identified themselves as was Agere/Lucent, for which there are various drivers around.

    Some modems will probably just never get Linux drivers - the 3com 3c556 and relatives are examples of that. See:
    http://zurich.ai.mit.edu/pipermail/omnibook/2002-A pril/001275.html