I've just shipped an embedded product based around Linux where we had exactly this problem. In the process of development I've tested a lot of winmodems under Linux, our main problem has been consistency of supply in Europe. The really good drivers are the open source Lucent driver, the SmartLink driver and Linuxant's closed source Conexant driver. It pains me to say it, but our best available choice was to license the driver from Linuxant. Even factoring in the cost of the driver, the modems were still cheaper and more solidly available than the Smartlink based winmodens, and in tests the performance of the Linuxant driver was excellent. I dont know what the market is like in the US, but in the winmodem market in Europe almost all readily available ( in serious amounts - 1000+ units ) are Conexant based. If you're selling more than a few hundred units, I would recommend biting the bullet and buying in the Linuxant driver. To give you an idea, the Smartlink modems were working out around $18 a unit, while a Conexant based winmodem we could normally pick up for around $3 ( if you were buying a couple of hundred at a time ). Add in a few bucks for the driver and you're still better off than buying a card with an open source driver. Unfortunately that's the reality at the minute with manufacturing Linux based products - particularly when you are dealing with difficult hardware sectors like winmodems.
Yep, same here. I've got an old Pentium 100 with a prism 2 based card, running hostap. It's also got an adsl modem, and is bridging my wired and wireless networks so they all share the same subnet. The wireless clients all use IPSEC ( FreeSWAN )along with MAC address authentication, and it's also running DNS, DHCP and NTP services. In addition the kernel is doing traffic shaping and QOS. This all runs on top of Slackware 8 stripped to the bone. Its' reliable, stable and has been running continiously for months. It's worth noting though that the hostap driver is a very special case, and does a lot more in terms of being a true access point than many of the other wireless card drivers. Search out a Prism2 card , and use this driver. You won't be dissapointed !
use an old 486 as a router running freesco ( www.freesco.org ), use three nic's and check the freesco forums for scripts to automatically change routing if your primary route goes down .
check my freesco box at http://www.uptimes.net/hostinfo.html?popup=1&hid=1 2215
so if i set abcde up to run on login, will it sit and wait for a cd to be inserted, or does it need to be run after the cd is in. also does it return to the waiting state once a cd has been ripped ?
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I've just shipped an embedded product based around Linux where we had exactly this problem. In the process of development I've tested a lot of winmodems under Linux, our main problem has been consistency of supply in Europe. The really good drivers are the open source Lucent driver, the SmartLink driver and Linuxant's closed source Conexant driver. It pains me to say it, but our best available choice was to license the driver from Linuxant. Even factoring in the cost of the driver, the modems were still cheaper and more solidly available than the Smartlink based winmodens, and in tests the performance of the Linuxant driver was excellent. I dont know what the market is like in the US, but in the winmodem market in Europe almost all readily available ( in serious amounts - 1000+ units ) are Conexant based. If you're selling more than a few hundred units, I would recommend biting the bullet and buying in the Linuxant driver. To give you an idea, the Smartlink modems were working out around $18 a unit, while a Conexant based winmodem we could normally pick up for around $3 ( if you were buying a couple of hundred at a time ). Add in a few bucks for the driver and you're still better off than buying a card with an open source driver. Unfortunately that's the reality at the minute with manufacturing Linux based products - particularly when you are dealing with difficult hardware sectors like winmodems.
what do they need a browser for if they don't have internet access ?
Yep, same here. I've got an old Pentium 100 with a prism 2 based card, running hostap. It's also got an adsl modem, and is bridging my wired and wireless networks so they all share the same subnet. The wireless clients all use IPSEC ( FreeSWAN )along with MAC address authentication, and it's also running DNS, DHCP and NTP services. In addition the kernel is doing traffic shaping and QOS. This all runs on top of Slackware 8 stripped to the bone. Its' reliable, stable and has been running continiously for months. It's worth noting though that the hostap driver is a very special case, and does a lot more in terms of being a true access point than many of the other wireless card drivers. Search out a Prism2 card , and use this driver. You won't be dissapointed !
use an old 486 as a router running freesco ( www.freesco.org ), use three nic's and check the freesco forums for scripts to automatically change routing if your primary route goes down . check my freesco box at http://www.uptimes.net/hostinfo.html?popup=1&hid=1 2215
so if i set abcde up to run on login, will it sit and wait for a cd to be inserted, or does it need to be run after the cd is in. also does it return to the waiting state once a cd has been ripped ?
yeah, that's exactly what i want to do - have it rip with generic names then continue to look up periodically. can u post or send me the code ?
despite being one of the bastions of high tech in our society, how does nasa manage to consistently have one of the slowest websites on the planet ?