[99638] in RedHat Linux List
Re: cheesy AOpen 56K PCI Modem??? Anyone??
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Tyler)
Mon Nov 16 10:32:14 1998
From: "Chris Tyler" <chris@woodstock.proximity.on.ca>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 15:31:26 +0000
In-Reply-To: redhat-digest-request@redhat.com
"redhat-digest Digest V98 #1472" (Nov 16, 3:16pm)
Reply-to: Chris Tyler <Chris@Global.Proximity.ON.CA>
To: redhat-list@redhat.com
Resent-From: redhat-list@redhat.com
> My understanding is that all PCI modems are winmodems. Winmodems do not
> have the firmware on the board so about 80% of the comm work is done by the
> system cpu and software. Ergo, won't work with linux.
Bzzzt, close but no cigar. Some of the AOpen PCI modems are true, hardware
modems (proper 16550s etc), but because of the PCI interface they require some
extra initialization before the OS can find them.
So the bad news is, Linux doesn't support them.
But the good news is, they are not Winmodems, and they actually do what a modem
is supposed to do *in hardware*, so getting these to work under Linux shouldn't
be a big problem (once someone gets around to tackling it)... although last
time I mailed Acer/AOpen the word was basically, "They don't work under non-MS
OS's and we aren't interested in making them work" so gettings specs could be a
chore.
The important point of all of this is that Intel will really be pushing the PC
makers towards dropping ISA support altogether over the nexts 18 months. We
(the Linux community) need to figure out how to make this stuff work so that we
can run Linux on ISA-free machines when they appear. As nice as ISA was for its
simplicity, it is truly a standard who's time has come (and gone, and come
again), and it won't be greatly missed.
(Having said all that, let me add that I think that internal modems are for the
birds! :-)
--
Chris Tyler <Chris@Global.Proximity.ON.CA>
Global Proximity Corporation http://Global.Proximity.ON.CA/
Internet and Computer Consulting (519) 469-3439 / fax (519) 469-8653
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