[99723] in RedHat Linux List
Re: "Winmodems" (Support in Linux)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ramon Gandia)
Mon Nov 16 18:26:26 1998
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 14:25:30 -0900
From: Ramon Gandia <rfg@nook.net>
To: redhat-list@redhat.com
Resent-From: redhat-list@redhat.com
Reply-To: redhat-list@redhat.com
Aaron Clow wrote:
>
> George Lenzer wrote:
> > The only reason I propose the idea is that I have tried to introduce quite a
> > few friends with very limited income to Linux precisely because of it's
> > price tag. Because of their desire to set up their PCs "on-the-cheap" they
> > have *unwittingly* bought Winmodems. I hate to tell every one of them that
> > they have to buy a new modem to use on eof the greatest OSes in the world.
>
> Not just your HO... I'm one of the "unwitting" Winmodem purchasers... I knew
> Windows very well, so wasn't concerned about hitching up a "cheap" modem, even
> though they always gave me more trouble than any other card. When I was looking
> for a modem, I figured the extra money was for features. Why spend $160 to surf
> the net & exchange e-mail when you can do it for $60? So, I plunked down change
> for a Winmodem. A year later I got into Linux... Uh oh... Looks like I'll have
> to get another modem, which kind of goes against the "cash-strapped" philosophy
> of Linux where you make a decent computer from old parts...
>
> I hate external modems as well...don't want anything sitting on top of my
> computer but my Atari Portfolio PC Card drive!! 8)
Well, I *have* to jump on this one!
First and most important of all, Linux is NOT a "Cheap" operating
system. It is a high-quality, leading-edge system. It is
deserving
of the best hardware you can provide it with. Unlike other O/S's,
Linux runs on Alpha, Mips, Sparc, Intel, PPC, 68K, etc.
Second, Linux development is via the internet. Any bugs get
reported
and corrected. It is this feature that allows Linux to run on
older
computers 386 and up. However, if you do that, you get 386
performance.
No Linux developer intends their product to be run on a computer
thrown together out of cheap parts. If you do that, you are going
to get what you deserve. Some things, like WinModems, really do
not
deserve development time.
Let me a bit careful about how we define WinModems. There are two
possible definitions here. The first WinModem was the USR
Sporster
WinModem which gave them all the generic name. It is a stripped
circuit card with telephone line interface chips. It has a DSP
i/o module, but has no DSP Processor. The DSP processing is done
in the computer CPU (the Pentium). The software for this is run
on the Pentium computer and is provided for "popular" operating
systems, like the Windows NT/95 platform.
The second type will have full DSP; ie, including the
microprocessor.
This means that the run-time software is running internally in the
modem card, and not on the Pentium.
However, in this second type of WinModem, there are still a lot of
things that are different. There is no serial port per se. There
are registers to address, etc., all from the Pentium computer.
Normal serial port commands will not work. It still takes a
special
driver.
We can expect this second type of WinModem to become popular,
specially with the PCI interface. It should work fine for Linux
provided the interface software/driver becomes available. There
is
no standard here and its every man for himself on these modems.
However, they are not true WinModems, but they are not
conventional
modems either.
Keep in mind that most iinternal modems do not have serial ports.
It is kinda stupid to put a UART in an internal modem. Think
about
it for a minute. In a regular external modem, you NEED a UART to
take your serial data, convert it to parallel data and then
interface
to the decoder/shift registers (or the DSP in case of 14.4K and up
modems).
In an internal modem, the ISA or PCI bus already is parallel i/o,
thus you can dispense with the 16550A UART. What is done is that
the DSP or the registers interface directly to the ISA/PCI bus.
However, the 16550 is emulated so that there is software
compatibility.
The computer thinks it is talking to a 16550 although the chip,
nor
its functions are there at all.
It is in how this emulation/compatibility is performed that makes
some
internal modems work well (with Linux, Win95, DOS etc), and some
are
just beasts. If you want to use the regular serial driver
provided
by Win95 or by Linux, and none of the provided driver software
from
the modem manufacturer, then you have to be very careful indeed
which internal modem you pick. Most will work at very slow speed
with regular drivers, but not go full bore. Some will work fine.
Some will not work at all. The .INF file in Win95 has the call to
speciall drivers.
My advice is: Use an external modem and then you are SURE it is
going to work. Hehehehe: provided you know the init string! That
can be another can of worms.
--
Ramon Gandia ----- Owner & Sysadmin, Nook Net
P.O. Box 970, Nome, AK 99762 http://www.nook.net
Nome: 907-443-7575 Unalakleet: 907-624-5080
Fax: 907-443-2487 AK. Toll Free: 888-443-7525
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