I'll take a look at the modem when I get home tonight -E
-----Original Message----- From: Neil Parker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sun, 10 Jun 2007 1:00 am Subject: Re: [Eug-lug] failure to initialize modem erock23175 wrote, >I'm having some difficulty in getting Penggy to work. I think (I'm not >sure) that when we imported the data from my previous install of Penggy, >that we also imported the hardware pref or config files. The previous >machine connected via an external modem, while my current machine has >a PCI modem. Any suggestions? I'm not sure about the modem having never >dialed to anything from it, is there a way to test the modem or the line >without signing on to my aol account? Have you had any previous success with this modem in Linux? What chipset does it use? The problem with PCI modems is that most (not all, but most) of them are not real modems...in order to save manufacturing costs, the maker leaves important functions off the card, and simulates them in the the driver software. Unfortunately, most such manufacturers are unaware that there are operating systems other than Windows, and Linux support, if it's available at all, often leaves much to be desired. These cards are known as "winmodems" (or, more colloquially, "pieces of crap"). There is Linux support for some winmodem chipsets: * Lucent/Agere: There's a driver that supports the Apollo and Mars chipsets, but not the Lucent AMR. * Intel/Ambient/Cirrus Logic: Intel supplies drivers for these, but they obviously haven't been maintained recently, and they stopped working sometime between kernel 2.6.15 and kernel 2.6.17. * Conexant/Rockwell: Conexant supplies drivers for these (under the name "Linuxant"), but they cost money. There's a free version of the driver, but it's limited to low baud rates. * PC-Tel: Apparently there are drivers available from somewhere. * IBM: A driver for the MWave (found in some Thinkpads) is included in the standard kernel. Except for the IBM MWave driver, all of these depend on proprietary binary-only modules, and support for them should probably not be considered stable. My own experience with Intel's drivers suggests that support often lags behind kernel development--sometimes substantially behind. For Linux users, the holy grail is a full hardware modem--these work with the standard serial port driver, and require no proprietary modules. 3Com (formerly U.S. Robotics) makes several of these (based on Texas Instruments chipsets), but they're not very common. Mr O can probably order one for you. (But beware--my experience with a 3Com PCI modem has not been good...it often dropped my connection for no apparent reason. I'm currently using an external modem, which has been much more reliable.) If you still have the external modem you were using before, I recommend using it. It will save you a ton of grief. If you're determined to get your PCI modem working in Linux, open up your box, examine the modem board, and find the manufacturer and part number of the modem chip (it's usually the largest chip on the board, and will often have the digits "56" in its part number). Post the manufacturer and part number here, and have a look at http://www.xmodem.org/chipsets/dips/roster.html, which lists several common modem chipsets and their level of Linux support. Note that I need the CHIP manufacturer and part number, not the BOARD manufacturer and part number. - Neil Parker _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.
_______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
