1. WinModems do not work under Linux.
2. They would work if someone wrote a driver for them.
3. There is a french modem manufacturer that SAYS they will
release a winmodem soon with a Linux driver. It is still
vaporware.
4. WinModems require critical timing (real-time) in order
to handle the digital signal processing. This would create
extreme difficulties for Linux, specially on computers
short of memory or lacking in CPU speed.
5. WinModem manufacturers have not shown interest in writing
Linux drivers.
6. A Linux programmer might be able to do it, but so far no
one has volunteered to do this. For various reasons:
a) The hardware is junk. They barely work or do not
work under Windows95/98.
b) The information needed from the Manufacturer is
proprietary. The manufacturer may or may not
release it for inclusion into GPL software because
the source code would be GPL. This is mostly an
imaginary issue, but its perceived as such by most
hardware manufacturers.
7. There are only three manufacturers of the WinModem chipsets:
Lucent Technologies, Rockwell International and 3COM (formerly
US Robotics). Cirrus pulled out of the winmodem chip market
a month or so ago. I have heard that Lucent is willing to talk
to Linux programmers, but so far nothing has come of this.
Now, for Ramon's opinion. As an ISP, I can tell you that the
WinModems, particularly those employing Rockwell Chipsets
comprise 95% of my user's modem problems. Real modems simply
work fine if no installation errors have been made. Most of
my users use Windows 95/98 and they experience things as
disconnects, slow performance, "stalled" conditions, retrainings,
or simply refusing to connect. Often, new "drivers" are needed
and most users are simply unable to this on their own. Those
modems are junk. I am sure there would be all sorts of grief
under Linux.
For instance, if the memory of the computer is such that Windows
(or Linux) swaps to disk, what happens to the modem driver when
it gets put on the hard drive? Well, the modem simply locks
up until it comes back. Imagine this being done repetitively.
In this case, the modem may well show a connect speed of 50,666
but the thruput may be as low as 1,200 or worse "stalled".
Memory can be used fast. For instance, the chief offenders are
things like Office 97, or IE 4.0 which leave large parts of their
programs resident in memory even when they are not running. Ditto
for sound card drivers (real sound cards are rare....most are
now "winsound" cards!). Printers are now often "win printers".
I do not think you will see winmodems under Linux for a long time.
The Rockwell HCF winmodem, the latest one now, has been a real_bear
for us ISP's. Look in the internet, for instance doing an
Altavista search on +rockwell +hcf will give you thousands of hits,
most of them web pages from ISP's about how to overcome connect
problems with this hardware. The solution is typically to make
them connect slower, at V34 speeds instead of V90. In other
words, at 33,600 and slower. Read some of this info, its an eye
opener.
The latest incarnation of these HCF have put the modem chipset
on the sound card. There is a good reason for this: winmodems
and soundcards can share some of the interface to the CPU; they
are configured both to do Digital Signal Processing. Except the
processing is not done by the sound/modem card, but by the CPU -
your Pentium. Adding the chip to a sound card is costing the
OEM under $5.00. A decent modem would cost the computer manufacturer
anywhere from $30 to $70, and would raise the list price of the
computer by $100 or more. This is extremely disadvantageous on
the marketplace. Most buyers would select the cheaper computer
if all else looked the same. This is a reasonable attitude, but
the poor user is really stuck.
He has actually bought a computer that has NO modem. It has a
device in there that has a chance, under Windows 95/98, of making
some sort of half-assed connection to the internet with differing
degrees of success.
Usually, upgrading a computer to enough RAM to use one of these
will cost more than getting a decent modem in the first place. I
have seen few Win95 computers with less than 64MB ram do well with
these things. They are not real modems.... they are only half a
modem circuit and I wish someone would take legal action so they
can be called by what they are: an interface chip. They could
then decide on some fancy name, but not modem. Maybe "modem-like."
Sorry for the big rant. I can assure you all that as an ISP, the
proliferation of these "things" has really ruined what would
otherwise be an enjoyable business. Look in those web pages
that you get with a search engine and you will see many other ISP's
in the same boat, including some of the regionals and nationals.
I say, lets keep those damn things away from Linux. We do not
need those headaches HERE.
--
Ramon Gandia --- Sysadmin --- http://www.nook.net
285 West 1st Avenue ISP for Western Alaska
P.O. Box 970 tel. 907-443-7575
Nome, Alaska 99762 fax. 907-443-2487
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