David Dennis wrote:
>
> plenty of non winmodems around for $50 or less. all PCI bus are not
> winmodem.
Sorry? Who told you that? A modem doesn't have to say "Winmodem" on it
to be a winmodem. I have installed plenty of PCI winmodems, much to my
later regret. In fact, the majority of PCI modems are winmodems. Real
PCI modems are rare and so expensive it makes more sense to buy an
external.
Manufacturers (case in point - 3Com/USRobotics) figured out some time
ago that people were deliberately avoiding winmodems, so they have taken
steps to obscure the actual nature of the hardware - even as they jack
up the prices for this garbage.
The only internal modems that are true modems are ones that prominently
display "hardware controller" on the package (like the GVC ISA
internals, which are excellent modems that work superbly in Linux!). A
good rule of thumb is: if you are having a hard time determining whether
or not a modem is a winmodem, it probably is.
The interesting reality is that modems (real modems) haven't dropped
much in price. If you go out and hunt for a real modem you will
invariably end up spending between $65 and $100 US (externals). Don't
fool yourself.
> winmodem is specific trademark / architecture. most modems are
> *not* winmodem, most are plugnplay / PCI.
I beg to differ. Most modems now available at big box retailers are
winmodems.
> winmodem is a superset of
> that.
I think you mean "subset".
> But look at the rack in CompUSA theres plenty of modems in the el
> cheapo (all there are any more really!) that are not specifically
> winmodem.
They don't say specifically "winmodem" -- but they are still winmodems.
See above. If it doesn't say it supports anything but MS Windows,
chances are very good it is a winmodem.
-Stephen-
