"Rich C" said:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jeffry Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Sent: Monday, June 18, 2001 10:17 AM
>Subject: PCI Modem for Linux
>
>
>> I was modem shopping on Sat (due to my last modem not surviving the last
>> lightning storm), and, of course, am aware of the problem that most PCI
>> based 56k modems are winmodems. Imagine my surprise to find out that
the
>> US Robotics 56K Pro modem is not. In fact, on the front of the box it
>> said "compatible with DOS, Windows, and Linux"!
>
>Actually, most CHEAP PCI modems are Winmodems. A true controller-based PCI
>modem will work with Linux, and will work better on your Windows boxes
too,
>because the MODEM is doing the work, not your CPU. In a HST modem
>(Winmodem,) there is little more than a hardware interface to the
telephone
>line. Your system's processor is expected to do all the work, sapping your
>system resources.
1. I didn't actually know there were any "expensive" PCI modems - I'd
only seen ISA modems that were real modems.
2. I guess the main thing I was pointing out is that US Robotics
apparently now recognizes there is a "Linux" market - and are willing to
point out their HW that works with it (as opposed to the Canon
printer/fax/scanner I looked at at one point that said "works with all
Operating Systems" and then in fine print said "compatible with Windows
95, Windows 98, and NT 4.0").
>
><rant>
>Win-hardware, in my opinion, one of the biggest scams being foisted on
>computer users. System vendors love it, because they can keep selling
faster
>and bigger systems to users whose systems get slower and slower as they
add
>peripherals. The peripheral vendors love it, because they can produce
cheap
>hardware products that require software and system resources to do the
work.
>And most of all, Microsoft loves it, because it locks the user into a
>Windows-based operating system. The user can't change, because all of
their
>hardware would stop working.
></rant>
Yep "win" anything basically means "we're too cheap to do real stuff." Of course,
what they also don't tell you is that, in addition to the fact that you're using your
CPU for printer/modem/whatever, they won't fix the SW if there's problems, because
that would cost money, and they won't upgrade when a new OS comes out, because that
would cost money. With a HW solution, they HAVE to engineer it right, and once it
works, it always works.
jeff
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeffry Smith Technical Sales Consultant Mission Critical Linux
[EMAIL PROTECTED] phone:603.930.9739 fax:978.446.9470
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thought for today: muddie n.
Syn. mudhead. More common in Great Britain,
possibly because system administrators there like to mutter
"bloody muddies" when annoyed at the species.
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