On Tue, Jan 04, 2000 at 01:04:38PM +0800, Niclas Hedhman wrote:
>
> The standard external modem uses a set of STANDARDS to perform its tasks. RS-232
> and Hayes commands, basically. (I acknowledge that there unfortunately are
> variations to the Hayes command set). The WinModem specification removes the
> RS-232 and Hayes command set away from the modem and into a software API
> instead, and allow the Modem manufacturer to implement the communication between
> the modem and the computer in any way he chooses.
The same is true of ethernet cards, video cards, ide controllers, SCSI
cards....
> However, there are more subtle undertones in the whole WinModem thing. Next
> there are WinPrinters, WinMouse, WinKeyboard and WinMonitor, where the
> manufacturers just provide the software API, removing the Plug/Play between
> many
I follow you with keyboards and monitors, but you lose me with mice
and printers. If you run xf86config, or look at the options in gpm.conf
you'll notice that there are between 10 and 30 different *standards* for
mice talking to computers.
Printers are another big headache. I can't name a *standard* for speaking
to them, but maybe postscript? Linux deals with this by using ghostscript,
software postscript -> proprietary printer language, in software. Basically
the same concept as winmodems.
The difference I see here is accessability to the communication protocol.
I think the real problem with software modems, is that the manufacturers
haven't(won't?) release the information about how they work to open-source
developers. This is a problem, where the manufacturers need to give, but
not really a reason to call software modems junk.
my cent
greg
--
this is not here
