On Sunday, June 8, 2003, at 06:18 PM, Steven Brown wrote:
I don't know about the rest of the world, but here in my world My 2 Winmodems run just fine on a powermac 9500 and a G3 Desktop.
U.S. Robotics 56k external modems, no special software or drivers, just needed mac modem cables.
If they are external, they're not Winmodems.
Winmodems are software-based modems, akin to the old Geoport modems Apple used to sell.
Most of the signal processing for the modem is offloaded onto the main CPU.
In external modems and non-winmodem internal modems, the modem itself handles all the signal processing, and presents itself to the OS as a data stream on a serial port.
Back in the days of the Geoport, it was a poor performer, because it bogged down the CPU if you had a slow machine. 33.6 was the fastest they could ever manage.
It was a good idea, because the thought was that any new modem protocol could be easily handled by a simple software upgrade instead of having to buy a new modem (which were pretty expensive, at the time).
The Geoport also allowed you to manage fax data and even voicemail...it was technologically advanced idea, just couldn't be managed with the systems at the time.
On modern systems, it really doesn't happen, as what you get from 56K modem connection doesn't really tax the CPU to process.
(I read somewhere recently that Apple's currently shipping internal modems, too, are software-based modems)
-- "Wherever you go, there you are." - B. Banzai, Ph.D. Bruce Johnson
-- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! |
Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>
PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
