Good rant, well done and informative.
Jeanette
----- Original Message -----
From: Ramon Gandia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 8:09 PM
Subject: Re: [expert] WinModem question
> 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
> =======================================================
>
