It's a winmodem. Manufacturers like to be sneaky about it, using jargon that
makes it sound better than it is. In this case, the offending line is "Host
signal processing for both controller and DSP". A newbie may think this
sounds great, but it isn't. The "host" is your computer, and it is doing the
"signal processing". A proper modem does _all_ its processing itself. Another
giveaway is how the advertisement emphasises "Supports Windows 2000" in red
letters (to make it stand out) and "Supports Windows Me/2000" in a fancy star
picture next to the winmodem's image. A real modem is OS-independent, and
would not need to advertise what OS it is compatible for.
People buy Winmodems because they are cheap. They are cheap because the CPU,
not the winmodem, does all the work. This, naturally, slows down your
computer. On some computers the CPU performance degradation can be as much as
40%. A real modem may cost more, but it will work in any OS and it won't slow
your computer down.
On Fri, 27 Jul 2001 21:27, Robert MacLean wrote:
> hi
>
> You noticed that the last modem I bought was a winmodem, I've searched
> the local shops and this seems like the best value for money modem, I
> checked and I don't see anything that could say winmodem. Could you
> please just give it a quick check and tell me if it is a winmodem or
> not? http://www.genius-kye.com/product/faxmodem/gm56pci-sm.htm
> Thank you so much, if you don't have time I'll understand.
>
> Robert MacLean
--
Sridhar Dhanapalan.
"There are two major products that come from Berkeley:
LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence."
-- Jeremy S. Anderson
