RE: [Plug] US Robotics Modems etc, and a question..

["Greg Lopp" <greg.lopp@dgms.com>]

Vale_Kenny@vanguard.com wrote:
> Indeed, there is no current method to force Winmodems to
> function within Linux.
My understanding is that "Winmodems" use DSP and other such oddities to do
their work onboard.  Other modems use well established standards to do
their work.  Since they are standardized, all modems can use the same
standard driver.  With winmodems, no two work alike.  For Winmodems to work
properly and allow for upgrades to such nice innovations as V.90, they put
their power in their onboard processing, rather than their silicon.  More
complex processing, therefore more complex driver...which is only available
for windows.

> There is probably virtually 0 interest for it as well.
What do you mean, 0 interest?  Certainly there is interest...how often are
we being asked this very question?  The 0 interest is on the part of the
manufacturer's side.  They have no interest in making their "trade
secrets"/"intellectual property" available to the open source community.
They are already making thinner and thinner profit margins, they choose not
to offer their competitors an advantage. (and loose business from us)


> Your best bet is to get
> an additional modem, internal or external, doesn't matter, depends on
> preference, and make sure it is *not* a winmodem.
Can an external be a winmodem?  I doubt that such a beast exists.  The
fancy driver likes a buss to be downloaded across.  Any modem which follows
the usual serial port standards for control and data transfer will work.
(Standards = good    but you knew that)

>
> Here's the question...not that I'd get one, but what is to
> prevent a modem maker
> from making a Lin-modem?  Is it the way in which Linux
> interracts with the
> serial ports?
It's not the OS, its who the "special" (read: non-standard) driver is
available to.  There is no reason that the manufacturers couldn't offer
their own driver binaries for linux, there simply isn't an economic
advantage for them.


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