Best Dial-Up Modem for Linux?

|<GBS>|Gibson · 08-04-2005, 11:51 PM

hello all,

im running Debian Sarge (stable) with KDE 3.3 with the 2.6.12 kernel and i was wondering what the best dial-up pci data/fax modem was for my setup as far as free driver availability and compatability.

thanks for the help

Bruce Hill · 08-05-2005, 01:16 AM

I'd buy an external serial modem. Last year I had to use one, and bought a Creative Labs Modem Blaster from Fry's. It worked really well, and a 2.4.29 kernel had support, so I'm sure a 2.6.x.x will. It only needs serial port support, btw.

RomanG · 08-05-2005, 03:42 AM

Yes, Chinaman, you are right. Best dial-up modem is any COM-port hardware modem. There is no need kernel to support it, 'cause it will work excellent anyway.
For example I use ZyXEL Omni 56k Data/Fax modem.

Bruce Hill · 08-05-2005, 03:45 AM

I guess I was incorrect about the serial / com port information. Sorry about that.

dalek · 08-05-2005, 06:56 AM

I have a ActionTech external serial modem that I got from techdepot.com. It did lock up once a long time ago but I just turned it off and back on, then reconnected. It hasn't done it since. Maybe a power glitch or something. It is plugged into a UPS though with surge protection. I guess we all have a bad day sometimes.

Anyway, external serial is basically plug up and it works. Nothing special to install or anything. Well, you may need wvdial or something.

You do have to have serial port in the kernel though. At least I did. It can't see the port if it is not in there. I say that because I use Gentoo and compiled my own kernel and left it out. It didn't see my modem. It didn't see my UPS either which is serial. I put serial stuff in there, recompiled and rebooted, I hate modules, then it saw it fine.

Hope that helps some.

Later

|<GBS>|Gibson · 08-05-2005, 07:35 AM

well thanks for the advice guys, i'll look into an external serial modem but i was on #debian last night and i was told that any hardware modem even pci internal should be supported by linux this usr modem for example apparently works nicely because it is hardware accelerated/controller-based http://www.usr.com/products/home/hom...?sku=USR5610B.

dalek · 08-05-2005, 07:55 AM

There are some PCI modems that work as long as they are HARDWARE modems, not those winmodems. You can get most winmodems to work to but I read they are a headache and buggy.

I did some research a while back and I never did find a PCI hardware modem. It isn't that much more money to have a external modem and you know for sure then. I have never seen a external serial modem that did not work. Watch those USB modems too. I hear they are winmodems too.

Another advantage to a external, if it messes up like mine did, you can reset the modem without rebooting. If it is PCI, you have to shutdown the rig to reset it. Same with windoze too. I do mean shutdown, not just a reboot. You have to power down P/S and all in my experience.

Just advice. If you get a PCI modem, make SURE it is a hardware modem. Nothing makes Linux worse than a winmodem.

Later

mhearne · 08-05-2005, 06:37 PM

Look through the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) at http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/index.php?cat=121

Read the reviews and pick something affordable for your budget.

Michael

tuxdev · 08-05-2005, 06:55 PM

I've had success with a LT linmodem. I think they have less problems than the others.

mhearne · 08-05-2005, 08:12 PM

That's very interesting to me, since I have a Dell 4000 notebook with an LT Winmodem. It absolutely would not work under Linux (Mandrake-10.1), and I could not get the downloaded LT drivers to work either. Maybe the Inspiron 4000 is just too old.

What I mean is, for instance, that I have a Radeon 7000 graphics card, which is just great for 2D, but the people at ATI didn't start to release Linux drivers until the 9000 series, so, even though it's a hot card on Windows, it's just a default on Linux.

That's ok, I don't play games or edit graphics, but it sure would be nice if ATI would release the chipset numbers for my card. Especially since it's out of production.

Well, I'm glad to hear that you were able to make an LT modem work.

Michael

tuxdev · 08-05-2005, 08:43 PM

Using Slackware may have helped it work.

mhearne · 08-05-2005, 08:52 PM

Since you mention it, I have been considering switching distros, or at least testing a few out.

I went to OS Heaven today ( http://www.osheaven.net/ ) and found a lot of stuff that I can buy for like 99 cents!

Anyway, it's easy enough to drop in a third hard drive and test drive a few other distributions. I'll keep my home directory, of course.

I've noticed that when I load up a knoppix disk, that it just discovers all my hardware, without being prompted. I think that I'd like to try a Debian distro for a while, I've been doing Mandrake since 2002.

Michael