About to buy a PCMCIA modem. What should I check?

werner1975 · 10-16-2007, 04:30 PM

I found a store that sells used parts for laptops and they have a PCMCIA fax/modem. I called them and told them I wanted to change my modem because it's not compatible with Linux (I used the scanModem.sh tool). They said that fine but they don't know if their fax modems are compatible with Linux either. I'm going to the store later this week and I'm going to take my laptop with me. Do you know a way to find out quickly if the modem is compatible? I don't imagine having to spend the afternoon at the store running scanModem.sh and searching the Internet...
There are so many crappy winmodems out there that I'm afraid...
Thanks,

lotusjps46 · 10-22-2007, 09:50 AM

3Com made a combination ethernet/56k modem that worked with Linux. Other than that you could just insert the modem card with the machine booted up. If it finds the card it will beep once, and it will beep again if it finds a driver.

Good luck.

C

farslayer · 10-22-2007, 09:57 AM

Dunno if this will help or not...

http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/SUPPORTED.CARDS

Code:

Modem and serial cards:

	[ Virtually all modem cards, simple serial port cards, and
	digital cellular modems should work.  The only exceptions are
	so-called "WinModems" that require special drivers.  ISDN
	modems that emulate a standard UART are also supported.  Some
	Winmodem drivers do exist (i.e., the ltmodem driver for Lucent
	chipsets).  For more information about WinModems, drivers,
	etc, see http://start.at/modem, http://www.linmodems.org, or
	http://linmodems.technion.ac.il ]

	[serial_cs driver] [x86,axp,ppc,smp]
	Advantech COMpad-32/85 dual port, COMpad-32/85B-4 quad port
	Anycom ECO II dual serial
	Argosy dual serial
	Black Box I114A RS-422/485
	Brain Boxes 2-Port RS-232
	Brain Boxes BL-500 Bluetooth Adapter
	National Instruments PCMCIA-232, PCMCIA-232/2, PCMCIA-232/4
	National Instruments PCMCIA-485, PCMCIA-485/2
	Omega Engineering QSP-100
	Quatech, IOTech dual RS-232 cards
	Quatech quad RS-232 card, dual and quad RS-422 cards
	Socket Communications dual RS-232 card
	Trimble Mobile GPS

	[pcmcia-cs driver: serial_cb] [x86]
	[2.4+ kernel driver: serial]
	Xircom RBM56G, CBM56G

	[ The following cards are WinModems and are NOT supported by
	  the serial drivers included in the PCMCIA package ]
	3Com/Megahertz 3CXM356/3CCM356, 3CXM656/3CCM656
	3Com/Megahertz XJ/CC2560, 3013, 3014
	3Com/USRobotics 3014A, 3056, 3057
	Abocom FM560CB
	ActionTec CM560LH
	Billionton 56K HSP
	Com1 Platinum MC221 Discovery 56K
	Compaq 192
	IBM 10L7393, 10L7394
	Lucent LT Winmodem
	Motorola Montana
	New Media WinSurfer
	Paradise CW56K HSP
	Xircom R2BM56W, R2BM56WB

Code:

The following vendors have assisted in the development of the Linux
PCMCIA driver package by contributing hardware and/or technical
documentation about their products.  It could be inferred that since
these vendors support Linux development and have provided technical
help, that their cards are likely to be better supported under Linux.

	3Com/Megahertz 	[ ethernet and multifunction cards ]
	Adaptec		[ SCSI adapter cards ]
	Intel		[ linear flash memory cards ]
	Linksys		[ ethernet and multifunction cards ]
	Ositech		[ ethernet/modem combo cards ]
	Sandisk		[ ATA/IDE flash cards ]
	Quatech		[ parallel port, data acquisition cards ]
	Xircom		[ ethernet and multifunction cards ]

Would have been nice if they listed a few KNOWN working cards though..

have you poked through the Linuxquestions HCL for modems ? http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/index.php/cat/121

There are a few PCMCIA modems listed..

werner1975 · 10-23-2007, 05:55 AM

Thanks guys. I bought a Xircom modem and it's working fine. I added it to the HCL.