Hi, I've installed RH 7.2 (dual-boot w/ Win 98) and am having a problem. RH doesn't recognize my modem. It's an Intel MD653X HaM, which according to their page is compatible.

Anyone have experience with this modem and can help me? Thanks in advance.

~~SG~~

the intel modem is a winmodem - which means it's not a real modem. it offloads a large amount of the modem's job on the main cpu. the upshot is that the modem is cheaper, but it requires extra software to run it. intel has drivers available for the 2.2.x kernel series, but not the 2.4.x series.

the strange part is that the source code is available from intel - i don't know why no one has ported it to 2.4.x - it's possible i just haven't found it. you can look for more information on www.linmodems.org

I found a driver for the modem online that's supposed to be usable in Linux (now to figure out how to get it from the Win side to the RH side ), but I'm wondering if it's even worth trying. IIUC, winmodems do not cooperate with linux...?

Now for a more rhetorical question... why on earth would someone put a winmodem in a box that the customer has ordered and specifically stated, "This is going to be a linux box"?

Any other thoughts out there???

Thanks,

~~SG~~

Hang on, hang on!

Winmodems cooperate well with linux, the people at linmodems.org know what they're doing. If your modem is down on the site as supported, it will work. Sometimes it's not a point and click affair installing this stuff. If you're not comfortable with using anything apart from installation wizards, linux might not be for you.

First though, have you mounted your windows partition on linux? If not, look through this forum to find out how.

The people at the computer store were just trying to make money. You can't blame them for that, but their ignorance is perhaps less excusable.

What is the version and how are you building the module into your distribution?

:Winmodems cooperate well with linux, the people at linmodems.org know what they're doing. If your modem is down on the site as supported, it will work.

I've not checked that site yet, but will. Thanks.

:Sometimes it's not a point and click affair installing this stuff. If you're not comfortable with using anything apart from installation wizards, linux might not be for you.

I understand that. I am comfortable with command lines and shells, but it's been a while.

:First though, have you mounted your windows partition on linux? If not, look through this forum to find out how.

Nope. I suspected it was possible, but wasn't sure. Thanks.


:The people at the computer store were just trying to make money. You can't blame them for that, but their ignorance is perhaps less excusable.

I've no problem with companies making honest profits, but I don't appreciate them making my linux set up harder for me to accomplish.

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll check them out.

~~SG~~

which driver did you find? i found one at the intel site, but it specifically stated that it was only compatible with the 2.2.x kernel series. IIRC, rh7.2 has a 2.4.x kernel, and i would definitely not recommend downgrading the kernel.

there are a large number of winmodems out there, and only a few have drivers written for them. any winmodem can work on a linux box, but only if the driver is made available. the modem that came with my box was a lucent winmodem... and they didn't gpl a driver until a week after i bought a real modem.

linmodems.org is a good site - if there's info on the modem, they'll have it, or a link to it. the bad news is that if they don't have any info, it's probably not available.

From here--waaaaay down at the bottom of the page--http://developer.intel.com/design/modems/products/md563x.htm. There's a link to download a driver for 2.4.x.

So, anyone wanna watch my toddlers while I fire up the linux side and try to play with this?

Thanks, everyone.

~~SG~~

There's not much to installing a winmodem, at least not with a lucent chipset based one anyway...You'll need the kernel source (more than likely), after compiling the kernel with the module installed it's pretty easy unless you have some config problems in your OS. Then it's just seek and destroy until it works.