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Date:      Tue, 01 Jan 2002 12:33:32 -0800
From:      "Kevin Oberman" <oberman@es.net>
To:        "Doug Reynolds" <mav@wastegate.net>
Cc:        "Bob Hall" <rjhalljr@starpower.net>, "FBSD Questions" <questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: Modem Support 
Message-ID:  <200201012033.g01KXWd23398@ptavv.es.net>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 01 Jan 2002 15:04:29 EST." <20020101200255.1E89F48404@wastegate.net> 

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> From: "Doug Reynolds" <mav@wastegate.net>
> Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2002 15:04:29 -0500
> Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
> 
> On Tue, 01 Jan 2002 11:58:16 -0800, Kevin Oberman wrote:
> 
> >> > Any external modem will work with FBSD on com1 or com2.
> >> 
> >> I have a cheap external modem that appears to be a win modem. 
> >> I've never been able to use it with anything other than windows.
> >> In case anyone wants to avoid it, the manufacturer has dubbed 
> >> it the Elsa model (maybe because it uses a serial lion? Or maybe 
> >> because it works only with Windows, and is therefore Bourne free?). 
> >> Before buying an external modem, you should check to see what 
> >> systems it is compatible with, just as you do with internal modems.
> >
> >There is no way a serial (COM) port connected modem can be a
> >WinModem.  The only way an external modem could be a WinModem is if
> >it's a USB modem. It is always possible that it does not use the
> >"standard" Hayes AT command set, but, if you have or can get the
> >command set, it will still work with FreeBSD.
> >
> >I can't imagine any modem less than 5 years old that does not use AT
> >commands, so I suspect some other problem, line a connection to a
> >non-functional port or not having BIOS configured properly.
> >
> >Does another modem work on this port? Does the port probe properly?
> >(Check dmesg for sio0 (COM1) and sio1 (COM2). They should probe as a
> >16550 or 16550A. If they probe as an 8250, they are most likely not
> >working as no reasonably modern system will have an 8250 UART. (It
> >turns out that the driver test for modem type gets no response from an
> >8250, so 8250 really means "no response".)
> 
> It is a possibility.  the modem might act like something similar to
> digital camera or have it's own set of windows jibberish.  
> 
> however, i can confirm that i have used an external Windows RPI modem. 
> you had to load the special drivers or you wouldnt get compression or
> error correction.
> 
> go figure

This is quite believable as many of the high-speed and performance
options (error correction and compression) came about rather more
recently than the basic AT commands and not all modems use the same
commands for them. Most have reasonable defaults, so that they "just
work", but there are exceptions. It's usually just a matter of
altering the appropriate default configuration values.

Try Kermit and see how it works there. Kermit has knowledge of great
many modems and the slight differences in command sets from one to the
next.

R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
Energy Sciences Network (ESnet)
Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
E-mail: oberman@es.net			Phone: +1 510 486-8634

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