Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2001 21:40:03 -0800 From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com> To: <cjclark@alum.mit.edu>, "Doug Young" <dougy@bryden.apana.org.au> Cc: "JAKE RIVERA" <jakerivera@ameritech.net>, <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: Problem with modem in laptop Message-ID: <000701c08f36$168fc260$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com> In-Reply-To: <20010204164231.X91447@rfx-216-196-73-168.users.reflex>
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> -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Crist J. Clark > Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2001 4:43 PM > To: Doug Young > Cc: JAKE RIVERA; freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: Re: Problem with modem in laptop > > > On Sun, Feb 04, 2001 at 10:56:24PM +1000, Doug Young wrote: > > I just went through that exercise a few weeks ago. After > phoning the Australian distributors of EVERY known breed of > PCMCIA modem I couldn't find one that WASN'T a winmodem. > > Strange. I always thought that most every PCMCIA modem was a "real" > modem. Not anymore - it's shameful how rapidly the market has switched to junk. At least, I have never seen one that was not. Go into > /etc/defaults/pccard.conf to look for a gizzilion ones that work with > FreeBSD. > very few of which are on sale anymore. > The built-in modems in notebook PCs, however, are pretty much without > exception, WinModems. (Which was always fun for those few who ran NT > on their notebooks, 'cause they generally don't run under NT either.) > -- Not anymore. Most of the name brand PCMCIA winmodems come with NT drivers these days. Unfortunately, this is one of the glaring holes in the Open Source UNIX's. Very soon it is going to be impossible to buy a new internal modem that is not a winmodem. With desktops we have some breathing space because you can always spec an external modem and this will force normal com port drivers to be used. But, it's becoming a serious problem with laptops. I note that Xircom is being purchased by Intel. As is likely with most corporate acquisitions, expect to see a gradual shift in Xircom's product line as it gets folded into Intel. How many here are going to bet that when Intel replaces the Xircom pcmcia modem product line with their own branding, that they are going to retain the normal modems? We badly need someone to write a driver for the most common winmodem chipsets, like the PCTel, soon. Hopefully, one of the major winmodem vendors will decide to release a Linux one that can be ported over. Ted Mittelstaedt tedm@toybox.placo.com Author of: The FreeBSD Corporate Networker's Guide Book website: http://www.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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