Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 23:53:32 -0600 From: "Mike Meyer" <mwm-dated-1013925212.07e3f4@mired.org> To: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: About your operating system Message-ID: <15464.44508.363090.284294@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <55687229@toto.iv>
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[ Context lost to top posting. ] Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> types: > On 2002-02-10 21:56, C J Michaels wrote: > > Don't want him going out and buying a USB modem. > > Aren't those Winmodems too? > Indeed. As a rule of thumb, most USB modems are Winmodems. Most? I'm interested in what gives you that impression. There's been a standard for USB modems that FreeBSD has supported for over a year now. The problem is that the standard includes an optional part that basically provides emulation of a serial modem for backwards compatability. The FreeBSD driver requires that, at least in -stable. Since all USB modems - and all serial modems, last time I checked - came with drivers for Windows, it's really hard to tell if a particular USB modem fails to work because it uses a proprietary protocol, which would make it a winmodem, or because it doesn't implement the compatability mode, which would mean it isn't a winmodem, it just uses a standard not supported in FreeBSD. So, have you verified that most modems just ignore the USB CDC specs, or are you tagging modems that follow the spec but fail to implement the AT part of it as "winmodems"? As a final comment, the real evil of windmodems and winprinters is that they force the CPU to do the hard work. The CPU has to figure out where the ink goes on the page, and when to toggle the tone going to the phone. While Intel encourages this, and it makes the hardware cheaper, it's still leads to poor performance and reliability. I'd be surprised if any USB modem did that - I don't think USB provides the level of control required to do it. So by calling these things winmodems, you're implying things about them that just aren't true. <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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