Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Thu, 23 Sep 2004, Dan Schmidt wrote:

> Sindi,
>
> The "S" in ttyS4 was capitalized, I just forgot to capitalize it in my
> post.

Do you actually have a /dev/ttyS4?  Type ls /dev/ttyS* to find out.
This lists all the files in the /dev directory that could be comports.

> I may well have a 'Windows' modem.  I'm not really in a position to make
> hardware changes, or modem-driver changes, but I do appreciate the offer
> (if indeed you were offering some hardware).  This may be a hopeless
> case. I really just wanted to know if there was something simple I could
> type in at the terminal.  And indeed, I have learned a lot.
>
> The modem is a 3COM U.S.Robotics 56K fax PCI modem model 5610.

All PCI modems that I have seen are winmodems, meaning you need special 
driver software to run them, since they are incomplete compared to 
hardware modems, which don't need the special drivers.  You can look on 
line with a search engine such as google for the above modem, or search on 
'modem' and 'linux' for a list of modems that do or do not work with 
linux, even with special linux drivers.  I think one other list member has 
experience with one brand of PCI hardware modem - Hal?

You can plug in an external modem without changing anything inside the 
computer, if you have a serial port and if it is not disabled.  You can 
check if it is disabled by plugging in a serial mouse and seeing if it is 
recognized (for instance do the setup routine in BL3 and choose serial 
mouse on Com1 or Com2).  You plug in the modem to the serial port via a 
modem cable, and then plug a power supply into the modem from the wall 
outlet.  If you have 110 Volt (USA) power I could send you a slow (14.4) 
modem to experiment with, but that requires that your ISP support that 
speed and many no longer do so.  It would save postage costs if you ask 
your friends for an external modem.

> I'll confess that I don't know why it's in COM5.  I thought maybe Windows
> put it there.  I did try moving it to a different PCI slot, which I
> thought would change its COM port, but it still shows up in COM5.  Do you
> know of a way to change this?

Windows modems tend to be in odd ports like that.  If it works in Windows 
leave it the way it is.  I don't think you will get it to work in DOS or 
linux anyway.  The PCI slot location does not affect the port setting of 
modems.  But if you have a PCI video card it is best to put it in the slot 
nearest the power supply because on some computers (in one case only if I 
upgraded the cpu) they don't work properly otherwise.  Someone once gave 
us a computer because it stopped working when they put in a new PCI video 
card, in the wrong slot.


We have put ISA 14.4 modems into computers which also have 28.8 or 56K 
winmodems and they coexist peacefully.  You do need to disable the onboard 
comport if you put in an internal modem.  It is not terribly difficult 
once you get the case open.  Just find a free slot, unscrew the little 
screw holding the slot cover in place, put the modem into that slot and 
push the edge with little gold stripes into the matching slot, and put the 
screw in again.  If you have a new computer with no ISA slots you are 
stuck with PCI modems (which are winmodems most of the time) or external 
modems.

Sindi


> Regards,
> Dan
>
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keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org