[wellylug] kernel info

[jumbophut]

On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 20:43:31 +1300, Rosemary McGillicuddy wrote:
>  There are drivers at linuuxant.com, but only 14.4k  free.  To get 56k there
> is a payment.  If I can get it going easily, I'll pay, otherwise better to
> buy external I think.
>  

Given the cost (which is in USD), you might be better off buying a
modem from Dick Smith Electronics with the Intel HAM chipset.  They
cost just over $30, which is roughly the cost of the linuxant
software.  Intel have so far provided free upgrades, so when you go up
a kernel version, you have some chance of saving money.

Of course, only a full hardware solution will protect you from a
situation where a vendor decides to discontinue support and make you
buy a new product to get a working driver.

Possibilities include:

* An external hardware modem
* The Actiontec 56K PCI Master internal modem (Lucent Venus chipset). 
This has been used successfully in NZ, although it doesn't seem to be
available here now.  You can buy it from Amazon.
* The US Robotics Performance Pro 5610B internal PCI modem (USR5610B
chipset).  I don't know whether or not this has been used successfully
in NZ, but it gets good reports overseas (i.e. runs well on Linux) and
you can buy it from Amazon.

Both the internal modems listed here appear to the kernel as standard
serial ports (they have proper UARTs).  They are costly (circa $100),
but bear in mind that unlike any of the lin/winmodems, they are not
constantly sapping your CPU to operate.  You get better computer
performance and futureproofness, except in the unlikely event that the
serial port stops being supported.

Cheers
Tony

-- 
Tony (echo 'spend!,pocket awide' | sed 'y/acdeikospntw!, /l at omcgtjuba.phi/')