Winmodem: testing Puppy 5.0, 4.3.1, and Quirky Retro 1.1

Please post any bugs you have found
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Raman
Posts: 86
Joined: Fri 02 Sep 2005, 03:25
Location: A Place Where Cows Are Sacred

Winmodem: testing Puppy 5.0, 4.3.1, and Quirky Retro 1.1

#1 Post by Raman »

With regard to recognizing winmodems (minimum hardware-based dialup modems requiring the various Windows operating systems to operate the winmodems), I have finished testing Puppy 5.0, Quirky Retro 1.1, and Puppy 4.3.1 -- all booted into ram memory via (F2) -- on fifteen (15) different Pentium computers -- laptops and desktops -- ranging from those originally sold with Windows 98 (first edition, not second edition), continuing through Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, up to and including Windows XP SP3, and the results are as follows:

1. Puppy 4.3.1 recognized all fifteen winmodems, and all 15 winmodems dialed to a successful dialup connection.

2. Puppy 5.0 recognized none of the fifteen winmodems. Period. Full stop.

3. Quirky Retro 1.1 recognized four (4) of the fifteen (15) winmodems, and of these four recognized winmodems, Quirky Retro 1.1 successfully dialed two (2) of the winmodems to a successful dialup connection.

4. By using an external hardware modem that operates on both USB and external RS232 serial connections, and by booting all into ram memory via (F2), Puppy 5.0, Quirky Retro 1.1, and Puppy 4.3.1 recognized and successfully dialed the external serial modem to a useable dialup connection via a USB or a serial cable connection, or both, on all fifteen machines.

What do you suppose is wrong with Puppy 5.0 and Quirky Retro 1.1, or to state it differently, what do you suppose is right with Puppy 4.3.1?

Hail Puppy!

Raman

User avatar
Raman
Posts: 86
Joined: Fri 02 Sep 2005, 03:25
Location: A Place Where Cows Are Sacred

Test used Quirky-Retro 1.1, built with the 2.6.30.5 kernel

#2 Post by Raman »

I should mention that in the above-described tests, I used Quirky-Retro 1.1, built with the 2.6.30.5 kernel obtained from http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... et-110.iso

Hail Puppy!

Raman

User avatar
rerwin
Posts: 2017
Joined: Wed 24 Aug 2005, 22:50
Location: Maine, USA

#3 Post by rerwin »

Raman,
Sorry to be so long in responding. I have been away from PCs for a week, but am back now.

You say you tested with 4.3.1 and Q1.1-retro, which is the next step up. However, the intermediate step is to apply some dotpet packages to 4.3.1. So, to be complete, could you run your tests with that setup? That is what Barry incorporated into Q1.1, as I understand it, but I have not verified his implementation. Running the upgraded-4.3.1 tests will show whether the problems are introduced by the packages or the incorporation into Q1.1. Here is where the dotpets are: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 235#388235
You need pup_event_backend_modprobe_fix_to_p43x-4.pet and modem_fix_pack_to_431-6.pet for the analog modems. The others pertain to USB wireless modems, but are OK to include, if you care to.

Which are the modems that are detected and which of those work? That might give me a clue. In the meantime, I will look at Q1.1-retro. Note that any puppy built on a kernel above 2.6.30.5 probably does not have the kernel-specific drivers for the w/linmodems. Many of the drivers have not been updated for later kernels. So we wait for them.

Thanks for your extensive testing and report.
Richard

User avatar
rerwin
Posts: 2017
Joined: Wed 24 Aug 2005, 22:50
Location: Maine, USA

#4 Post by rerwin »

Raman,
I have now tested all of my modem types in quirky 1.1. They all work! However, to get the Lucent/Agere modems to work with their driver, martian_dev, a script must be edited to avoid aborting it.

Edit line 35 of /etc/init.d/martian to remove the text, "/sbin/", so it looks like this:

Code: Select all

if [ `lsmod | grep -c ${MARTIANMOD}` -lt "1" ]; then
The modems I have tested are:
- ttySM0 (Lucent/Agere - martian_dev)
- ttyACM0 (DGC USB modem)
- ttySHSF0 (HSFmodem)
- ttyS_ESS0 (ESS modem)
- ttyS_PCTEL0 (PCTEL modem)
- intel5360 (Intel 536)
- 5370 (intel 537EP)
- ttySL0 (SmartLink PCI)
- ttySL0 (SmartLink USB)

I have not tested any built-in sound-card modems, but they should be detected as ttySL0, too. However, I do not expect Conexant HDA modems to work, probably. That is because the ALSA sound driver is upgraded but not patched (I assume) to support Conexant HDA modems. Waiting for the patch for ALSA 1.0.21, from Linuxant. (I see that one for 1.0.23 is available, so maybe the 1.0.20 patch would work for 1.0.21.)

If your modems still do not work with my upgrade packages, I need more details from you about the modems that do not work. What are they detected as in 4.3.1 (without the new packages)?

I would like to resolve your issues, so please help me. Thanks.
Richard

User avatar
BarryK
Puppy Master
Posts: 9392
Joined: Mon 09 May 2005, 09:23
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Contact:

#5 Post by BarryK »

Raman, rerwin,
I have uploaded Quirky-Retro 1.2rc, that has restored the symlink that was missing in Q1.1.

I'm currently restricted to dialup speed, until end of month, but Quirky-Retro 1.2rc has completed uploading, find it here (120MB):

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... UPLOADING/

...the build has all modems and SCSI drivers.

Estimated time for uploading to finish is 16 hours from now, then I will rename the directory 'quirky-1.2rcUPLOADING' to 'quirk-1.2rc'.
[url]https://bkhome.org/news/[/url]

rameshiyer

Winmodem

#6 Post by rameshiyer »

In my first boot, it fails to dial up through my internal modem ( conexant 56K internal modem ) . However, after reboot, the Quirky Reto1.1 ( full harddisk installation) , it established internet connection. Now the Internal Model Dialup in Quirky Retro1.1 is working fine. So far I have noticed any problem. Thank you very much. If possible, kindly include modem driver in Quirky with new kernel.

User avatar
Raman
Posts: 86
Joined: Fri 02 Sep 2005, 03:25
Location: A Place Where Cows Are Sacred

Re-test of all 15 machines with Quirky 1.2, plus audio, etc.

#7 Post by Raman »

With regard to recognizing winmodems when loaded into F2 memory and not to a hard disk or equivalent, I have finished testing Quirky Retro 1.2 on fifteen (15) different Pentium computers -- laptops and desktops -- ranging from those originally sold with Windows 98 (first edition, not second edition), continuing through Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, up to and including Windows XP SP3, and the results are as follows:

1. Quirky 1.2 recognized all fifteen winmodems, and all 15 winmodems dialed to a successful dialup connection.

2. Quirky 1.2 recognized and activated all machines fitted with audio, some of them quite old. The two ancient machines without audio both received for this test a truly ancient audio board, and then all fifteen (15) machines had excellent audio with Quirky 1.2.

3. Quirky Retro 1.2 recognized four ancient printers in all fifteen machines, a thing I had not seen before. And all 15 machines printed with all of the four tired-but-true printers -- HP, Epson, IBM, NEC).

4. Quirky 1.2 recognized and activated all machines fitted with burners, and for those that did not have CD-ROM and or DVD burners, an external DVD burner was recognized and worked externally. Which makes 15 out of 15.

5. Quirky 1.2 played both audio and video on all fifteen machines, and did so smoothly.

Please permit me to suggest that Quirky 1.2 is a flaming success on all fifteen machines.

Hail Puppy!

Raman
Last edited by Raman on Tue 08 Jun 2010, 08:03, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
BarryK
Puppy Master
Posts: 9392
Joined: Mon 09 May 2005, 09:23
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Contact:

#8 Post by BarryK »

Raman,
Stay tuned, soon there will be a Wary Puppy with 2.6.27.47 kernel, that I tentatively propose to be our future Retro Puppy. It should also work with all of your modems and printers.
[url]https://bkhome.org/news/[/url]

Post Reply