HSF/HCF softmodem dotpups available for testing

[jcoder24]

I've gotten hold of an hcf modem. So far I'm not having much luck -- in fact Johnny Reb has had better luck than me. I'm going to try recompiling the drivers with the modem installed in VL. I'll then test it in VL and compare the results.

Stay tuned....

BTW. I've noticed quite a number of downloads for the hsfmodem but I've only had three responses to the poll. It would be nice to know if the drivers are working of if they need more work. So if you download please provide feedback.

[Johnny Reb]

I'm no where near a 'compilation' pro but from your post it seems like a problem with gcc. Maybe it's broken. You could prob try an older version of GCC.

Yes it appears that is the problem. I've since downloaded and older version of gcc, which it refuses to install, and the same version that I've got and tried to reinstall it. When I try to reinstall I get a slew of error messages warning of missing dependicies.............libpng.so.3, libtcl8.3.so, /usr/local/bin/perl
/bin/csh libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.3) is needed by tcl-8.3.5-96.0.1 libntdll.dll.so
are just a few of them. I've been trying to locate where you can download these files, and it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. If I don't find them before long I think I'm just going to wipe out that partition and reinstall from scratch.

[Johnny Reb]

I've gotten hold of an hcf modem. So far I'm not having much luck -- in fact Johnny Reb has had better luck than me. I'm going to try recompiling the drivers with the modem installed in VL. I'll then test it in VL and compare the results.

jcoder, here's something that may be useful. Since I had trouble with Ice crashing I renamed my pup101 to pup101.zip and started over with a new pup101 in order to try and find out what was going on there, but I found out something that may have a bearing on the modem drivers. When I created the new pup101 I installed IceWM before I installed the dodpup for the modem drivers. With Ice installed the HCF/HSF wizard does not appear in the menu, so I attempted to configure the modem via the terminal, and got these results, which you do not get if you use the wizard:
This package does not contain pre-built modules suitable for your system:
Distribution: unknown-unknown
Kernel arch: i686
Kernel version: linux-2.4.29

Please obtain the appropriate variant of this package for your system
or try the generic RPM or tar version.
#
So, it would appear that the drivers you have may be the problem. If it will be any assistance to you, I do have some of the beta drivers in the source packages, both rpm's and tar.gz. Just let me know, and I can email them. I downloaded quiet a few different versions of them when I first installed Peanut trying to get the modem to work with it, but everytime I'd try to install them I kept getting a message that I needed to recompile the kernel, and then the floppy went out on me. Foutunatly I rarely delete something like that, and still have the drivers on my computer.

[Guest]

This package does not contain pre-built modules suitable for your system:
Distribution: unknown-unknown
Kernel arch: i686
Kernel version: linux-2.4.29

The emphasis in that message is on pre-built modules which means that you have to recompile the modules from source for your particular distro. (Previously there were only binary versions of the modules for Redhat and I think Debian.)

The modules I've provided were compiled under Vector Linux 5.1 (as recommended) running in VMWare. The problem I'm having is that when I try to insert the modules without the /etc/hcfpci/current.inf I get a number of warnings but all modules load 'successfully' yet the modem fails to work. When I try it with /etc/hcfpci/current.inf in place I get a segmentation fault when inserting the hcfpciserial module.

This could be indicating a 'bad' inf file. My plan it to transfer an image of my VMWare Vector Linux install to a 'real' partition so I can test the modem from Vector.

BTW. Your modem actually appears to have been installed 'completely'. How did you answer the questions about inf, vendor id, pci id, country....?

[jcoder24]

That was me as guest.

[jcoder24]

Success with hcfmodem drivers

I now have to work on including the changes into hcfmodem.pup. Therefore I have removed the hcfmodem.pup file for now.

So far the changes needed for the hcfmodem don't seem necessary for the hsfmodem. However, with the lack of feedback on the hsf drivers I will make the same changes for the hsfmodem, test them and hope they work for everone.

Hopefully new packages will be available by tomorrow Sep 5th

[Johnny Reb]

Success with hcfmodem drivers

Congratulations jcoder! I'll test them as soon as possible.

In reference to your previous reply to the post about the error message I got when configuring through the terminal, I never doubted that the drivers had installed. I just figured they were not working correctly because of that message. Had they not installed at all I would have got no feedback at all when I ran the pppd commands, or at least it stands to reason that I wouldn't have anyway.

[Johnny Reb]

BTW. Your modem actually appears to have been installed 'completely'. How did you answer the questions about inf, vendor id, pci id, country....?

I about forgot to answer this question. When I first installed I used the values you provided in one of your eariler howtos since I had no idea what they should be (100A &210F if memory serves me correctly). Since then I've done some surfing, and came up with these values 14F1 & 1056 which I hope are correct. I'll try them first and if they don't work use the 100A & 210F. If that does not work I'll do some more surfing and try to come up with the correct values. I don't know what kind of modem you used to test with, but mine is a Creative Blaster modem (I think a more appropriate name for it could be had by deleting two letters from blaster and inserting a few more) Flash 56 PCI DI-5630-5.

[New Puppy Fan]

Hi, jcoder. I have the same Connexant modem and after downloading hcfmodem.pup and -extra.tar.gz I installed them as you described. Then I ran hcfpciconfig and in the end I got error like that "All/some files not installed". Do you have any advice?
Thank you!

[jcoder24]

Packages moved to http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=2258


New tested hcfmodem.pup package available -- download below. The new hsfmodem.pup should be up in a day or two.

Changes
1) Should work "out of the box" hopefully

2) Displays your modem pci vendor/device id for use in configuring.

3) Skips the need to re-enter the pci vendor/device ids and other values set during the initial installation when re-running the modem setup program.

4) pci vendor/device ids and other info can be change by running hcfpciconfig (or hsfconfig for the hsf drivers)

Sample output from running the setup. The bolded text are the values I entered.

******************************************************
** PCI Vendor ID = 14f1 PCI Device ID = 1033 **
******************************************************

Linux HCF controllerless modem drivers, version 0.99mbsibeta02123100

WARNING: this is an EXPERIMENTAL BETA VERSION of the HCF drivers for Linux.
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! See the file /usr/lib/hcfpci/LICENSE for details.

Conexant Systems neither distributes nor maintains this package.
PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT CONEXANT REGARDING THIS SOFTWARE!!!
If you require assistance or need more information, go to:
http://www.mbsi.ca/cnxtlindrv

Should we attempt to automatically configure your hardware? [yes] n
Is the modem presently installed in your system? [yes] n


Please enter your modem's PCI Vendor ID []: 14f1

Please enter your modem's PCI Device ID []: 1033

1) /etc/hcfpci/inf/hcfv90_lan_linux.inf
2) /etc/hcfpci/inf/hcfv90_linux.inf
3) /etc/hcfpci/inf/hcfv92_linux.inf
4) /etc/hcfpci/inf/hcfv92_riptide_linux.inf
5) None of the above

Which INF file would you like to use with your HCF modem? (1-5) 2

Selected PCI VendorID=14f1 DeviceID=1033
and INF file /etc/hcfpci/inf/hcfv90_linux.inf

Unable to determine country, defaulting to "USA"

Configuring modem for country: "USA"
You can change this setting later with the command "hcfpciconfig --country"

This package does not contain pre-built modules suitable for your system:
Distribution: unknown-unknown
Kernel arch: i686
Kernel version: linux-2.4.29

Please obtain the appropriate variant of this package for your system
or try the generic RPM or tar version.
Using /lib/modules/2.4.29/hsfmodem/hcfpciosspec.o.gz
Warning: loading /lib/modules/2.4.29/hsfmodem/hcfpciosspec.o.gz will taint the k ernel: non-GPL license - Copyright (C) 1996-2002 Conexant Systems Inc. All Right s Reserved.
See http://www.tux.org/lkml/#export-tainted for information about tainted modu les
Module hcfpciosspec loaded, with warnings
Using /lib/modules/2.4.29/hsfmodem/hcfpciengine.o.gz
Warning: loading /lib/modules/2.4.29/hsfmodem/hcfpciengine.o.gz will taint the k ernel: non-GPL license - Copyright (C) 1996-2002 Conexant Systems Inc. All Right s Reserved.
See http://www.tux.org/lkml/#export-tainted for information about tainted modu les
Module hcfpciengine loaded, with warnings
Using /lib/modules/2.4.29/hsfmodem/hcfpciserial.o.gz
Linux HCF controllerless modem drivers, version 0.99mbsibeta02123100

WARNING: this is an EXPERIMENTAL BETA VERSION of the HCF drivers for Linux.
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! See the file /usr/lib/hcfpci/LICENSE for details.

Conexant Systems neither distributes nor maintains this package.
PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT CONEXANT REGARDING THIS SOFTWARE!!!
If you require assistance or need more information, go to:
http://www.mbsi.ca/cnxtlindrv

Your HCF modem should now be accessible as /dev/ttySHCF0
or through the symbolic link /dev/modem.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As usu. feedback welcome.

[Johnny Reb]

New tested hcfmodem.pup package available -- download below. The new hsfmodem.pup should be up in a day or two.

Changes
1) Should work "out of the box" hopefully

jcoder, it does work "out of the box"! This is my first post from puppy! I'd say more, but I've stayed up very late to get this working. THANKS!

Deo Vindice!

[Guest]

Sorry jkoder, but your new modem update *0907.pup doesn't work. It even doesn't make folders /lib/modules/2.6.11/hsfmodem and there is no ttySHCFo, cuaHCFO in /dev/. Maybe it make sence to make those directories manually and put there all files needed. Waiting for new advice.

[Guest]

Sorry jkoder, but your new modem update *0907.pup doesn't work. It even doesn't make folders /lib/modules/2.6.11/hsfmodem and there is no ttySHCFo, cuaHCFO in /dev/. Maybe it make sence to make those directories manually and put there all files needed. Waiting for new advice.

[Johnny Reb]

Sorry jkoder, but your new modem update *0907.pup doesn't work. It even doesn't make folders /lib/modules/2.6.11/hsfmodem and there is no ttySHCFo, cuaHCFO in /dev/. Maybe it make sence to make those directories manually and put there all files needed. Waiting for new advice.

Sorry Bubba, but it does work because I'm using it now. If you will review what you posted above you will see what the problem is, specificly /lib/modules/2.6.11 that is your problem. This driver has been compiled for kernel 2.4.29. I'm too new to Linux to say if it can be compiled for the 2.6.x kernel or not, but that is the reason it's not working.

[jcoder24]

It even doesn't make folders /lib/modules/2.6.11/hsfmodem

As Johnny Reb stated these drivers are for kernel 2.4.29. Trying to compile the older version of the drivers (which is what I'm using since they are without cost and license restriction) failed. For one knowledgeable enough, they maybe able to edit the source files to allow them to compile under kernel 2.6.x but I'm not at that stage yet.

That is slated as a furture project. My next projects are BCM modem drivers, wm menu conversion scripts, pptplinux gui, network admin puppy.....

Note however, the latest version of the drivers compile and work on kernel 2.6.x but it comes with distribution restrictions. There is a free version that limits connection speed to 14.4k (i think) so that's why I'm sticking with the older versions.

If you don't mind 14.4k or paying $25 (i think) for a license for the new version of the driver you can probably try compiling it yourself. I'll be willing to provide any help you need.

[New Puppy Fan]

Thanks, jcoder for advice concerning 2.6.x kernel. It was me as a Guest. I definitely wont stick to HCF modem and will try to find more "Linux friendly" . Do you know the types of modems which work flawlessly with Puppy?
Thank you.

[jcoder24]

External serial modems are preferred and almost guaranteed to work. Failing that you can prob. try a hardware/controller based internal modem. Note however that some retail outlets may try to pass off a winmodem as being a hardware modem.

[jcoder24]

Keys to knowing if the modem you are purchasing is a winmodem is looking for one of the following keywords: softmodem, winmodem, Windows-only, controlless, HSF, HCF.

Another indication is the number of components (esp. chips on the modem) the fewer the components the more likely it is to be a winmodem.

The only sure way of knowing is to do some research on the particular modem you are thinking of buying, including getting reviews (http://reviews.cnet.com). You could also get a find out what hardware based modems others find to work and chose one?

[Flash]

Definitely start by looking for hardware that has been proven to work with the Linux distro you choose.

I bought a PCI card modem which said on the box that it would work with Linux; a US Robotics 5610B, if I remember right. It worked fine in Windows, although not as well as the Winmodem that came with the computer, but I was never able to get it to work in Mandrake Linux. Someone who knew more than I did about Linux tinkered around and got online with it one time, but then said he couldn't remember what he did that got it to work.

The problem seemed to be that every Linux distro I tried assumed that all internal modems are Winmodems. That was a few years ago. Maybe things have improved. I wouldn't know because a few years ago I got an (internal) cable modem, a Zoom 5001, which works fine with every OS I've tried, no configuration required, so I just forgot about the dial-up modem.

Dial-up is the legacy connection to the internet. I'll never understand why it works so poorly in Linux when Linux has no problem with newer, high speed technologies.

[jcoder24]

Thanks, jcoder for advice concerning 2.6.x kernel. It was me as a Guest. I definitely wont stick to HCF modem and will try to find more "Linux friendly" . Do you know the types of modems which work flawlessly with Puppy?
Thank you.

See http://www.goosee.com/puppy/wikka/ModemPageWorking for a list of working modems, not sure which kernel version they work with.