The LINUX BARRIER: Dial Up Modems

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Sage
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#76 Post by Sage »

The real danger is if the greedy B's manage to persuade board makers to remove the last serial port, just as happened with the last ISA slot (we got that wonderful AMR slot instead!!!) and the FDD. In my view, so doing would require the removal of "computer" under the Trades Description Acts, since RS232 provides rather more than just modem access.

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TrailerTrash
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Re: The LINUX BARRIER: Dial Up Modems

#77 Post by TrailerTrash »

This is not Puppy's fault- the entire Linux community snobs at dial-up folks.
Some people you might not expect are stuck with it- like most of those who grow the food you eat . Believe it or not, we really need computers in the boonies too, for stuff like weather predictions and crop spraying.



Amen x10 to infinity on that one amigo... :lol:

I am just a few miles east of San Diego, in the desert where I suppose I'm lucky to have a private telephone line.... Broadband? Hah! Only federal law and subsidies will bring broadband to everyone, not any for profit company. Oh I could have satellite if I wanted to change back to MS and accept punitive downloading restrictions on a daily basis. Screw that idea.

And while we're at it does anyone know a way to get outfits like Ubuntu to actually answer my question about why they quit the wvdial gui after 8.04? :evil: Now that I am stuck on the Pup the question is merely academic you understand but the fact that I can't get anyone at Canonical to respond is a pisser. And, Ubuntu ain't the only offender. :x

OK rant over...

Thank God for the Dogmeisters down under. OK I guess there are a few up here on top as well...

I don't mind a turd on my lawn once in a while so long as the Pup stays alive in my computer.

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Digital_Dissident
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Dial-Up for Laptops

#78 Post by Digital_Dissident »

As a dial-up user, this thread is of great interest and relevance to me.

Something that seems to have been overlooked in this thread is the additional inconvenience and encumbrance to Laptop users of having to use an external modem.

Ironically, this is one area in which it seems that older laptops provided a distinct advantage: that of the
PCMICIA or 'PC-Card' modem. These credit-card-sized devices would slide easily and fully into slots on the side of the computer, providing full dial-up and fax functionality (voice answering too). Nothing extra to carry around, weigh you down, stick-out* or hang from the laptop. (*Other than the small X-Jack)

Thus, it is on my ten-year-old Dell Latitude C600 that I am able to successfully use a 3Com 3cxm556 PCMCIA fax/modem that I got on eBay for $5-. (Ten years ago, the exact same modem retailed for close to $200.00. Five or six years ago, I found it online for $25.00)

But not on my five-year-old Inspiron b120, as it only has a mini-PCI slot but no PCMICA.

And since the internal Winmodem in this Celeron 1.4 GHZ machine with 2 GB of RAM, 15.6" screen and three USB 2.0 ports has not worked in any of the GNU/Linux distros I have tried, I am reduced to having to having to use the twice-as-old Pentium III machine with only 384 MB of RAM, one USB 1.1 port and a 14.1" screen to access the Internet.

I found the following two external USB modems at NewEgg that I am considering:

U.S. Robotics USR5637
Currently listed at $44.99

Rosewill RNX-56 USB (Conexant)
Currently listed at $24.99, with a free PCI modem with purchase promotional deal

The occupation of a USB port and, often, the obstruction of an additional one or more can be an issue, especially for a laptop user.

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Digital_Dissident
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Dial-Up Modem Update

#79 Post by Digital_Dissident »

1.) A Long Overdue Update to My Above Post:

I bought the USR 5637 USB modem and it has been detected by and worked in Puppy as well as each of the several other distros I have tried with it.

2.) Unfortunately, however, the 3Com 3CXM556 PCMCIA modem I described in my previous post (fully hardware-based and self-contained) was not detected by Wary Puppy 5.1.1. Nor by Legacy OS 2010.

I don't know what happened because this modem did work in Puppy 4.3.1 ( And likely in Lucid Puppy 5.0.1 as well, though I don't recall the latter for certain). This is all with the same computer: a Dell Latitude C600 laptop, as described in my previous post.

Bruce B

Re: Dial-Up Modem Update

#80 Post by Bruce B »

Digital_Dissident wrote: I don't know what happened because this modem did work in Puppy 4.3.1 ( And likely in Lucid Puppy 5.0.1 as well, though I don't recall the latter for certain). This is all with the same computer: a Dell Latitude C600 laptop, as described in my previous post.
Thanks for the updates. I wondered how this post came back.

One of my complaints with Puppy is hardware support is not static
enough.

I want it to be static, meaning don't lose any support, while at the same
time improving hardware support.

I don't get what I want, but I have plenty of work arounds.

In your case where the hardware is same and various Puppy versions
support or don't support.

? ? ?

Compromises. Find one that will. Or try other distros.

or ? ? ?

Ideas ? ? ?

~

Mercedes350se
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Re: Dial-Up Modem Update

#81 Post by Mercedes350se »

Digital_Dissident wrote: .. 2.) Unfortunately, however, the 3Com 3CXM556 PCMCIA modem I described in my previous post (fully hardware-based and self-contained) was not detected by Wary Puppy 5.1.1. Nor by Legacy OS 2010.

I don't know what happened because this modem did work in Puppy 4.3.1 ( And likely in Lucid Puppy 5.0.1 as well, though I don't recall the latter for certain). This is all with the same computer: a Dell Latitude C600 laptop, as described in my previous post.
Maybe I am the odd one out but why on earth upgrade if the current version is working the way you want it to?

P.S. I am still using 3.01 and until I fix it till it breaks I am extremely happy with it.
P.P.S. I still have the Spirit Cougar modem sitting, unused, under the desk now that I have "broad band" for the same price per month as the dial-up was.

Bruce B

Re: Dial-Up Modem Update

#82 Post by Bruce B »

Mercedes350se wrote:Maybe I am the odd one out but why on earth
upgrade if the current version is working the way you want it to?

P.S. I am still using 3.01 and until I fix it till it breaks I am extremely happy
with it.

P.P.S. I still have the Spirit Cougar modem sitting, unused, under the desk
now that I have "broad band" for the same price per month as the dial-up
was.
Old lessons learned

Microsoft taught me not rush to buy the newest OS just because it hit the
shelves. Experience taught me my best installs were fresh installs, not
upgrades.

I recently upgraded to Lupu 5.20 - the primary reason was so I could
give specific advice on the forum.

It's pretty nice, but so were the others.

~

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Bernie_by_the_Sea
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Re: Dial-Up Modem Update

#83 Post by Bernie_by_the_Sea »

Mercedes350se wrote: Maybe I am the odd one out but why on earth upgrade if the current version is working the way you want it to?

P.S. I am still using 3.01 and until I fix it till it breaks I am extremely happy with it.
For more than five years I used Mepis 3.3, XP, Knoppix 5.0.1 AND Debian Sarge without upgrading. I have NEVER updated XP, including no security updates. I have never gotten any viruses either since I use multiple layers of protection -- two firewalls, two threat analyzers, two malware detectors and a quality antivirus program. These do slow things down and need frequent updating but nothing has gotten through yet. XP works despite my distaste for Gates and Microsoft. Vista certainly isn't any better and I doubt that 7 is. I still use some Win95 and Win98 software that won't run on 7.

I found Puppy and liked it. Somehow that persuaded me to take a fresh look at Linux so I finally "upgraded" (or actually replaced) my five-year-old distros and sure enough after five years of development they do have some nice new features. Should I have upgraded sooner? Anyway I have no plans to update Wary 500 and Lucid 520 for several years.

Getting back on topic, after wasting too much time trying to get a winmodem to work in Debian in 2004 I switched to using an external serial modem. I live in a remote area where my only other choice is satellite that costs $55 a month more than dialup. The only problem I’ve had with external modems is that they’re very surge/lightning sensitive. Despite surge protection on both the AC power and phone line two modems got zapped. Rural electricity is not as stable as city power.

My US Robotics external serial modem works without any fiddling around with configuration in Puppies but in Knoppix I had to switch from KPPP to wvdial to maintain a connection. I also switched to Gnome wvdial in Mepis even though KPPP works there.
[color=green]Frugal[/color]: Knoppix 6.4.4 DVD
[color=blue]USB[/color]: DSL 4.4.10
[color=red]Full[/color]: WinXP Pro
Puppy (Feb. 4 - May 12, 2011) led me back to Linux.

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Digital_Dissident
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Re: Dial-Up Modem Update

#84 Post by Digital_Dissident »

Digital_Dissident wrote:I don't know what happened because this modem [3Com 3CXM556 PCMCIA] did work in Puppy 4.3.1 ( And likely in Lucid Puppy 5.0.1 as well, though I don't recall the latter for certain).
I have now tried Lucid Puppy 5.2.5 and found that it also will not detect this modem. I then went and tried Lucid 5.0.1 again and found that it also did not discover this modem.

This is quite odd to me, as at least two other minimalist distros (antiX as well as Vector 6.0 Live Light) both detected this modem. ( Xubuntu may have as well but I can't recall for certain; I've tried so many distros over the last few weeks that it's hard to keep track!)

I wonder if this could be a kernel issue, yet antiX uses a newer kernel than Puppy.

Kernels used:
Wary Puppy: 2.6.32.38
Lucid Puppy: 2.6.33.2
antiX M11: 2.6.36-4
Vector: 6.0 is 2.6.27.29
Mercedes350se wrote:Maybe I am the odd one out but why on earth upgrade if the current version is working the way you want it to?
1.) I had other problems with 4.3.1 that made it practically unusable for me.

2.) Bernie_by_the_Sea's post notwithstanding, I would not be comfortable using anything too far outdated on any networked-connected box.
Last edited by Digital_Dissident on Tue 10 May 2011, 17:22, edited 1 time in total.

tempestuous
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#85 Post by tempestuous »

Digital_Dissident wrote:the 3Com 3CXM556 PCMCIA modem I described in my previous post (fully hardware-based and self-contained) was not detected by Wary Puppy 5.1.1. Nor by Legacy OS 2010.
Well you could probably do some diagnosis, and sort out that problem.
As I have constantly been trying to tell users on this forum, problems with PCMCIA devices are often caused by problems with the PCMCIA interface, not with the device driver, itself.

The following two commands will determine whether the PCMCIA interface is working, and whether the PCMCIA device is recognised:

Code: Select all

pccardctl status
pccardctl ident
Please report.

mcewanw
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Re: Dial-Up Modem Update

#86 Post by mcewanw »

Digital_Dissident wrote:I don't know what happened because this modem [3Com 3CXM556 PCMCIA] did work in Puppy 4.3.1 ( And likely in Lucid Puppy 5.0.1 as well, though I don't recall the latter for certain).
I had the same or similar problem at one stage. I now use Wary 5.0 with my pcmcia modem. The following link explains what worked for me:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 590#456601

There was talk of adding the necessary pcmcia-utils package to lucid.
github mcewanw

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BarryK
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#87 Post by BarryK »

You might be interested to know that the 2.6.32.38 kernel that we are using with Wary Puppy, has more analog modem drivers compiled for it than we had in Puppy 4.3.1.

So, the situation should be that we have improved winmodem support over the last couple of years. Lucid Puppy though, is using a later kernel for which we are unable to compile as many of the winmodem drivers.

However, PCMCIA seems to have become more problematic. Unfortunately, I only have one laptop with PCMCIA slot and that works fine with the latest puppies, so I can't isolate what the problem is for other people.
[url]https://bkhome.org/news/[/url]

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BarryK
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#88 Post by BarryK »

Actually, I do have an old Toshiba Satellite pro 430CDT laptop, with PCMCIA slot. I bought it about five years ago, briefly tested Puppy on it a few times, then put it away and forgot about it. I have just got it out, will do some testing.
[url]https://bkhome.org/news/[/url]

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Digital_Dissident
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#89 Post by Digital_Dissident »

I hope to still reply in detail when I get a chance but for now, I just wanted to take a moment to be sure to thank everyone who replied.

And to note how honored I was to see the replies from the "Puppy Master" himself, Mr. Barry Kauler!

Much appreciated.

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BarryK
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#90 Post by BarryK »

For any of you guys with PCMCIA modem that doesn't work, have you tried the fix that others have reported, I think mentioned in a link above, of uncommenting the execution of "pcmcia-socket-startup" in /etc/init.d/rc.pcmcia, then reboot.

If that fixes it, I would very much like some feedback from you. I posted some questions:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=67696
[url]https://bkhome.org/news/[/url]

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mouldy
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Re: Dial-Up for Laptops

#91 Post by mouldy »

Digital_Dissident wrote:
I found the following two external USB modems at NewEgg that I am considering:

U.S. Robotics USR5637
Currently listed at $44.99

Rosewill RNX-56 USB (Conexant)
Currently listed at $24.99, with a free PCI modem with purchase promotional deal

The occupation of a USB port and, often, the obstruction of an additional one or more can be an issue, especially for a laptop user.
I recently bought two backup modems off ebay (I go through at least couple modems each year as I live on hilltop and my phoneline is attractive to lightening). Anyway one of them is the Rosewill RNX-56USB modem. I got it used for $8 shipped cost. It is a hardware modem. Pupdial probe found it instantly and set it up with ACM-cdc driver. Works perfectly. No compiling drivers or buying $20 drivers or any of that. And its tiny, powered entirely by usb port.

It uses Conexant CX93010 chip. Works well for dialup though doing a google on it some people complain it doesnt do caller id properly. I havent really any idea what they are doing with it that requires caller id, but whatever, if you need that, it may not work. But for a straight dialup connection, its fine.

But there are other "Chinese no name" modems with the conexant cx93010 chip, new for around $10. Make sure they have that chip. Actually want to do search on ebay for "conexant 93010" and leave off the "cx" and make the search look at entire auction ads not just title for those words. If it says it has that chip, it should be hardware modem. The one I am waiting on from Hong Kong just says conexant chip and works in linux. Hopefully its that chip and not software modem that requires the stupid $20 driver. I'll just toss it if it turns out to be softmodem. But getting a straight answer on some cheap no name Chinese product off ebay isnt always possible. I found some that say they have the conexant 93010 chip and dont mention linux. Should work though. I dont think many of these el cheapo sellers ever try to use the products they sell, at least not on linux. They just paraphrase some full retail plus shipping description.


I first searched for old serial modems. But they have gotten more rare on ebay and you have to read close. Some people are pulling any old junk out of closet. Some of these serial modems are ancient and have blazing speeds of like 300 baud. Curiosity=yes, practical=no. And if you have serial modem, but no serial port you have to buy a serial to usb converter cable. About $6 more. And I found out hard way, if lightening takes out the modem, it takes out the converter cable too. So the mini usb hardware modems seem way to go if you can get them around $10 or less. Or just dont want to deal with serial modem the size of a hardback novel, plus its power brick, plus four foot cable.....

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