F*****g winmodems

[Pantso]

I hope you guys can help me on this. Well here goes: I just bought an HP XE3 Omnibook, on which I'm planning once again to install Linux    . Unfortunately though, the particular model has a winmodem (ESS superlink) that doesn't work under Linux (I know that winmodems are sorry excuses for modems, but I was trying to save some money). Anyway, I'm thinking of buying a PCMCIA 56K modem. What's the support status on PCMCIA modems? Do they work in Linux? Pls help  :confused:  .

[rtgwbmsr]

Winmodems? *YUK*

Anyway:
Yes, some PCMCIA Modems work in Linux.

Xircom and Linksys PCMCIA ethernet cards work in Linux...would it be safe to assume the modems work as well?

This is a helpful link:
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/hp.html
Scroll down to your model.

If you aren't a n00b try this (sorry, it's gotta be said):
http://www.math.u-bordeaux.fr/~depouill/XE3/#modem

[ September 09, 2002: Message edited by: The_Muffin_Man/B0b ]

[Pantso]

Thanks for the reply and the links you provided M.M/Bob, but I've already checked them out to see if my crippled winmodem   :mad:  can be turned into a linmodem using open source drivers (no luck there). All they say is that it doesn't work, period because ESS don't provide the source code. I've found only a module for the 2.2.* kernel but nothing else.

You know, the funny part is that my old laptop (a Toshiba satellite) had a Lucent winmodem on which worked better with the Linux drivers than with the windoze ones    .

Anyway, if anyone uses a certain PCMCIA modem in Linux pls help!

[Calum]

i know how you feel. i have a smartlink hamr56 v90 modem and they DO provide linux drivers for both i386 and i686, however they do not work.

[Calum]

if i was going to get a PCMCIA Xircom CEM56-100 network/modem card, but i wasn't sure whether it would work on my computer, how could i test out my PCMCIA slot before i get the network/modem card considering i have no other PCMCIA cards?

sorry to hijack somebody else's thread, but it's relevant, you see...

[Pantso]

You're not hijacking my thread Calum. On the contrary, I have the same question myself and I was gonna post it anyway    . I don't have any experience with PCMCIA slots since I used the Lucent Winmodem->Linmodem on my old Toshiba laptop. All I know is that the 2.4.* kernel loads the PCMCIA drivers at startup. At least that's the case with SuSE 8.0 and Mandrake 8.2.

[TheQuirk]

http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/PCMCIA-HOWTO-1.html

[Centurian]

Or you could just make it easy on yourself and buy an external modem such as a USR 56K Sportster. All you have to do is plug it in and both linux and windows will support it for sure.

[Pantso]

Thanks for the replies guys. I found the answer to my problems, at least temporarily, by using my external modem and a USB<->serial adapter. Keep in mind that the Omnibook doesn't come with a serial port. So, I specified my modem as /dev/ttyUSB0 and now I'm browsing the Internet in Linux. However, due to reasons of portability (it's a laptop after all), I decided to buy an external PCMCIA modem. We'll see!

Thanks again