First of all, read this:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/modems.htmlIt pretty much says what I said about all external modems that connect via a serial cable should work.
Having said that, you have two options to be fairly confident of getting a modem that will work for sure:
1) Buy a modem that is listed on the hardware compatibility list of your distro.
2) If you have found a modem that you are interested in, get the specific make and model number of that modem. If possible, get the exact chipset of that modem or find out if that model exclusively uses a specific chipset. Go to google, type in the following:
linux modem MANUFACTURER MODELNUMBER CHIPSET
You should find plenty of messages from people with varying degrees of success using a particular modem. If you find lots of messages stating "I installed the modem, my distro detected it with no problem" then you should feel fairly safe getting that modem. Of course I personally will not guarantee that you will not have issues with anything you get but I can say this method has always worked for me.
Of course I have been lucky and generally have had access to a stockpile of many makes/models and just plug one in, if it doesn't work right off I plug another one in. When I find one that works from the stockpile I either use that or purchase one exactly like it for my personal use. I know that most people don't have access to a stockpile of various hardware.
[ September 26, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]
