Re: winmodem

[glhenni@cs.sandia.gov (Gary L. Hennigan)]

Default Debian Reader <debianuser@jkeating.static.execpc.com> writes:
| Does anyone know if a winmodem, (in particular, the us robotics x2 
| 56 winmodem) is useable under linux?  This used to be the default modem
| shipped with dell machines and it seems like i can't get this *&^@# to
| work.

Winmodems do not work under Linux. Their very name, "Win(modem)",
implies that they are Windows specific. It's not they couldn't,
possibly, be made to work under Linux, but they rely on drivers, and
thus your CPU, to do a lot of the DSP work and nobody has written such
a driver for Linux. It doesn't seem likely that anyone will write a
driver either, because most people consider them kludges that the
companies have put together to increase their profit margins on
modems.

For future reference, stay away from Win<anything>. In addition to
modems, there are, or at least were, printers manufactured with this
idea in mind, and might even be other hardware like this.

Gary