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Re: 56k modems



On Tue, Mar 16, 1999 at 04:12:15PM +0200, Alex Shnitman wrote:
> Baruch HaShem Adonai writes:
> 
>  > Instead of getting an internal Modem why not just get an external one.  After 
>  > working for years at a comm software company I came to prefer the external 
>  > modems, for various reasons:
>  > 
>  >    1)  They are portable.
>  >    2)  They work with just about any type of system (if it has an R232
>  >        I can do something with it).
>  >    3)  They generally have better diagnostics (i.e. those little red 
>  >        lights) which truly are an aid, especially when hooking them up 
>  >        to non pc hardware.  
>  > 
>  > Are these too hard to find and in HaEretz?
Its hard to find internal *true* 56K modems (which aren't controllerless) and
supported by Linux . All modems priced less than 500 NIS are controllerless modems
(or as they called "winmodems") and aren't supported by Linux since naturally
its just a couple of chips pushed together onto card and are able to handle simple
and basic tasks with telephone line - such as signalling , retransmitting and so on .
All other tasks are handled by software and their 56K speed is also achieved in this 
manner . If you will ever see it working under Win you will definetely notice how much
CPU time it eats . True 56K modems in Israel are represented only by 56K U.S.Robotics
internal modem which is priced as high as 600NIS and its external version costs even
higher . True that external modems are portable and can be connected to any 
computer/device equipped by RS232 inetrface (by the way AFAIK with 56K modem it has 
to be at least UART 16550A , otherwise it will work just as 33.6K ) but they're not
worthing their price for my opinion . Very good 33.6K modem costs less than 200NIS and
since almost in any case you'll never see maximum of the speed even when downloading
from Israel hosts - who needs 56K ?

Best wishes,
Mike.

P.S. The real advantage of external modems is that in case of some electrical
problems on telephone line it will burn-out alone , without your system board :)
( This is the reason why ISP's and skilled users in Russia use external modems :)