[ILUG] Linux modems.

[Anthony]

> They certainly exist.  Marx Computers are advertising what appears to be
> one in their "communication" section.
> 
> 	http://www.marxcomputers.ie/
> 
> 	Modem 56K PCI Ambient
> 	Intel/Ambient chipset 56K, V.92 Win98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP, Linux
> 	Euro 20.00 inc VAT

I own one of these but I have my suspicion that a fair proportion of the
processing is still done by the CPU rather than the hardware. I can't be
sure as the the drivers are binary but I remember my desktop becoming
quite unresponsive when I was dialling up. (This was back in the day
before I discovered htop and other programs that perform a similar
function.)

The modems work reasonably fine once you have the binary driver for the
version of Linux that you are using but I remember that when I upgraded
from 2.4 to 2.6 [1], the binary drivers no longer worked and that's when
I swore to do my best to avoid buying hardware that comes with binary
only drivers.

At the time, I got my hands on a real serial modem which seems to me to
be the only guaranteed way of ensuring that a GNU/Linux user can
freely[2] use their hardware.  I now have ADSL connection at home so I
thankfully no longer have to wait to go online.

I'd be quite happy to freely [3] give you the serial modem - and the
Ambient PCI modem, if you so desire - as I no longer need them or use
them.  If you live near Dublin, feel free to email me off-list to make
arrangements to meet for collection.

-Anthony

[1] kernel version
[2] Free as in Freedom  http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/free-sw.html
[3] Free as in Beer