Re: [aclug-L] PCI modems (was: fool proof LINUX?)

[Bob Deep <bobd@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jonathan Hall wrote:
> 
> a) PCI modems are software-based (i.e. won't work in Linux)

This is mostly true, but some PCI modems do have full controllers... 
Not many, but some.

> b) There aren't any 33Mhz systems that support PCI on the planet*

Considering the PCI buss speed, you are likely right... (Although I
think my 486-66 with PCI slots could take a 33 Mhz processor...)

> c) Modemblasters suck.  I've had a lot of problems with those working at
> SouthWind doing tech support.  CreativeLabs has VERY little info about
> them on their web page, making technical support for them nearly
> impossible.

I'll bet that's true...

> d) A 486/33 *is* capable of running X.  I such a machine running X at home
> (as an X terminal only, mind you), w/ 12mb RAM

I was, in effect, saying that.  You may get a modem to work at 56 K or X
but not both.  My 486-66 was sluggish when running with a 33.6 modem, X
and Netscape with 40 Meg of ram...  My DL speeds have increased with the
P2-333 and 64Meg of ram.  I used to shut down X (and netscape) and go to
the old command line FTP for large downloads, so I could get reasonable
performance... Now that is not necessary to max out the transfer rate..

> *There are a very few high-end 486 motherboards that support PCI, and I
> suppose there might be some of them that would run as low as 33Mhz with a
> 1x clock multiplier... but anyone with such a motherboard would be stupid
> to run it only at 33Mhz when a 120Mhz 486 CPU would only cost $10 or so.

I beleive I have one of those, now sitting in my closet waiting for a
hard drive and monitor...

> > > will a 486-33 support a 56k modem blaster pci?
> > >
> >
> > Hmmm..  Isn't that a winmodem?
> >
> > BUT.. I think a 486-33 should be able to handle 56k, but I would not
> > want it to be doing much else. (Like no X display or netscape...)

-- 
  -= bob =-