Re: Using a U.S. Robotics Fax modem with Slackware 10.0
From: Robert Heller (heller_at_deepsoft.com)
Date: 06/17/05
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Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:34:41 +0200
Jean-David Beyer <jdbeyer@exit109.com>,
In a message on Fri, 17 Jun 2005 13:31:56 -0400, wrote :
JB> CPUFreak91 wrote:
JB> > I'm trying to get a U.S. Robotics 56K Fax PCI modem to work under
JB> > Slackware Linux 10.0.
JB>
JB> Is it a real modem? I.e., is it model 5610B? Most PCI modems are
JB> brain-damaged WinModems.
JB>
JB> > I tried using /dev/modem under KPPP but to no avail. I only get a log
JB> > and the message that the modem is busy. On other ports (sorry can't
JB> > remember now since I'm using windows) I get
JB> > the message that slackware is trying to initialize the modem. I know
JB> > that the modem is under COM3 but I didn't configure the Slackware
JB> > installation to use a modem because I didn't have one at the time.
JB>
JB> I had no end of trouble configuring a USR 5610B PCI modem on a friend's
JB> computer for Red Hat Linux 7.3. Not really the fault of Linux. Going by
JB> memory here, Windows said it was COM 3, so I configured it for /dev/ttyS2
JB> and nothing much worked. I found some PIC probe software and it said the
JB> thing was on /dev/ttyS4. Well that fixed it. I always thought the COM
JB> numbers were just one higher than the ttyS numbers, but it seems it is not so.
Only if you are using *hardware* (BIOS supported) serial ports. I
think what is happening here is that Linux 'reserves' COM1 (ttyS0) ...
COM4 (ttyS3) to the standard four serial ports (at the 'standard'
addresses). PCI based real modems and other sorts of serial ports get
device names allocated differently. An ISA BOCA 4 or 8 port board will
be up at ttyS16 and up for example. My guess is that the serial port
on the USR 5610B PCI modem is also getting a 'dynamically' allocated
ttyS number. Or else the probe code in serial.c is using some mapping
of port names (minor numbers) to specific sorts of hardware. Somewhere
in the depths of serial.c (or someplace like that) there is a mapping
of sorts of serial port hardware and minor numbers (device names).
Bare MS-DOS cannot access anything beyond COM1,2,3,4 without special
hackery. Linux is not limited (can handle lots of serial ports).
Mess-Windows NT-ish is not limited either, but is probably playing
games to fake the port name to be COM3 for mess-dos compatibility
reasons (in case someone wants to use a MS-DOS-ish serial port program,
like an old, dumb mess-dos based terminal emulator). Actually,
MS-Windows has to use COM1...COM4 to be compatible with ANY software
expecting to talk to a 'COM' port. Although there is no technical
reason for any NT-flavor of MS-Windows (NT 4, NT 5.0/W2K, NT 5.1/WinXP)
for referencing something like COM5 (aka ttyS4), 'COM5' makes no sense
in terms of the low-level BIOS, since the BIOS cannot handle something
like COM5. What passes for 'minor numbers' under MS-DOS only allows for
4 ports.
JB>
JB> > How
JB> > can I get the modem to work? I have no drivers either. I was told it
JB> > didn't need any (and the box it came never had one).
JB>
JB> I run the 5610B on RHEL 3, and I never had any trouble setting it up. I can
JB> tell you for sure that if it nees a driver, it must have come with the
JB> distro, since I never did anything except diddle the /etc/wvdial.conf, and
JB> some networking ones in /etc/sysconfig.
Hardware (RS232 serial port) modems are all the same (assuming Hayes
command set and all current model consumer-grade RS232 serial port
modems are Hayes command set). The low-level driver
({8,16}550[B]-registers) is serial.c and the upper level (Hayes command
set) is in in wvdial/chat/whatever. The only variations between these
modems are in the 'extended' commands relating to higher speeds and
various settings and reports, none of which are actually needed for base
dialing. All of these modems understand the commands like ATZ and ATD.
Everything else is implemented with customizable 'init' strings and/or
with 'dial prefixes' and such -- all a function of diddling the
/etc/wvdial.conf file.
The 'driver' software that comes with these modems for Windblows is
mostly just init and dial prefix strings and/or eye-candy nonsense
(containing the model number and not much else) layered on top of
generic driver software.
JB>
JB> > Windows supplies
JB> > it's own driver, does Slackware? If not, where may I find a Linux
JB> > driver (if I need it)? One reason why I am asking this is I have
JB> > pay-by-the-minute Dial-Up and browsing is expensive, plus I'm still a
JB> > Linux newbie)
JB> >
JB>
JB>
JB> --
JB> .~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
JB> /V\ PGP-Key: 9A2FC99A Registered Machine 241939.
JB> /( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
JB> ^^-^^ 13:15:00 up 2 days, 7:04, 3 users, load average: 4.43, 4.36, 4.22
JB>
\/
Robert Heller ||InterNet: heller@cs.umass.edu
http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/~heller || heller@deepsoft.com
http://www.deepsoft.com /\FidoNet: 1:321/153
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