NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/dcom/modems-part1/846

Text File | 1996-08-05 | 2.4 KB | 50 lines

Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Path: istar.net!infoshare!whome!gts!bokonon!stephen
From: [e-mail] (Stephen M. Dunn)
Subject: Re: External modems are nonsense
Organization: United System Solutions Inc.
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 03:48:36 GMT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <Pine.SUN.3.91.960102093642.11497C-100000@cpu3> <4cg61i$[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dale Shuttleworth) writes:
$Hi,
$David Ehrens ([e-mail]) wrote:
$: Add to the plusses:
$:  - external modems can be easily replaced with faster models
$
$Not really.  Firstly, there aren't going to be many faster models :-) and
$secondly, if we are talking significantly faster, you are going to have
$to install a faster I/O port than the PC standard.

   Externals may also be replaced with faster replacements for modems.
If someone designs a box which, from the serial port side, behaves like
a modem, but which actually uses some entirely different sort of
connection, you ought to be able to connect it up to your PC and,
assuming your PC's serial port is up to snuff, just use it as if it
were a modem.

   There are such devices already, which appear to be modems but
which actually use ISDN to establish connections at speeds significantly
greater than 33.6 kbps.  For all I know, someone may have invented
one which looks like a modem but hooks up to a T1 or to a cable TV
line or a microwave tower or whatever.

$:  - external modems are the only modems supported by some OS vendors, such as
$:    SCO
$
$Most internal modems look exactly like externals in hardware and software
$terms, it is impossible to support one and not support the other.
$(Assuming that we are staying with PC architecture).

   This one is a historical quirk more than anything else.  In the
Good Old Days, apparently, internal modems which didn't quite work
properly were fairly common.  Some would generate random interrupts,
for example, or not entirely emulate an 8250.  Such problems are
pretty rare now.
--
[e-mail]               ...!{xrtll,gts.org}!bokonon!stephen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen M. Dunn, CNE, ACE, Sr. Systems Analyst, United System Solutions Inc.
104 Carnforth Road, Toronto, ON, Canada M4A 2K7          [phone] x251