Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 17:46:20 -0500 From: Mark Hendriks <markh@lon.imag.net> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: rdybiec@frognet.net Subject: Re: Hayes modem Message-ID: <00022418044200.00268@mymachine.imag.net> References: <38B501ED.A1DA771B@frognet.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Thu, 24 Feb 2000, Richard Dybiec wrote: > I recently puchased a Hayes 'Accura' PCI modem believing the 'universal > compatibility' statement on the box. > I contacted Hayes support and was told that "the Accura PCI modem is > only compatible with Windows OSs" > > Is this true? Modems can be divided into two camps: hardware modems and software modems, also called 'Winmodems.' FreeBSD can use any hardware modem. There aren't any software modems that are supported by FreeBSD. Hayes' statement makes it sound like the Acura is a software modem. > Has anyone used this modem with FreeBSD? Does their > statement mean only that Hayes does not provide a FreeBSD driver? As far as I know (given my limited knowledge,) there aren't any hardware manufacturers that provide FreeBSD drivers. FreeBSD drivers are written when hardware manufacturers release technical information so that a member of the FreeBSD community can write write said driver. > How would I determine which modems will be usable under FreeBSD? When you take your "Acura" back to the store, make sure you ask for a hardware modem. You should also ask for an ISA modem. Can anyone else here answer whether or not the serial driver has been updated to support PCI? The reason software modems, or 'Winmodems' have become popular is that they supposedly cost much less than hardware modems. This is only true if the only hardware modem you compare against is a USRobotics. I picked up an ISA hardware modem for $75 CDN, or about $60 US - about the price of the better software modems. You can pick up software modems for less than this, but even the best software modem just does not perform as well as a cheap hardware modem. Mark Hendriks markh@lon.imag.net To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?00022418044200.00268>