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Reader Comments: Diamond WinModems:

From Joseph on Sat, 06 Feb 1999

Greetings, O Guy of Many Answers!

After buying a modem and not having any luck with it under Linux

(a dual-boot Win98 and Debian 2.0 system), I checked around on the Diamond Multimedia Website. After searching for "linux," I was eventually referred to a nice FAQ on Traditional, Controllerless (WinModem), and Software Modems by Diamond.

This brought to my attention that I had bought a WinModem by mistake. I was able to push my now-useless modem off on relatives who were buying a computer, and I instead followed the guide and bought a Diamond SupraExpress ISA (non-voice) modem. I set it up manually with the jumpers on the card as com3 and put it in. Windows kind of gawked at it at first, but using the CD to install it instead of Windows default drivers (as I can recall; this was a while ago), it was OK in Windows.

I installed the new modem just before leaving the country (and my computer) behind for a semester, so I can't say exactly how well it worked, as I was unable to try it out. However, upon booting into Linux, I was greeted with a new detection: ttySx (where x is some number I've now long forgotten). By this, I believe that it is functioning and happy, however, as I said, I was unable to test it before leaving.

As I have been scanning around, I have found people with problems with Diamond modems who were wondering if they are WinModems. As I found the Diamond guide rather helpful, I thought I'd pass it along to you, for review and further distribution.

For the curious, that's http://www.diamondmm.com/products/white-papers/communications/c-less_paper.html

You can alternately find it under the "Support"->"FAQ" selection at the top of the main page. A word of warning, however. After reading the last issue of Linux Gazette, I have found that the PCI version of the Diamond SupraExpress modem does not work with Linux. I cannot verify this, but the quote was quoting Red Hat. (2-Cent Tips) Hope this clearifies things somewhat.

-Joseph

I still say: GET EXTERNAL MODEMS!

(That was always safe until recently since nobody and really messed up RS232C so bad that you couldn't get your modem to work with Linux. With the recent advent of USB and the impending release of USB modems this will not be true for much longer. However, Linux may support USB before there are any significant number of USB modems on the market --- so we might squeak in).

Other than that, thanks for the pointer. I hope some of our readers find it and learn from it.

WinModems: "JUST SAY NO!" (or "RMA" --- return merchandise authorization)

Copyright © 1999, James T. Dennis
Published in The Linux Gazette Issue 38 March 1999

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