[plug] PCI modems - as a cheap option for CA users?

[Daniel]

Hello plug,
I have been thinking about Computer Angels linux machines going out without 
modems ... seems a shame as even the grandparents want to do e-mail these 
days.  Till now I have believed that external modems are the only way to go 
with the cheapest generic I know of was one I bought from EM at ~$110, but 
from a practical view they are probably not affordable for CA users (and 
certainly not for CA).

I see pci modems advertised at from $25 to $45.  I guess they may be lucient 
chip set that can be made to work with linux. The negative of this would be 
the load on the cpu.  While it is easy to hypothesize 'imagine how slow it 
would be running x and in a browser on the net using a modem that puts a load 
on the cpu'.  Indeed this is what was said by a few knowledgeable pluggers 
the other day, but I forgot to put it in perspective - the proposed users 
will have a slow dialup connection and have to compare that with not having a 
net connection at all [unless of course it runs so slow you might as well not 
be connected ....].

I would like to test the machines CA uses with one of these pci modems just 
so we can compare it directly with an external modem.

Does anyone have one CA can have or I can buy cheaply for the project?

Also does anyone know which of the pci modems available locally use the right 
chipset for linux? [I know I could ring around, but my recent experience with 
computer salesmen is that they're unlikely to know]

Your thoughts / suggestions on this idea and how to get the CA users 
connected would be greatly appreciated [wish they still made hardware pci 
modems]

Thanks very much,
Daniel.