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

[Michael Hunt]

Daniel [mailto:cottmain at iinet.net.au] wrote:

> 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.

A good site for building Cheap Linux Boxes can be found at :-

http://www.ls.net/CheapBox.html