[plug] wanted: 56k modem

Daniel Foote freefoote at gmail.com
Wed Jun 14 12:06:28 WST 2006


> Michael, in regard to your comments about PC's not handling the load,
> from my understanding it's not about load but that external modems are
> built for one purpose and internal's don't have the same in-built
> dedicated functionality therefor don't usually perform as well.

You used to be able to get internal modems that were functionally
identical to external modems, in that they took serial commands and
did stuff. (They usually presented an additional COM port to the
computer, so they would have worked fine under Linux).

Winmodems are often little more than a sound card with some telephone
line interfacing circuitry. The driver on the PC has to figure out the
right "noises" to make and then play them down the phone line.

It is a really cheap way to make a modem, because it needs less parts.
That's why there are so many of them...

Daniel Foote.



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