Re: [ALUG] Linux friendly external modem, and ISPs
On Dec 8 2003, Rob Kendrick wrote:
US Robotics. (Or 3com, whoever makes them these days.) Although if you can get a PCI one still these days, I'd get one of theses. They can be slightly less latent.
Thanks. Had a quick search on Dabs, just to get a gauge on prices, and the US Robotics one is £75 - rather more than I thought I would have to spend. Are the £35 odd quid ones not worth bothering with?
Eclipse. For a fixed fee, they'll give you dial-up with a static IP (you can even chose rDNS for it). Although it does kick you off every so often (2 or 4 hours, depending on package) you can just instantly redial, and there are no limits. And because you've got a static IP, if you redial quickly enough, it doesn't really matter. All for less than 30 quid.
Had a look at these - they look very reasonable. Thanks for the tip. Dave
On Mon, 2003-12-08 at 09:47, Dave Briggs wrote:
On Dec 8 2003, Rob Kendrick wrote:
US Robotics. (Or 3com, whoever makes them these days.) Although if you can get a PCI one still these days, I'd get one of theses. They can be slightly less latent.
Thanks. Had a quick search on Dabs, just to get a gauge on prices, and the US Robotics one is £75 - rather more than I thought I would have to spend. Are the £35 odd quid ones not worth bothering with?
Not IME. The USR ones will give you better performance, and will last you forever. Also, I've had bad experiences with cheap external modems - some of them really are Windows-only. Boggle. So be careful what you buy if you're going for a cheap one. -- Rob Kendrick, Pepperfish Ltd. +44 (0)845 226 4146 www.pepperfish.net PGP signed or encrypted mail welcome Key ID: 3651D17A
On 2003-12-08 10:21:33 +0000 Rob Kendrick <alug-main@nun.org.uk> wrote:
On Mon, 2003-12-08 at 09:47, Dave Briggs wrote:
On Dec 8 2003, Rob Kendrick wrote:
US Robotics. (Or 3com, whoever makes them these days.) Although if you can get a PCI one still these days, I'd get one of theses. They can be slightly less latent.
Thanks. Had a quick search on Dabs, just to get a gauge on prices, and the US Robotics one is £75 - rather more than I thought I would have to spend. Are the £35 odd quid ones not worth bothering with?
Not IME. The USR ones will give you better performance, and will last you forever. Also, I've had bad experiences with cheap external modems - some of them really are Windows-only. Boggle. So be careful what you buy if you're going for a cheap one.
Hrm, my brothers external 56.6k modem was ~ £15, is definately hardware, and was bought ~ 2 years ago. True, you have to be very careful these days, but cheapness is not always brokenness (admittedly, it's an external modem *WITHOUT* a speaker, but hey, it's got line out to plug speakers/headphones in :) now, if I could remember which particular non-brand it was, or where I told him to order it from... that'd be useful :) On the other hand, I'm still using a 33.6k USR Sportster (internal and ISA!) for my net connection at home, that's now been alive and kicking for over 5 years, and I refuse to replace it till I either (a) upgrade my PC to something without an ISA slot, and have no network cards left... or (b) it dies :) Cheers, Brett
On Monday 08 December 2003 10:21, Rob Kendrick wrote:
Thanks. Had a quick search on Dabs, just to get a gauge on prices, and the US Robotics one is £75 - rather more than I thought I would have to spend. Are the £35 odd quid ones not worth bothering with?
Not IME. The USR ones will give you better performance, and will last you forever. Also, I've had bad experiences with cheap external modems - some of them really are Windows-only. Boggle. So be careful what you buy if you're going for a cheap one.
Yes. Most USB ones are basically external WinModems (I didn't know that till recently). Though I agree external is better - nice flashing lights to look at, too - if your WinModem is Intel or Conexant you shouldn't have too much trouble. The latter have drivers at http://www.linuxant.com/drivers/ and I was able to get an Intel WinModem to work pretty easily using downloaded drivers. BT is unpredictable in its provision of broadband so if there's the remotest chance of getting it soon you might be better getting the internal to work. -- G
On Mon, Dec 08, 2003 at 11:17:37AM +0000, Graham Trott wrote:
Though I agree external is better - nice flashing lights to look at, too - if
One other main advantage of an external only modem is "when lightning attacks" I had this happen to me and it killed 2 external modems and the serial ports they were attached to but the computers still worked afterwards. (one of the modems was blown into 2 distinct bits :) I had a couple of neighbours who had internal modems and they both needed new computers (which in a way could be an advantage I guess, if you have insurance as you get a free upgrade) Adam -- jabberid = quinophex@jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem
participants (6)
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adam＠thebowery.co.uk -
Brett Parker -
bsamuels＠beenthere-donethat.org.uk -
Dave Briggs -
Graham Trott -
Rob Kendrick