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Idea #8007: Winmodem to Linmodem

Written by mrhosseini1367 the 3 May 08 at 12:58. Category: Hardware support. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
I always have thought about a converter for Winmodem drivers to linmodems. It may be a difficult thing but I don't think this is impossible.
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #8007
Written by mrhosseini1367 the 3 May 08 at 12:58.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #8007 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

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Monicker wrote on the 3 May 08 at 14:49
From what I understand, many of those winmodem drivers are proprietary. There have been some efforts in the past to reverse engineer such drivers, but I have not seen anything recently about the success of those efforts.

I'm not against this idea, but I think that the people who make the hardware should be pushed harder into making their devices compatible with linux in the first place.

Eldmannen wrote on the 3 May 08 at 15:22
People still use modems?

Thank god, I have 100 mbit broadband Internet and don't have to use any crappy dial-up modem.

People shouldn't buy crappy WinModem, they should buy a "real" modem such as USRobotics.

steve196 wrote on the 3 May 08 at 16:57
The problem is, these modems have minimal hardware and outsource part of their job to the software. This is very difficult to recreate without specification.

Auzy wrote on the 4 May 08 at 02:06
A winmodem is basically just a USB sound card.

So they are completely software reliant. I'm not sure the gain obtained is worth it really. 56K connections really are becoming quite rare these days, and by the time it is properly coded and actually added to ubuntu (6 months to 1 year), even less.

At this point of time, we should be encouraging people to migrate.

todir wrote on the 19 May 08 at 09:48
Well there are many places on Earth without broadband connection ;) I still have to use my modem sometimes but I always have to switch to Win in order to do that. It would be nice to have way to use my modem(sm56) in linux. Unfortunately it's up to the hardware manufactures to write drivers for linux.

Auzy wrote on the 19 May 08 at 10:24
Thats true todir, but within 1 year, you'd think that most parts of the planet that only have 56K will get wireless (HSDPA for instance).

todir wrote on the 19 May 08 at 15:12
Hmm... I doubt this will happen in 1 year :) But even if u are right it will be much more expensive. In mater of fact right now I'm using my mobile phone GPRS modem to access the internet and guess what... I'm using Win because there are no Linux drivers for it ;) Now I'm paying $0,30/MB, the phone line is $0,03/min and the speed is about the same - 4-5k ;) Even if we don't take prices in consideration we still need GPRS/EDGE/HSDPA GSM modems support. They are winmodems too - right?

Auzy wrote on the 19 May 08 at 15:51
Actually, 3G is a lot faster (you are thinking GPRS, which is frightfully expensive, HSDPA isn't as bad).

And no, they aren't.. because the modems would control the connections and a lot of the data transmission too, because the drivers shouldn't care about how it is sent I'd imagine so much.

I would imagine that HSDPA isn't so much a sound card as the others, but I may be wrong still.

todir wrote on the 19 May 08 at 16:35
In my case there is no difference in prices between GRPS/EDGE/HSDPA/UTMS it's just my phone is old and don't support EDGE/HSDPA/UTMS. The difference for me will be that the money counter will spin a lot faster :) I think that the PC driver doesn't actually control the modem it just makes the connection between PC and GSM device. Software on the device can control the modem, but I'm not sure either.

ofir_k wrote on the 19 May 08 at 16:45
I think many people use modems to send/receive faxes...

mrhosseini1367 wrote on the 14 Jun 08 at 06:41
Well, in many countries still people have to use modems to connect to the Internet and it is also the cheapest way for those people. a program that execute the winmodem driver and makes a linux dirver will be very useful.

nushoin wrote on the 10 Nov 08 at 13:16
Poeple use modems to receive faxes, and as an answering machine. There are many uses for the winmodem not-as-a-modem. It would be nice if those soft-modems were supported.

clubsoda wrote on the 19 Nov 08 at 08:55
Has anyone ever succeeded in installing a WinModem driver in Wine to get a Ubuntu box online?


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