Hi Rick,                           June 13, 1997
RC>In spite of what you read here, most modems for sale today are easier
RC>to configure and "set up" than were modems of the past.  Most have
RC>standard factory defaults so the init string need be no more than
RC>AT&F or AT&F1.  Most internals continue to have jumpers to select the
RC>comm port and IRQ, even if they also support "plug and play".
What about externals?  How are they configured for comm port and IRQ.  I
see several used modems for sale, both internal and external.  Most do
not have documentation with them as to how to configure.  I have seen
some BBS software that is suppose to be able to tell you what comm port
and Irq you are currently set to?  Have you ever used any of this to try
to set up a strange modem?  My current 2400 baud modem came with
three jumper banks, two for comm port selection and the other for irq.
It had a sheet of paper with it that told what each of the jumper
combinations in pairs did - ie.
        COM1  J17-J13, J15-J16  -  IRQ4  J4-J9
By using the Dos Mode command you could figure out if a particular comm
port was being used.  From that you could figure out which one to try to
set up on.  I had some trouble at first because i was trying to set up
on com1 which was where my mouse was installed.  Once i figured out the
confict and switched to Comm2 everything worked ok.  This was on  my
Zenith 286AT.  Then I tried one of the same internal modems on my 386
with windows!  What a frustating learning experience that was!  Even
though I had a MS Windows book, I worked for about a week on and off
trying to get the software in windows to accept the modem.  I finally
had to take it to a shop in town to get them to use their version of
Windows disks to get the proper file so that it would accept the modem.
This experience makes me almost totally want to purchase an external!
Even if I do configure the internal by jumpers I still run the risk that
the Windows SW won't reconfigure its files to the new modem right?
RC>About the only thing you must be concerned with that isn't a concern
RC>with a 2400 bps modem is the UART if you have an external modem:  you
RC>will most likely need a 16550 buffered UART, which is a direct pin
RC>for pin replacement for an 8250 or 16450 that your system may now
RC>have.  It's not a big deal.
Are all UART chips clearly marked with the 16550 or 8250 designation?
Or do you have to go look for a manufacture's specific code for his
chip?  If it is an external modem, do you have to buy a special serial
board to handle the extra speed of the 16550?
While we are talking about speed, I see that there is a lot of traffic
on the board about setting the speed of their modem.  I though that the
newer modems, 14.4 and above could all auto adjust to what ever speed
the answering modem first transmitted at, if they could attain that
speed.  Other wise they shifted to a common lower speed?  How does this
work?  Do you have to software set your speed to some upper limit?
I also thought that there is some limiting speed over the communication
media being used.  Ie 28.8 was the upper limit for telephone lines?
Maybe higher for cable lines or fiber optic.  Is it also not
true that the newer modems don't really transmit at higher rates, but
instead compress and decompress the data on the fly to obtain faster
rates of data thru put?  When did they start all this and at what modem
speed did compression take place?
There is also some specifications that deal with error correction and
being able to recognize compressed data?
I would also like to know any thing you can provide me with on the
subject of faxing via computer.  Does the modem have anything to do with
the faxing capability or is this all just software that you buy and
install on the computer?  I see modems listed as 2400 baud data and 9600
baud fax or something like that?  I also see them listed with voice mail
and other things i know nothing about but would possibly like to use.
Would you please elaborate some on any of these subjects.  Or suggest
where I might obtain referernce information that discusses this in
detail.  I would like to better understand  the various modems that are
out there and what is coming in the future before i make a decision on
purchasing one.  Do you work for one of the modem companies?
Thank you for answering my request for help!
Robert Osborne
1:346/49
 * OLX 2.1 TD * I'M DOING BETTER, I'VE ONLY MALFUNCTIONED ONCE TODAY!
--- Maximus/2 3.01
On 10 Jun 97, Rick Collins wrote to Steve Howe --
 SH> so why are you all using Lose95?  i think many of you
 RC> The topic here is high-speed modems.
That would be modems above WHAT speed?
--- PPoint 2.00
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