Are all external modems Linux friendly?

clive,

Yes, all serial external modems should be compatible. These days, a lot of internal modems work fine, too, but they tend to be more of a hassle. You might want to read through the linux modem how-to at the Linux Documentation Project, it does a fine job of explaining all of this in more detail:

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Modem-HOWTO-2.html#ss2.1

Good luck with your project and let us know if you have any other questions,
Frederic

Frederic -

Thank you! That is great information. I have noticed that there are large price ranges of external modems. Is there really any noticable difference in these modems for people that just want to do email on the net? There are some places were I can get 56k external modems in bulk for as low as $10. My goal is to be able to run NetZero under Linux so the kids can get on the internet for free (10hrs/Mo).

I am dying for SimplyMepis to become available. I really love Mepis but it is too large in it's current state to fit on 1gig harddrives. I am considering SuSE because it is easy to configure (like Mepis) and allows me to choose what apps I want to install so I can keep it small.

clivesay

Clivesay,

There are really no great differences between the different modems. If you did a test of all of them, there would be miniscule differences - nothing you would notice when reading your email or surfing the web. A lot depends on the quality of the phone connection anyway and even that does not make much of a difference when it comes to just sending email.

1gig harddrives are small, of course, even for SuSE, but if you are just basically setting up kiosks, you could use SuSE or even one of the more specialized small distros (Damn Small Linux and others come to mind). Check out Distrowatch.com, they have a nice list of all kinds of distributions.

Have a nice day,
Frederic

you can buy for extra cash a modem (external) which is designed to cope with flaky phone lines, to drop and raise the speed of connection as needed to keep the connection optimal.
otherwise there are no great differences in modems.
Liz

All -

Thanks for the input. I have never used an external modem so I plan to try one this week. Thanks again

Unfortunately some external modems are 'winmodems', so it's best to check first. USRobotics is good..they put the info on the box. Also, now they are even making 'winmodem' printers, so that's something else to look out for.

I have used a very inexpensive cendyne external modem with linux that worked perfectly.

Just thought I'd add this. I have an ext Zoom Modem, USB , V.92, Model 3090. It will *not* work on Linux. It's a winmodem. Zoom also has *no* drivers for it for Linux. I tried and tried with no success.

USB modems are Winmodems just like most PCI modems and won't work well with Linux or any other OS except Windwoes... Most any esternal serial (RS-232 standard) will work fine with Linux as they do all the work themselves. All Linux needs to know how to do is talk to a serial port.

.bh.

i'm using an old 56K External Modem called Modem Surfr that has always worked with the various distros of Linux i have installed. I have never tried a USB modem, my PC is so old it doesn't have it, all my modems are serial.

keep an eye on this site for when they get external modems again, they have them for $17-19 with $8 S&H. Shipping was $8 if i bought one or several items. Have bought several modems from them. They have Cendyne's quite often.

http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=MDM

here's another site for good prices on modems

http://www.gearxs.com/store/