internal modem 3123

Jean-David Beyer

clear

is).

I think I probably have a bit more experience with modems than you. Not being offensive, just stating fact. I've been doing Unix since 1981, over hundreds and hundreds of clients and an awful lot of it was modems until fairly recently. Of course a moron can have lots of experience and still not understand what they are experiencing, so all of that might mean nothing. That's probably a reasonable explanation for a lot of my opinions. Not the brightest bulb, as they say.. but a well used bulb for sure.

So, IN MY EXPERIENCE (poorly interpreted though it may be), nternal modems CAN get so confused that only a power cycle will clear them. I suppose it's possible that newer models don't have such problems but even if so I'd still rather have external for all the other reasons.

have an else.

lucky, direct other.

Again, I've seen machines destroyed by phone lines in internal modems, and have seen external modems destroyed (we used to say they make excellent fuses) while leaving the computer safe. No doubt you CAN isolate and protect and also no doubt if the current is big enough not even an air gap is going to stop it. But an external modem is obviously more isolated than an internal, all else being equal.

And EE is definitely an area where I get very confused and lost. In spite of many attempts, I have never felt like I really understand polyphase current. Maybe nobody really does, but I just don't grok it at all - if the current is alternating, why does it matter how the outlet is wired? Isn't the direction of flow changing 60 times a second anyway? So how does that little bilnking loight thing tell me I put the right wires in the right place? Make the moron understand THAT, and you've really done something.. never mind, that's a bit off topic, isn't it?

see to

Not really. You see a simulation provided by software. I see what the modem firmware itself thinks is going on. OK, that could be wrong too. But I can see it even if the machine is insisting there is no modem. I can also disconnect the thing and see what changes or doesn't change. Ditto for powering it off. I can have it disconnected and have someone call it.. I can see whether it is it that is broken or the computer.. and if it IS kerplunken, I don't take down the computer to fix it. Maybe that's not a big deal to a home user, but in a business environment, people don't like you taking their servers down. Of course, nowadays anybody that desperate to be up probably has a cluster and other fall-back measures, but that's pretty recent stuff for most small businesses to be able to affords. Anyway, why take down a perfectly ggod machine for a lousy modem? Again, external is better.

either other iptables single

Not what I meant by sharing.. that's sharing network access. I mean sharing the modem.

I don't use modems much anymore. Very few clients don't have internet access and I tend to be a bit testy toward those that insist on modem access. But now and then I have to hook up to something. As machines here are in constant evolution, it's easier to physically move an rs232 cable to whatever box is most appropriate or convenient to use at the moment - buttuming I don't lie and tell them I threw away my last modem years ago or can't find a cable or whatever :-)

Actually, I usually lie. Or fib a little. I HAVE a modem or two, but they aren't hooked up any more, and I'd have to dig out a cable, and dig under the desk to find a jack to plug it in.. too much trouble. It has to be a lot of money or somebody I really like a lot to get me to use a modem now. It's so pyschologically painful that when I lost internet access for a day last month due to some major cable problem (six trucks to fix it - bare wires with melted insulation, quite the mess), I just said the heck with it and took the day off except for phone calls. I COULD have hooked up the modem and had internet, but.. too painful :-)

one.

Sure. Open it up, take it out, open up the other one. I'll agree that I'll probably be opening the old one to destroy the drive anyway, but no reason to open or take down the new. And note again that you can swap WITHOUIT POWERING OFF ANYTHING.

you internal have a worth the T1.

Of course. But put out an external Courier V.Everything at a yard sale and I or someone else might buy it or at least think about it. Put out a PCI version and I won't even pause for a second. At the end of the day, the internal will probably go to the dumpster. Most likely, the external will sell - though not for much nowadays, of course. Still, near junk vs. absolute junk.. and of course if I'm curious about the external and have power and a phone line, I can see if it probanly works even without a computer..

I stand by my opinion :-)

-- Tony Lawrence