Driver for Agere WinModem...[SOLVED]

[GrannyGeek]

A PCMICA slot is on the side of most laptops.  It's where you insert credit card sized devices.  Most laptops made in the past 10 years or so have two such slots.

More recent laptops do not have PCMCIA slots; they have Express Card slots. PCMCIA cards don't fit or work in these. I don't know what kinds of modems are available for Express Card slots (if any).

An external USB modem might do the job (I don't know if external USB modems can be winmodems).
--GrannyGeek

[wcs]

Google tells me that your particular laptop does have pcmcia slots (and not express card), Cariboo.
Like Caitlyn said, your best choice is to get a cheap pcmcia modem, which shouldn't give you hassle.

[caitlyn]

@Granny Geek:  I knew he had a six year old laptop.  I also have been laptop shopping lately and a lot of (probably the majority of) ones I looked at still have at least a single PCMCIA slot.

[GrannyGeek]

@Granny Geek:  I knew he had a six year old laptop.  I also have been laptop shopping lately and a lot of (probably the majority of) ones I looked at still have at least a single PCMCIA slot.

I had no idea what his notebook had and was just reacting to your statement: "Most laptops made in the past 10 years or so have two such slots."

As for the majority of new notebooks (or even "a lot") having PCMCIA slots, I just checked about 20 notebooks of all brands and price ranges at newegg.com and tigerdirect.com and the vast majority had only one Express Card slot. Three, at most, had PCMCIA slots. I bought a notebook in August, 2007 and it came with one Express Card slot. That has also been true for the people I know who have bought notebooks recently. I did not include netbooks in the laptops I was looking at.

I guess our experiences differ. The main thing is that people who are buying notebooks and expect to use PCMCIA cards should be *sure* the one they get offers at least one slot. I have a Firewire CardBus card that I can't use in my year+-old laptop. It's not much of a loss because I don't really need Firewire on that computer and my 5-1/2-year-old laptop does have a CardBus slot, so I use it there. I've found Firewire Express Cards through an Internet search, but they're more expensive than I'd care to pay for something I don't really need.
--GrannyGeek

[Cariboo]

Hello all,
I'm coming back to this issue......
after reading all the opinions about the WinModems and how important it is to ignore them in the 'Linux World'...
I found a very interesting distro HERE. I installed it on the Laptop in question.
And all I had to do was:
1) Add two modules, 'ltmodem' and 'ltserial'
2) Install the package 'gkdial-1.5.14patched.pet' and 'gkdial-libs-1.2.pet'
3) Reboot
4) Open the GUI of gkdial and enter 'provider', 'phone number', 'user name', 'password'  and 'Connection type' (PAP)..
Ready...done....click 'Connect' button in the GUI and I was connected. That's it.
That easy...!? Yes!
All the instructions were well described and easy to follow.
No additional driver, no additional hardware...no nothing, just go...
I wonder, can this solution be realized in VL too?
    

[caitlyn]

ltmodem used to be kernel version dependent.  Has that changed?

Winmodems still steal power from your CPU.  You are better off without them no matter how easy the software solution has become.  I have one in my laptop and I still refuse to use it.

[Cariboo]

Thanks caytlin, for the response...
I clearly hear you...
but as I'm not running any intense programs on this laptop, (just some Internet browsing and e-mailing) the most convenient way would be to have a software solution.
Could I use the Puppy kernel and install the necessary packages on a Vector installation?

[caitlyn]

There are several pieces of Vector Linux that are kernel-specific, for example, alsa-driver, which provides sound.  You'd break a whole lot of key bits (possibly wireless, for another example) if you used a Puppy Linux kernel.  If you want to do that you should just run Puppy Linux.

Feel free to build packages and contribute them.  That's how most packages that a limited number of people want get built around here.  You can also post to the package request part of the forum and it is possible a volunteer packager will do it for you.  I am only running VL 6.0 right now and I'm slammed and can't take on more volunteer work so it won't be me.  Sorry.

[Cariboo]

Hi, all Dell Inspiron 2500 Lovers and Dial-Up Dependents!
This HERE is is the last resort I want to try again...Keep you posted...

EDIT01:
No luck!
Kernel/modules 2.6.22.19 do not support this modem.
I had it running on this machine with kernel/modules 2.6.22.14.
I have no clue what's going on and why the newer version misses modules which worked?

[Cariboo]

I could solve the module issue of kernel 2.6.22.19!
Now we are back on track....

SUCCESS...

Agere/Lucent Winmodem in
Dell Inspiron 2500 with OS
VectorLinux-5.9-std-GOLD-2.6.22.19 is working stable and reliable! 

(See attached files.)

EDIT:
There is a mistake in the attached  'zipped ModemInstall.txt' concerning how to start the driver.
I attach the correct  txt file and console screenshot.
To start the driver at boot time should be no problem. If somebody knows how to do that, please post it here.
Thanks
Cariboo