Sure Lorenzo,
I understand better now.
A report of what your problems have been and how you solved them would
be very valuable for the community.
One of my problems as a member of the "linmodems" group is to find the
right way to address people whom I do not know. For example a computer
scientist like you: how could I know? I have difficulty in being
sufficiently professional to give serious help but not too much in order
not to frighten beginners.
Let me be more specific about what I wrote earlier.
You certainly know all the following, but there are other readers too.
In the last year we have seen a fast move by manufacturers from the
AC'97 (1997...) standard for audio devices to the new HDA technology.
About ten years ago, modems were all hardware, and there was not such
a thing as the winmodem headache.
To make modems cheaper (around at the very most 40-50$ increase on
retail price for computers costing more than 1,000$), manufacturers
first invented the winmodem where almost all the functionality of
hardware logics has been transferred to the CPU using software.
Then, even the analog hardware circuitry for the modem (sound
modulation) was transferred to the "sound card" or "sound device": this
is what AC'97 made possible. This is supported under Linux for many
chipsets because the AC'97 interface is standardized. Conexant however
uses one component in the audio system, the CODEC, which is proprietary
and undocumented, which is why the ALSA sound project cannot support
Conexant modems.
When HDA audio circuitry appeared, the existing drivers were extended
to support HDA sound instead or in addition to AC'97.
The Linuxant driver is still not perfect with HDA. For some kernels a
patch is necessary.
I did not give those details when answering to somebody not known to
me who might be a beginner and therefore frightened by such stories.
Still, I wished the user not to get into despair if the HSF driver would
not work from the first attempt with his HDA device.
Best regards - Ciao - Jacques
Lorenzo Bettini wrote:
Hi Jacques
you said that it needs an hsf driver from linuxant and the it probably
requires some adjustments: I had to use an hsf driver too, and the
installation didn't go exactly smooth, and I had to make some
adjustments in some parts so I thought that what I had done to make it
work might help.
ciao
Lorenzo
Jacques Goldberg wrote:
Lorenzo,
Thanks for this information.
But it does happen that "the same machine" in the sense for example of
"Sony VGN-BX387XP" is sold with different components in there, such as
different modem chipsets, enough to make a modem work or not.
If you read specifications, you will always see "subject to change
without warning". A fire or a strike, for example, in the factory which
makes one modem may force a computer manufacturer to use an another
chipset ...
This is why, in first approximation, the parameters needed to make a
winmodem work under Linux are the chipset, the Linux distribution, the
kernel, very much more than the exact manufacturer model.
I am not sure, though, that I correctly understood what you had in mind
when writing your message.
Ciao - Jacques
Lorenzo Bettini wrote:
Jacques Goldberg wrote:
Eric,
You need the Linuxant driver for HSF modems.
No other driver will work.
Please read the attached instructions to get guidance.
Remember: HSF, Ubuntu 6.06.1 LTS, kernel 2.6.15-27-686
There are detailed instructions for installation in the HSF "frame"
(margin) at http://www.linuxant.com/drivers
For your kind of modem a small adjustment to the software may be needed,
I do not remember for sure.
this is not exactly the same laptop
http://www.lorenzobettini.it/linux/LinuxSonyVaioVGN-S5VP_B
but I use hsf modem too,
hope this helps
Lorenzo
