On Tuesday 03 December 2002 08:37, Frank Roberts - SOTL wrote:
> Hi All:
>
> This is a response in reference to a posting made earlier and to this
> posting.
>
> Attempting to install a Winmodem I ask the appreciate question on the
> appreciate list.
> As usual someone referred the question to the FAQ and suggested I read it.
Unfortunately, Winmodems are *still* not generally well supported devices
under Linux. Most often you'll be lucky to find a binary driver from some
vendor that tends to panic your kernel. This has been my experience with
Winmodems, anyway. It's better to just avoid them. If you're dead-set on
using a POTs line to dial up, get a hardware modem.
I use Sprint PCS Vision's flat-rate ($10/month) Internet service with a Sanyo
4900 phone and USB cable. Wireless anywhere, at 56k-144k (generally faster
than a modem). Can't beat it.
> So I did.
>
> I followed the instructions explicitly with results of complete failure.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Winmodems. It's not you. They're just
generally crappy to begin with.
I've managed to get my Vaio's internal winmodem working, an and a PCTel
winmodem card (which panic-ed quite often), but otherwise I've had little
luck.
> I posted the results to the list from on which I was immediately trashed
> for follow "has been" outdated instructions.
All HOWTOs are old. All FAQs are old. Most of them talk about previous
versions of software that are completely different now. Documentation is
definitely outpaced by the Internet speed development of new OpenSource
software.
I spend *much* of my time learning the new behaviors of software by looking at
source and reading mailing lists (Google Groups is great for this).
> It seems that the FAQ instructions are for version 1.x.x with the 1.x.x
> file referenced while the current version is 8.x.x.
Yep. It sucks. I've generally given up on most FAQs at this point.
> After a number of experience like this ones learns not to pay too much
> attention to instructions and the people who believe that instructions once
> written are never outdated.
Right.
> In response to Paul's question of why people can not follow instructions it
> could be that the procedure simply does not always work.
I generally make a point of *verifying* that the FAQ or HOWTO in question
matches up with the general behavior of current software before recommending
it to others on the SLUG list. If it doesn't, I'll dig briefly on Google to
find the answers to most questions...
Which begs the question, why do people insist on asking for *simple*
information that can be gathered with a quick google search?
Learn it. Love it.
> In the past I have had to unsubscribe from slug in order not to overflow my
> mailbox for a short duration when I had to leave town due to business
> reasons.
>
> I have found that with considerable effort it can take up to an hour to
> unsubscribe. Why?
That's a Joe question. I'll ask him the next time I see him.
-- - Ian C. Blenke <icblenke@nks.net> <ian@blenke.com> http://ian.blenke.com(This message bound by the following: http://www.nks.net/email_disclaimer.html)
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