Re: [Sheflug] Re: SuSE and Modems

[José Luis Gómez Dans <nospam [at] sheffield.ac.uk>]

Hi, I just couldn't resist to jump into the polemic :-)

On Sat, Feb 17, 2001 at 09:01:14PM +0000, Richard wrote:
> 
> > This *isn't* a problem with Linux. It's a problem with MS dominance, lazy
> > manufacturers, and dodgy hardware...

	..And the fact that they are cheap and seem to work painlessly for
most people, and those who have problems just take them for granted (and
I have a few friends that just want to use a computer suitable for doing
all of SETI's packets in about 1/2 hour to write essays). The fact is,
they are cheap, they work with what most of the people expect and well,
if they don't work for you, tough luck, mate.

> It is true that Linux leaves most other software standing and it is
> extremely good stuff.

	For what it does, it is good. There are other options (BSDs and
the such. I guess Plan9 doesn't count :D).

> that there were many problems to do with all distributions of Linux.
> 
> The general argument is that things need to improve and the thing to
> do with Linux and dialup connections is one of them.

	I have never had any problems with dialup, so MMMV :-) One of
the things that makes dialup an absolute nightmare is that providers
just don't seem able to provide a clear list of what's needed (those
"magic five parameters": DNS, username, and the such). Obviously, they
have been advised by Marketing Dept that doing that is unnecessary and
will scare customers off. So, just have a little program that does all
that for them. Oh, and if there's someone who actually likes to have a
look at those strange and random number groups (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx), well,
that just doesn't happen does it?

	On the Linux distro side, it might help if someone actually made
a clear distinction between home user and server. Funny to see how
end-users that use linux to browse web pages and little else (I guess
playing PySol is a good use :D) have SQL servers and Apache running...
But I guess that you have to feel the inherent power of Linux (groan)
just by bloating it all up...

	At any rate, in the subject of winmodems, I think they are quite
a good idea. I had something similar for the Amiga (it did data
compression in the CPU), and it was quite nice. As with many things,
it's actually the way the idea is carried out that isn't good. If I were
to live in the US, with free local calls, and my Internet usage was low,
I surely wouldn't mind losing a few syncs and degrading the quality of
my connection slightly, if it saved me some $$$. I guess that Lucnet
does have Legal problems to provide modem drivers for all (and probably
some hack going on about the loss in revenue when the compression code
is made available and copied by  some Bulgarian hacker to produce equal
DSPs to the ones they produce). At least, IBM has provided support for
some winmodem as a GPL thing...

	Enuff ranting :-)

	José 
	
-- 
José L Gómez Dans			PhD student
Tel: +44 114 222 5582			Radar & Communications Group
FAX; +44 870 132 2990			Department of Electronic Engineering
					University of Sheffield UK
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