The Winmodems-and-Linux HOWTO
Alexandre J., alexandre12@mageos.com
v1.2, 29 April 2001
This document helps users who have a Winmodem for getting it working
under Linux.
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. What are Winmodems ?
1.1 They are modems...
1.2 ...not as real modems are !
1.3 How to know I have a Winmodem ?
2. ISA or PCI ?
2.1 PCI ?
2.2 or ISA ?
2.3 ISA and 2.4 kernels
3. Installing a modem driver
3.1 ltmodem 5.78
3.2 The LT WinModem (from Lucent) 5.68 (OBSOLETE)
3.3 The LTMODEM program (OpenSource driver)
4. The end...
4.1 Licence, Copyright
4.2 Contact
4.3 Resources
______________________________________________________________________
1. What are Winmodems ?
1.1. They are modems...
A Winmodem, like other modems, is used for accessing to phone
services, as BBS, Internet, Voice Phone, Fax, etc. It is raccorded to
a phone line and is caracterized by its speed. If you want to learn
more about modems, I report you to the Modems-HOWTO.
1.2. ...not as real modems are !
But they are WINmodems. That is, they need Windows to work. Why ?
Simply because they are stupid. They need a special software, a
driver, to accomplice their complete task. Who says software says OS,
and the drivers included with the modem are, at 99%, exclusively for
the MS-Windows platform. But with the democratization of Linux, some
manufacturers, like LT or Motorola, decided to create a linux driver
for their modems. But they have not understand linux philosophy: the
drivers they provide works, of course, but they are 'Closed Source'.
They are free, at the sense of the price, but not under the GPL. It
means that the sources are not available.
So, some 'hackers' decided to make an Open Source driver, but they do
not know a lot about their modems, because manufacturers don't want to
communicate the specifications of their modems, so the OpenSource
drivers are often in the alpha or beta status.
1.3. ? How to know I have a Winmodem
1. Try to get the name of the serial port where your modem is
connected (under Windows or MSDOS, example: COM1 COM2, ...).
The name of your modem under Linux is /dev/ttySx, where x is the
number of the serial port under DOS, - 1. < Example: Under DOS: COM1,
under Linux ttySx, with x=1-1, so ttyS0
2nd example: Under DOS: COM3, under Linux ttyS2
and so on
2. Make a symlink from /dev/ttySx to /dev/modem, by typing
______________________________________________________________________
rm -f /dev/modem<p>
ln -s /dev/ttySx /dev/modem
______________________________________________________________________
3. Download and install the minicom package. Then run 'minicom -s'.
Choose 'Serial Port Setup', type 'A' for setting 'Serial Device',
delete all the line, and type '/dev/modem'. Then validate by [Enter].
Type [Esc], and choose 'save setup as dfl, then choose 'Exit'.
Wait a little time, then type 'AT' if the modem answers 'OK' then you
have NOT a Winmodem, you have a standard modem...
If the initialisation time takes too long, then you have a Winmodem.
Use this document for try making it useful. Log in as root.
4. Exit from Minicom by typing CTRL+A, then X.
2. ISA or PCI ?
2.1. PCI ?
Ok, now we have a Winmodem... But there are two types of Winmodems:
ISA or PCI. For making the things harder, the two interfaces are
pretty different. So, we'll now test if we have a PCI or ISA modem.
First, you must configure your kernel. During the make *config, you
must answer 'yes' to the following questions:
· In Loadable module support: 'Enable loadable module support
(CONFIG_MODULES)', and 'Set version information on all modules for
symbols (CONFIG_MODVERSIONS)' (note that you must have the modutils
package installed ; See the Kerneld-HOWTO)
· In General setup:
Choose 'Any' in 'PCI Access Mode' (CONFIG_PCI_GOBIOS)
· If you can config PCI Device Name Database (maybe with a 2.4+
kernel), your can say Y, this will make your /proc/pci file easier
to understand (CONFIG_PCI_NAMES).
· In Filesystems
If you have never recompiled your kernel, maybe the kernel of your
distribution will contains this. If you want to recompile it and
you have never done it, read the Kernel-HOWTO.
Now, we assume that your new kernel is installed.
Now run 'cat /proc/pci'. If you see the name of your modem in the
lines returned by the command then you have a PCI Winmodem. Jump to
'Installing the driver'
2.2. or ISA ?
If you don't find it, maybe you have an ISA modem. How to be sure ?
ISA support is not assumed by the Kernel (UPDATED: if you have a 2.4.x
kernel, the kernel can do it automagically for you, if so, skip this
section and read the next). It is a third-party software, named
isapnp, who does it. First you must be sure that you have this package
installed. If not install it by downloading the isapnptools package.
Once isapnptools is installed, we'll run a special program, pnpdump,
who inspects your computer for finding ISA devices. Then it tries to
guess the resources used by the devices and prints them to a file,
/etc/isapnp.conf. Then you edit this file and run an other program,
isapnp, which reads the isapnp.conf file and auto configure your
devices.
Eh ? It sounds hard ? Then follow these steps:
1. Run 'pnpdump > /etc/isapnp.conf'.
2. Edit it with your favourite text editor
3. Locate the section where your modem is described.
4. Uncomment some lines in the file (Remove the # at the beginning of
the line. You need:
1 line
1 line '(INT 0 ...)'
1 line '(DMA 0 ...)'
1 line '(DMA 1 ...)'
1 line '(IO 1...)'
5. Remove the '(CHECK)' in all uncommented IO lines
6. Run isapnp.conf and try changing parameters, help you with the
error message. If you get no errors, edit isapnp.conf and uncomment
the '(ACT Y)' line in the secton of your modem. Then re-run 'isapnp
/etc/isapnp.conf'. It must answer you " [[Name of your modem]] Enabled
OK"
7. Add 'isapnp /etc/isapnp.conf' to your /etc/rc.d/rc.local, by typing
is useful for auto-configuring your devices at each startup
If it can help , here is an extract of my /etc/isapnp.conf file (I
have commented this file, and original file comments are preceded by
##)
______________________________________________________________________
# Snip details ...
## (DEBUG)
(READPORT 0x0203)
(ISOLATE PRESERVE)
(IDENTIFY *)
(VERBOSITY 2)
(CONFLICT (IO FATAL)(IRQ FATAL)(DMA FATAL)(MEM FATAL)) # or WARNING
# Identification of my modem card
## Card 1: (serial identifier e2 00 00 01 00 05 50 c3 1e)
## Vendor Id GVC5005, Serial Number 256, checksum 0xE2.
## Version 1.0, Vendor version 0.1
## ANSI string -->LT Win Modem<--
##
## Logical device id HSM0140
## Device support I/O range check register
#
# We want to configure the GVC5005/256 card
(CONFIGURE GVC5005/256 (LD 0
# I/O Base address 0x03f8, with a range of 8
(IO 0 (SIZE 8) (BASE 0x03f8) )
# IRQ 4
(INT 0 (IRQ 4 (MODE +E)))
# DMA 5
(DMA 0 (CHANNEL 5))
# DMA 7
(DMA 1 (CHANNEL 7))
# I/O Base Address 2 0x0100, range 8
(IO 1 (SIZE 8) (BASE 0x0100) )
# Name of the card
(NAME "GVC5005/256[0]{LT Win Modem }")
# Activate it
(ACT Y)
# End configuration
))
######## The parameters for my other ISA devices ##############
## Returns all cards to the "Wait for Key" state
(WAITFORKEY)
______________________________________________________________________
2.3. ISA and 2.4 kernels
If you have a 2.4 kernel (launch 'uname -r' to get your kernel
version), you don't have to do this tricky textfile-based and third-
party package installation, since 2.4 series introduce a method
similar to the PCI, and obsoletes the isapnptools package. To get this
feature, you have to say 'Y' or 'M' to the 'Plug and Play support'
(CONFIG_PNP) and 'ISA Plug and Play support' (CONFIG_ISAPNP) during
kernel configuration (it is in 'Plug and Play configuration' section).
Again, recompile your kernel and install it. If you said 'M' to ISA
Plug-and-Play support, it should be good to do a 'modprobe isapnp'.
You have to have a driver compliant with this new device access method
(eg. the ltmodem 5.78, read the next section).
3. Installing a modem driver
You have not to read this section entirely; just read one matching
with your modem. For the moment, it just describes how to install a LT
Modem, using the Lucent and OpenSource driver. If you have written or
used an other Winmodem driver, Open or Closed Source, you can email me
(alexandre12@mageos.com), and I will include it in this section.
3.1. ltmodem 5.78
URL: http://www.tux.org/pub/dclug/marvin/ltmodem-5.78e.tar.gz
Author: Lucent
License: Non-GPL
Supports: ISA/PCI modem, with a Lucent chipset (Mars family)
Features: Kernel module; simulate a serial port. Does PPP, Fax and
Voice
Current Version: 5.78e
Documentation: README-1ST
Requires: 2.2.x or 2.4.x; ISA PNP Support; Loadable module support; C
Compiler
How-to-use: Read README-1ST. It is very clear.
Problems:
· Unresolved symbols: xxx_isapnp_xxxx: run modprobe isapnp.
· Device or ressource busy: your modem is not compliant with the
driver
Comments: Lucent, this time, avoid kernel version and distribution
problems by providing the source for some elements.
3.2. The LT WinModem (from Lucent) 5.68 (OBSOLETE)
URL: http://www.linmodems.org/linux568.zip
Author: Lucent Technologies
License: Non-GPL
Supports: ISA/PCI modems, with a Lucent chipset (Mars family)
Features: Kernel module; simulate a serial port. Does PPP, Fax and
Voice
Current version (as far as I know): 5.68
Documentation: README
Requires: A 2.2.12 or higher RedHat kernel; loadable module support
How-to-use: Unzip the package ('unzip linux568.zip'), and run
./ltinst. That's all !
Problems:
·
·
·
·
· You have no lt modem or compliant installed
· If you have a ISA modem, it is not configured by isapnp
· If you have a PCI modem, the PCI support in the kernel was not
configured
3.3. The LTMODEM program (OpenSource driver)
URL: http://www.close.u-net.com
Authors: Richard Close and Pavel Machek
License: GPL
Supports: ISA/PCI modems, with Lucent chipsets (Mars family)
Feature: User-space driver; does Voice calls; does not PPP (V90)
Current version (as far as I know): 0.99
Documentation: README
Requires: GNU C Compiler, automake
How-to-use:
·
· PCI: make ; make install - Then use the 'ltmodem' program to
communicate with the modem
· ISA: (read the README.ISA file) mv Makefile Makefile.PCI ; mv
Makefile.ISA Makefile ; edit config.h and change for the correct
values for your modem (I/O Address, DMA, IRQ) ; make ; make install
- The use 'ltmodem' program to communicate with the modem.
Problems:
· "Sorry, I can't found any modem...":
· You have not LT modem
· You have an ISA modem not configured by isapnp
· You have an ISA modem configured ; but ltmodem was not compiled as
ISA
· You have a PCI modem with no PCI support included in the kernel
· You have a PCI modem and a compliant kernel, but ltmodem was not
compiled as PCI
4. The end...
4.1. Licence, Copyright
Copyright (C) 2000, 2001 Alexandre J.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
USA
4.2. Contact
If you have any ideas about this document, please email me:
alexandre12@mageos.com.
4.3. Resources
· The Linmodems project home page: http://www.linmodems.org
· The LTModem project home page: http://www.close.u-net.com
· The Lucent Technologies home page: http://www.lucent.com
· The Linux Kernel: http://www.kernel.org
· The isapnptools home page:
http://www.roestock.demon.co.uk/isapnptools
· The LDP Home Page (for getting HOWTOs):
http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP
