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Jay Price of CPI noticed a web page with a Rockwell FAQ regarding the upcoming ITU standard, currently known as V.pcm. Shane Lord of Banksia found another Rockwell page discussing V.pcm
TDK Systems has released a line of K56flex PCMCIA cards for Macintosh PowerBooks.
There is supposedly a beta 1.16 version of Hayes firmware, but it isn't on the Hayes beta page.
Son of bondage
HiWAAY.net has a multichannel bonding FAQ.
The January issue of Boardwatch features a bonding article by Steve Clark.
Bonding modem technology sounds wonderful, but it's too new to pass judgment. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has practical experience with it.
A class action lawsuit against 3Com has been filed on behalf of shareholders, alleging false financial statements and insider training, according to a press release issued by the plaintiffs.
Wired News is reporting that Bay Networks has purchased a 9% share in NetSpeak for 37 million dollars. NetSpeak is one of several companies developing technologies to allow phone calls over the Internet. Bay Networks makes networking equipment and remote access equipment, including modem concentrators.
Rockwell has generic Windows 95 inf files for a number of their chipsets, including their K56flex chips. Rockwell doesn't sell modems, but they make the chips used by hundreds of modem vendors.
Tim Burns wrote a Macintosh CCL file (modem script) for his MacWarehouse Performance K56flex.
Carmen Nobel of PC Week looks at cable modems in corporate America.
Lucent LT Winmodems
Jay Price, an engineer for Computer Peripherals International, notes 4.21 drivers for CPI's ViVa Lucent-based modems. The same page has 1.120 firmware for their Rockwell-based K56flex modems.
Lucent LT Winmodems have been a hot topic lately, mostly because so few of them were able to connect at K56flex speeds without firmware updates. Lucent LT Winmodems are used in many popular computers, including those from Hewlett-Packard and Sony.
I asked Jay for a rundown of Lucent LT Winmodem firmware versions to separate the good from the bad:
Well, basically anything before 4.06 had little to no chance of getting K56flex connections. 4.06 was the first "decent" version of drivers that gave about 42K connections. 4.15 or 4.16 increased the performance by about 4K, and 4.21 gave about 2K higher.The only "bad" release I know of is 4.20, which had some fax problems. Other than that, everything's looking pretty good.
I've updated the Troubleshooting Guide with this and other information related to Lucent-based K56flex modems.
Besides CPI/ViVa, Hewlett-Packard is the only company that I'm aware of that has firmware updates for their LT Winmodems. Several readers have used the Hewlett-Packard upgrade on their non-HP modems with success. This should be considered a last resort, because using the wrong firmware could render your modem inoperable. If that sounds too risky, wait for the vendor to release an update.
This month's Computer Shopper reviews five 56K PCMCIA cards, including the ActionTec DataLink, Global Village Modem/Ethernet combo, Motorola MobileSURFR, TDK CyberExpress, and the Viking 56K.
Al Konschak was interested in an IBM 56K modem, so he decided to do a little research:
I just read the 4 articles you have links to related to the IBM 56k. One of the articles mention that IBM will offer a free upgrade when the ITU standard comes through. I just got off the phone with IBM and there is NO GUARANTEE of a free upgrade. They made my decision for me. They also need a new marketing department.
As the ITU 56K standard draws near, it becomes even more important ever to make sure your modem is upgradeable to the final standard. Get it in writing. For a list of companies clearly promising upgrades, visit the Buyer's Guide. New to the list: MagicXpress.
Firmware updates
Motorola has beta versions of 1.12 firmware. Tom Stanhope located the beta for US, UK, and Australian customers at http://www.mot.com/pub/MIMS/ISG/ModemSURFR56/windows/. Killian McCourt noted the Motorola 1.12 flash on Motorola's UK BBS.
David Walkley found Practical Peripherals beta firmware at http://www.practinet.com/56k/beta/.
Zoltrix has updated firmware and drivers. Thanks go out to Eric Thomas.
Xueqiao Huang found ActionTec's firmware upgrade page.
Rich, a tech at Acer Components, sent this note:
This message is for your users that have ACER FM56PVS and FM56PVS-DL models. There are no firmware updates to 56K ACER modems at this time. These updates will be posted on our website. Acercomponents.com when they are available.
Doug McClure continues to track down firmware upgrades for Lucent LT Winmodems, sold under a number of brand names and included in many popular computers:
From Cybermax for the CPI LT 56k/33.6k Winmodem Version 4.21:http://www.cybmax.com/support/drivers/MODEM.htm
Specifically here:
ftp://ftp.cybmax.com/drivers/modem/s56c/cpilu421.exe
For these CPI modems with Lucent chipsets:
MDM-S56/C, MDM-V336/C, MDM-V336B/C
But also should be OK for these:
ViVa/33.6LC-V (or 336VL)
ViVa/56LC-V (or 56VL)
ViVa/56LC-S (or 56SL)
ViVa/56LC-SM (or 56SLM)
ViVa/56LC-SX (or 56SLX)
56K.COM is written and maintained by Les Jones. Artwork by Mark Maxwell.