Tuesday, November 10

Eric Brown of PC World looks at progress towards low-cost G.lite ADSL modems.

SMART Modular Technologies announced a combination PCI modem/sound card. The card is based on the new Rockwell RipTide chipset, which is in turn based on the Intel Audio/Modem riser (AMR) card spec mentioned here a few weeks ago.

Jim Barthold of CableWorld examines 3Com's push into cable modems, both on the home front and the server end.

Followups

Lucent confirmed that the Encore LT Win Modem AT command reference will work equally well with ISA- and PCI-based units, and with other manufacturer's LT Win Modems.

Demetrio Lamzaki had great luck with the tip Andres Alvarado sent in last week: the Radicom V.90 upgrade works with all Rockwell RLDL56DPF PCI modems. Demetrio had been unable to upgrade a Phoebe Micro modem using Phoebe's updater, but the Radicom updater worked like a charm. Radi also has Windows 95/98 and NT .inf files for the modems.

Message board facilitators wanted

I'm looking for volunteers to facilitate/moderate the 56K.COM Modem BBoard. I can't always give as much time to it as I'd like, and I think that in general it's good to have as many hands and as many opinions as possible.

Facilitators will reply to posts, helping people with modem questions and pointing them towards resources on the site and one the web in general. There will also be some moderation tasks (though the board has been remarkably free of inappropriate posts). If you're interested, email me with your experience working with modems and online message forums.

Interesting reading

If you missed it, you should read the Halloween Document, a leaked internal document which details Microsoft's plans to compete against open source software (e.g., Linux and Apache). Microsoft's main strategy is "embrace and destroy:" adopt and then pervert open protocols such as HTTP, TCP/IP, SMTP, and other protocols that Internet users rely on. Microsoft has already attempted this sort of thing with a Windows-only version of Java, as well as the FrontPage web authoring system, which requires custom server extensions and Microsoft-specific content creation tools. Chilling stuff.

The Halloween Document linked above has commentary from Eric Raymond, a popular proponent of open source software. His essays "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" and "Homesteading the Noosphere" provide insight into the free software/open source software movements.

Another interesting read discovered while downloading a newsreader upgrade: Tom Limoncelli's "Read This Before You Write a Newsreader, News Transport System, etc."

New server report

The new 56K.COM dedicated web server has been set up and I'm learning how to administer it. I'll move the site over to the new server in the next two weeks. Page loading time is many times better on the new server and the new web host.

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Friday, November 13

Rockwell is spinning off their chip-making division, Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, and renaming it Conexant Systems. The division will focus more attention on digital communications technology, including wireless, DSL, and cable modems.

Ramp Networks has a new version of its WebRamp series of routers and Ethernet hubs, the WebRamp 300e.

Dell will use ActionTec modems in their Inspiron line of notebook computers.

V.90 news and products

Multi-Tech has announced a V.90 USB modem that's fully hot-swappable.

The latest version of Zoom's MultiLine FaxModem supports V.90 on four to eight ports, depending on the model.

In the V.90 Upgrade FAQ, I stated that ISPs who upgraded to V.90 have continued to support their previous 56K modem protocol (either x2 or K56flex). Several readers emailed to say that their ISP, Enter.net, dropped x2 when they upgraded to V.90.

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