Re: S-parameter test sets

On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 08:55:08 -0700, Joel Kolstad wrote:

> "Terry Given" <my_name@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:6gmwe.11073$U4.1423465@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> At the
>> time I was looking for a *cheap* hardware solution that did its own
>> buffering and error checking, so as not to burden the poor old system
>> processor, which was being beaten to death numerically.
>
> Intel is very much a fan of trying to do all the processing on their CPU --
> they'd rather have people build $10 "WinModems" (signal processing is done on
> the CPU) than $10 "smart" modems!

I had a very illuminating experience with winmodems, on my first W95
computer. I had never even heard of a "winmodem," it simply was the
one that came with the computer. In 1996, $1000.00 was a lot of money!
[still is, in my book -- Pig Bladder]

Anyway, I was just using the included software for email and junk,
and it was molasses-slow - I'd had better responses on the BBS
with DOS!

Then, for some unknown reason, I started investigating Linux. The
first thing _any_ of the Linux crowd were saying back in those days
was, "Get a real modem. Linux doesn't support winmodems." I had no
idea.

So, I went shopping, and found a "REAL(r)" modem or something like
that - maybe "Realtek" or something, that was guaranteed to work
on DOS.

I was astonished. I was flabbergasted. Even in Windoze, with the
new modem, my connection seemed a hundred times faster. Not that it
_was_, mind you, it just _seemed_ to be that way. During that
edjamacaishunal experience, I also got turned onto Eudora, the
mail program that doesn't have to be on-line to compose email,
but still, the difference between a winmodem and a real modem
was significant.

Of course, it's been some years since I've used a modem - I presume
that the 100MBPS ethernet cards don't depend on the CPU for their
signal processing, although, we all know what ass-u-me means. ;-)

Thanks!
Rich


.

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