old-www/HOWTO/Remote-Serial-Console-HOWTO/modem-dsp.html

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>12.5. WinModems</H1
><P
>If you look at a modem, with it's small central processing
unit and special-purpose digital signal processor, and then look at
a modern <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>PC</SPAN
>, with it's large <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>CPU</SPAN
>
and general-purpose <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>DSP</SPAN
> on the sound card, you may
wonder if the hardware duplication of an external modem is
necessary.</P
><P
>A <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"WinModem"</SPAN
> incorporates the
<SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>CPU</SPAN
> and <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>DSP</SPAN
> of the modem into
the slightly-enhanced fabric of a <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>PC</SPAN
>. They are
called "WinModems" because they originally only shipped with
<SPAN
CLASS="PRODUCTNAME"
>Microsoft <SPAN
CLASS="SYSTEMITEM"
>Windows</SPAN
></SPAN
> device
drivers. These device drivers presented the illusion of a serial
port attached to a Hayes <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>AT</SPAN
>-style modem. For a
long time only <SPAN
CLASS="SYSTEMITEM"
>Windows</SPAN
>
versions of these drivers where available. Some manufacturers now
provide <SPAN
CLASS="SYSTEMITEM"
>Linux</SPAN
> versions of
their device drivers as well, these modems are jokingly called
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"LinModems"</SPAN
>.</P
><P
>It is probably possible to use a LinModem as a <SPAN
CLASS="SYSTEMITEM"
>Linux</SPAN
> console. At the most this would
require altering the source code to dumb-down the AT command
emulation of the modem and recompiling the kernel.</P
><P
>Boot loaders, however, work in a very confined software
environment and struggle to support a simple serial chip.
Considering that some boot loaders do not even handle interrupts,
handling the complex <SPAN
CLASS="ACRONYM"
>DSP</SPAN
> of a LinModem is well
beyond what is practical.</P
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