Paul Lamar wrote:

Win modems won't work as far as I know.

Russell Kent wrote:

If I *ever* run into the S.O.B. that "invented" WinModems, he had better run for
his life.  Stay away from them, regardless of OS: they are a *MAJOR* source of
problems for Linux, OS/2, WinNT, Win2000, WinXP, ...

I use a US Robotic's external modem.

Actually, your best bet is to use a good 10baseT Ethernet card and DSL or cable
modem... :-)

I am sure Russell Kent can give you more and better advice.

Aw shucks...

Charlie,
Paul's right: switching to Linux isn't something to be done without facing up to
the fact that you *will* spend alot of time getting things to work the way you
want.  If you like tinkering with computer programs, finding out how they
*really* work, and all of the little bugs, err, "undocumented features", then
have at it.  IF, however, you are a person who uses a computer as a tool and have
neither the time nor the inclination to work on the *tool* (rather than on the
*work*), then I'd have to recommend that you stay with Win2000, IRQ warts and
all.

That said, I've found that the fewer cards you put in a WinDOZE box, the fewer
problems you will likely have.

Gotta WinModem?  Use that sucker as clay pidgeon and get a good external serial
(or USB) modem.

Gotta special scanner card?  It is likely a brain damaged SCSI card.  See if you
can do without the scanner, or upgrade to a USB interface scanner.

Gotta special serial or USB interface card? Chuck that piece of crap motherboard
and get a good motherboard that has those onboard.

Is this cheap?  Well, sometimes, if you've got all of the above and more, its
cheaper to buy a new system (I got a new-in-box HP Pentium 4, 1.6GHz, 512MB,
40GB, CDRW, 17" monitor, WindowsXP for $1000 a month ago; prices are still
falling).

Russell Kent

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