There is a register at x260h I think that is used to identify and control
P&P devices like that. It has to go somewhere of even a true P&P board
would never find it.
The AMD5x86 is pretty decent but not a pentium, it's a low volatage faster
486dx/100 with bigger internal cache. I have a few here and they are solid
machines.
As to P&P, I have two dell 425sx boxen than run w95 just fine
(nt or linux better!) and never had trouble with any of the better P&P
modems and Eithercards I use despite the BIOS being totally P&P ignorant.
There are such things as junk cards or worse lost media/docs needed to use
them.
Allison
------Original Message------
From: "Richard Erlacher" <richard_at_idcomm.com>
To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org
Sent: August 30, 2000 3:29:46 AM GMT
Subject: Re: OT: Philips "Easy-Connect" modem
It happens that this particular modem is the only remaining plug-n-pray card
and, while most of these critters have some sort of driver that makes them
assume some identity, this particular one doesn't. It does have a flash
utility, but even that can't find the thing. Nonetheless, when I put the
modem in a plug-n-play system it identifies itself, but the system can't
find it sufficiently to identify it enough to install it. The install
routine, unlike most, requires that one proceed only after the OS has
announced recognition of the modem, at which point you're supposed to use
the CD that comes with the modem. Unfortunately, though I've never had to
use it before, it doesn't work to do the install now, because it can't find
where the modem is.
This system has been almost totally trouble-free, with the exception that,
since the little old lady that uses it for web surfing and email hasn't
learned how to avoid accumulating junk from the web, her disk space has
gotten so low that the printer driver won't work any longer, so we replaced
here 545 MB drive with a 13.6 GB one. Installing that was somewhat of a
pain, but now that it's in place, it works great. If only one could get a
modem that wasn't plug and play and didn't require a 22 GHz pentium to make
it work.
This box has a 160 MHz 5x86, which is just a sort-of Pentium-compatible
'486. I've got dozens of these "out there" among the pro-bono clientele
I've accumulated over the years and even though they're not the latest,
fastest, etc, you'll have trouble prying the users' cold-dead fingers from
around them. They really like them. I've found 300 MHz Pentium-equipped
motherboards for $40 and not one of these folks wanted to swap 'em. These
old things still have a couple of VLB slots along with a couple of ISA slots
and 3 PCI. My mother has one too, and even she doesn't complain.
Dick
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Received on Wed Aug 30 2000 - 09:55:09 BST