From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.5) Gecko/20031211 Debian/1.5-2.0.0.lindows0.0.43.45+0 Description of problem: As in summary, Redhat Rel 9 said no modem with Lucent Win V.92 on Port 3. So I sent for Fedora Core 1. Just installed on another system still no modem. How do I get the driver? Searched Bugzilla, have a very old entry about a laptop with a WinModem, answer was tough luck. Can't be true today. I have Lindows (Switched HDAs) on the same system, it has no problem with the modem. Any help. I went to Linux because of frequent crashes with Microsoft. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Install Fedora Core 1 2. or try to configure a Win Modem 3. Additional info:
The situation with respect to software modems (aka "winmodems") is a difficult one, unfortunately. Many of the winmodem chip manufacturers view their chips' interfaces as being proprietary, making an open source driver that supports those chips difficult (or impossible) to develop. Of those manufacturers that take this stance, some provide closed-source "binary only" drivers. Some do not. The position of the Fedora Project (and its main sponsor, Red Hat) is that closed-source software will not be included in our distributions. The reasons for this range from financial (with no direct sales of Fedora Core, there's no revenue stream to support the necessary finances to include such drivers) to ideological (we strongly feel that the open source approach is best, and hope that manufacturers see the growing Linux market as an incentive to open source their drivers). Other distributions may not share these same values, and/or may be in a position to handle the financial aspects of proprietary driver inclusion -- Lindows may be such a distribution (although I have no direct experience with them, so I cannot say for sure). We understand the difficulties this can cause -- I myself have a laptop with an unsupported winmodem chip in it, and have a PC Card modem to use in its place. That said, there *are* resources available that might be of help to you in getting your winmodem to work. The first one that comes to mind is www.linmodems.org -- based on the resources there, you should be able to determine the status of support for your winmodem's hardware. I will note, however, that if you are fairly new to Linux, you may find the steps necessary to get your winmodem operating daunting. I wish you the best of luck, and hope that you find a hardware/software solution that works for you, whether it includes Fedora Core or not.