What file contains my Dialup Info?

[[email protected]]

What file contains my Dialup Info?
I'm referring to the file created when I configure my dialup modem to
connect to my ISP. This would be the file that contains my User Name,
Password, and Modem/Dialup settings.

I'm asking this because I usually connect to the internet with Win98.
But I do have Win2000 dual booted on that same computer, and can also
connect using it.

I have recently tried to connect, using the same US Robotics External
modem, (Serial Port connection), on my XP desktop, and to refuses to
connect. The modem is being properly recognized. I have used my correct
user name and password. The modem makes it's "tones" when it dials. I
see the screen which says "verifying user name and password", then it
just disconnects, and will do so repeatedly.

I'm thinking that Win 2000 has the same filename, containing my user
info and settings, which is needed in XP. So, all I need to do, is copy
that file from Win2000, and paste it to my XP machine. -BUT WHAT FILE-?

I should note that my ISP is touchy. Even with Win98 or 2000, I normally
have to dialup 2, 3, or 4 times before I finally connect, and sometimes
turning off the power to the modem (between dials) will help. But with
XP, I cant connect at all. I think I tried 17 times yesterday.... I also
tried to connect using my USB booted PC-Linux, and had the same problem.
It dialed, but would not connect.

In case you want to suggest I contact my ISP, that is NOT an option.
Dialup is now FREE with my landline phone service, but there is NO
SUPPORT and NO EMAIL ADDRESS provided. (And back when I had to pay extra
for the dialup internet service, they did not offer support for Win98 or
any OS which was obsolete). So XP would now fall in that category.

[Good Guy[_2_]]

On 01/08/2015 19:20, wrote:
> In case you want to suggest I contact my ISP, that is NOT an option.
> Dialup is now FREE with my landline phone service, but there is NO
> SUPPORT and NO EMAIL ADDRESS provided. (And back when I had to pay extra
> for the dialup internet service, they did not offer support for Win98 or
> any OS which was obsolete). So XP would now fall in that category.
>
>
>

Have you tried looking in their website if they have alternative numbers
to dial in?

In UK we don't have dial-up network anymore. All we have is broadband
and they are much cheaper than you would think!! In fact, in my area we
also have free wi-fi but it is very slow and you have to connect every
one hour.

If dial-up is free in your area then the website must give you generic
username/password and premium dial-up numbers!!!

I thought dial-up is a thing of the past and there aren't suitable
modems for them these days. I haven't had a dial-up connection since
2004. However, I am a special one who has better ways of doing things
than some 86 year old around here.

[Paul]

wrote:
> What file contains my Dialup Info?
> I'm referring to the file created when I configure my dialup modem to
> connect to my ISP. This would be the file that contains my User Name,
> Password, and Modem/Dialup settings.
>
> I'm asking this because I usually connect to the internet with Win98.
> But I do have Win2000 dual booted on that same computer, and can also
> connect using it.
>
> I have recently tried to connect, using the same US Robotics External
> modem, (Serial Port connection), on my XP desktop, and to refuses to
> connect. The modem is being properly recognized. I have used my correct
> user name and password. The modem makes it's "tones" when it dials. I
> see the screen which says "verifying user name and password", then it
> just disconnects, and will do so repeatedly.
>
> I'm thinking that Win 2000 has the same filename, containing my user
> info and settings, which is needed in XP. So, all I need to do, is copy
> that file from Win2000, and paste it to my XP machine. -BUT WHAT FILE-?
>
> I should note that my ISP is touchy. Even with Win98 or 2000, I normally
> have to dialup 2, 3, or 4 times before I finally connect, and sometimes
> turning off the power to the modem (between dials) will help. But with
> XP, I cant connect at all. I think I tried 17 times yesterday.... I also
> tried to connect using my USB booted PC-Linux, and had the same problem.
> It dialed, but would not connect.
>
> In case you want to suggest I contact my ISP, that is NOT an option.
> Dialup is now FREE with my landline phone service, but there is NO
> SUPPORT and NO EMAIL ADDRESS provided. (And back when I had to pay extra
> for the dialup internet service, they did not offer support for Win98 or
> any OS which was obsolete). So XP would now fall in that category.

On my WinXP, I can see rasphone.pbk, which is a
text file that has every one of my old dialup accounts
in it. The file uses numeric parameters, that presumably
select Hayes AT INIT strings for the modem, from the modem
INF file.

We had this discussion once before, and I suggested
tracing what is sent to the modem in the "success case".
Just to see what Hayes AT commands are being sent
to the modem.

Portmon
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896644

If you find that the current version does not work on
Win98, look for an older version here.

https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://download.sysinternals.com/files/PortMon.zip

The earliest recorded example, is a file from 2006.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070129194109/http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/PortMon.zip

*******

I used to keep two modems, one a K56 type, the other an X2 type,
to deal with different modem pool front ends. The IT department
told me, that the Livingston front end only worked well with
K56 modems. Others would work with X2. After spending around
a week debugging the stuff years ago, and borrowing a modem
from the IT department, I had to concur with their analysis.
The borrowed modem worked perfectly well.

And I ended up buying a Supra branded modem at the time, so
I would have two of them. One modem worked with the dialup
pool at work. The other modem worked with the local Freenet
dialup service. And I also had a connection to the telephone
company dialup service. So I got some experience with the
various front ends. If you used the wrong modem, you could
experience "spiral of death" as the session transfer rate
would drop and drop as time passed. After ten minutes the
connection would drop, because TCP/IP timeouts were
getting triggered. Good times...

And is debugging this stuff "techie" ? You betcha.

Something I uses to use, even provided a PPP log, so
you could see the attempts to negotiate compressed
or non-compressed PPP headers and so on. I haven't seen
a log file like that, in at least 20 years. The
log file might have existed on my Macintosh. The PPP
log stops, once your first Internet packet comes in. It
only logs the attempts to negotiate and authenticate.
Linux might still generate such a log, because logging
of that type was essential in the old days. For example,
if an authentication server went offline at the
destination end, you could spot the symptoms in
the log.

*******

Also, you don't have to use the dialup (DUN) client
as your only test case. You can also try using Hyperterm
and dlaling the modem pool. I think using that technique,
you may be able to gather evidence about what brand
of front end is answering the phone. Once the dialup
pool determines you're not "speaking PPP", it'll drop
the connection. But like debugging other services
by using Hyperterm or telnet, it can give information
suited for information where no support people are there
to help you.

And you're asking me to remember details I haven't
used in years. I'm not exactly fluent in this stuff
now. I wasn't even able to find the PDF with the
Hayes command set for my current (unused) dialup
modem. I no longer have any dialup accounts to test
with, so cannot run PortMon to any useful purpose.

Paul

[micky[_2_]]

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Sat, 01 Aug 2015 23:52:05
-0400, Paul > wrote:

>
>On my WinXP, I can see rasphone.pbk, which is a

I have that file too, I see, and I looked inside and even though I've
never dialed up with this installation of windows, it has one phone
number. At the time I said I'm busy, but now I wish I'd noted it and
tried calling it. It might be Verizon's secret phone number in Vanuatu.

I searched for *.pbk and that was the only one I found, though I stopped
the search before it was done. In Documents and Settings/all.....


>text file that has every one of my old dialup accounts
>in it. The file uses numeric parameters, that presumably
>select Hayes AT INIT strings for the modem, from the modem
>INF file.

[Paul]

micky wrote:
> In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Sat, 01 Aug 2015 23:52:05
> -0400, Paul > wrote:
>
>> On my WinXP, I can see rasphone.pbk, which is a
>
> I have that file too, I see, and I looked inside and even though I've
> never dialed up with this installation of windows, it has one phone
> number. At the time I said I'm busy, but now I wish I'd noted it and
> tried calling it. It might be Verizon's secret phone number in Vanuatu.
>
> I searched for *.pbk and that was the only one I found, though I stopped
> the search before it was done. In Documents and Settings/all.....
>
>
>> text file that has every one of my old dialup accounts
>> in it. The file uses numeric parameters, that presumably
>> select Hayes AT INIT strings for the modem, from the modem
>> INF file.
>

Presumably someone makes software for dealing better
with dialup, but I've certainly never had anything
like that.

Any time I've had a dialup modem put up a fuss, it
costs me a week to figure out. It's that much fun.

So if "radarlove" thinks these are easy to fix,
they're not. Not with the tools we've got. And
we're in the wrong era to get help.

Paul

[[email protected]]

On Sun, 02 Aug 2015 02:03:11 +0100, Good Guy >
wrote:

>On 01/08/2015 19:20, wrote:
>> In case you want to suggest I contact my ISP, that is NOT an option.
>> Dialup is now FREE with my landline phone service, but there is NO
>> SUPPORT and NO EMAIL ADDRESS provided. (And back when I had to pay extra
>> for the dialup internet service, they did not offer support for Win98 or
>> any OS which was obsolete). So XP would now fall in that category.
>>
>>
>>
>
>Have you tried looking in their website if they have alternative numbers
>to dial in?
>
>In UK we don't have dial-up network anymore. All we have is broadband
>and they are much cheaper than you would think!! In fact, in my area we
>also have free wi-fi but it is very slow and you have to connect every
>one hour.
>
>If dial-up is free in your area then the website must give you generic
>username/password and premium dial-up numbers!!!
>
>I thought dial-up is a thing of the past and there aren't suitable
>modems for them these days. I haven't had a dial-up connection since
>2004. However, I am a special one who has better ways of doing things
>than some 86 year old around here.
>
>

There are lots of old modems sold on Ebay and other places.

The website for my phone company dont have any setup specs for dialup.
In fact they dont even mention or sell dialup anymore. I'm sort of
"grandfathered in". While it's not published, they do include free
dialup on all landlines, but if there was never a paid dialup account, I
dont know how anyone can create a username.

A guy who worked for a phone company said that nearly all phone
companies in the US have free dialup service now, but few people know
it, or use it..... I'll take his word for it!

[[email protected]]

On Sat, 01 Aug 2015 23:52:05 -0400, Paul > wrote:

>
>On my WinXP, I can see rasphone.pbk, which is a
>text file that has every one of my old dialup accounts
>in it. The file uses numeric parameters, that presumably
>select Hayes AT INIT strings for the modem, from the modem
>INF file.
>
>We had this discussion once before, and I suggested
>tracing what is sent to the modem in the "success case".
>Just to see what Hayes AT commands are being sent
>to the modem.
>
>Portmon
>https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896644
>
>If you find that the current version does not work on
>Win98, look for an older version here.
>
>https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://download.sysinternals.com/files/PortMon.zip
>
>The earliest recorded example, is a file from 2006.
>
>https://web.archive.org/web/20070129194109/http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/PortMon.zip
>
>*******
>
>I used to keep two modems, one a K56 type, the other an X2 type,
>to deal with different modem pool front ends. The IT department
>told me, that the Livingston front end only worked well with
>K56 modems. Others would work with X2. After spending around
>a week debugging the stuff years ago, and borrowing a modem
>from the IT department, I had to concur with their analysis.
>The borrowed modem worked perfectly well.
>
>And I ended up buying a Supra branded modem at the time, so
>I would have two of them. One modem worked with the dialup
>pool at work. The other modem worked with the local Freenet
>dialup service. And I also had a connection to the telephone
>company dialup service. So I got some experience with the
>various front ends. If you used the wrong modem, you could
>experience "spiral of death" as the session transfer rate
>would drop and drop as time passed. After ten minutes the
>connection would drop, because TCP/IP timeouts were
>getting triggered. Good times...
>
>And is debugging this stuff "techie" ? You betcha.
>
>Something I uses to use, even provided a PPP log, so
>you could see the attempts to negotiate compressed
>or non-compressed PPP headers and so on. I haven't seen
>a log file like that, in at least 20 years. The
>log file might have existed on my Macintosh. The PPP
>log stops, once your first Internet packet comes in. It
>only logs the attempts to negotiate and authenticate.
>Linux might still generate such a log, because logging
>of that type was essential in the old days. For example,
>if an authentication server went offline at the
>destination end, you could spot the symptoms in
>the log.
>


I copied "rasphone.pbk" from my Win2000 machine and pasted it into XP
(replacing the one I had in XP [after making a backup]).
XP connected immediately after that......

However, the connection is worthless. I have about three minutes of
usage before it becomes a "dead connection".
In other words, I connect, I can open Google, type in a word to search
for, and get a list of matches for that search. By that time I've come
close to the 3 minute limit, because if I click on one of those links,
it will probablyu time out, or simply say "webpage not found". But I can
do a redial and get to load that page, which gives me 3 more minutes.
It DOES NOT disconnect after 3 min. it just stops transferring data.


Also, the connection is slower than my connection with Win98. Win2000
has always been slower too, but at least I dont lose the connection
usage....

PC-Linux did create a log file when I tried to connect with it, but I
could not save the file since I'm booted from a USB flash drive, which
can not save the settings.

However I will try that again, and see if I can copy and paste the log
file to notepad. (Yea, its' not called notepad in linux, I cant recall
what its called).

While I'm no fan of linux, I do give them credit for having this dialup
logging feature. Something Windows should have!!! I actually somewhat
like Pc-Linux, it's similar to Windows and the first distro that I've
found which is easy to use and understand. I'd install it as a dual
boot, if I was not afraid of wiping away Windows. I think if I install a
second harddrive, I can do it. Of course that wont solve the dialup
connection problems, since I cant get Linux to connect either.

By the way, I do have the latest driver installed for my USR modem.

[[email protected]]

On Sun, 02 Aug 2015 02:03:11 +0100, Good Guy >
wrote:

>In UK we don't have dial-up network anymore. All we have is broadband
>and they are much cheaper than you would think!! In fact, in my area we
>also have free wi-fi but it is very slow and you have to connect every
>one hour.

The US is supposed to be the country most advanced, yet it still dont
furnish high speed internet to people like myself who live in rural
areas. I only have two choices. Use dialup on my landline, or get Dish
Network or Direct TV satellite service at a cost of around $100 per
month. I cant afford the satellite, so I'm stuck with dialup. (And
probably will always be, since I have no intention of moving to a city).

I recently went to a Culvers Restaurant which advertised FREE WIFI.
I was connecting at from 5K to 8K bps. Worst WIFI connection I've ever
seen. On dialup, I can usually get 5K to 6K bps.
Another local restaurant gives me 800K to 1.2megs per second. That's
where I usually go! Or the library, which gives me 300K to 500K. Slower,
but usable.

[Paul in Houston TX[_2_]]

Good Guy wrote:
>
> In UK we don't have dial-up network anymore. All we have is broadband and they are much
> cheaper than you would think!! In fact, in my area we also have free wi-fi but it is very
> slow and you have to connect every one hour.

The USA is somewhat bigger than the UK and it's not cost effective to run
fiber 100 km for 3 families. They would not like the $1000's per month invoice.
Same with wifi.

[Paul]

wrote:

>
> However, the connection is worthless. I have about three minutes of
> usage before it becomes a "dead connection".
> In other words, I connect, I can open Google, type in a word to search
> for, and get a list of matches for that search. By that time I've come
> close to the 3 minute limit, because if I click on one of those links,
> it will probablyu time out, or simply say "webpage not found". But I can
> do a redial and get to load that page, which gives me 3 more minutes.
> It DOES NOT disconnect after 3 min. it just stops transferring data.

This sounds like Spiral of Death.

It gets honorary mention here, for USRobotics Sportster.

http://www.modemhelp.net/quickref.shtml

If looks like the INIT string

AT&F1S15=128

AT&F1&K0S15=128

are attempts to prevent the running connection rate
from dialing itself into the ground. Things like

S15=128

would be an attempt to set an S Register in a
particular way. You would need the Hayes AT command
set PDF, to decode what that command is doing.

The "&F1" likely reloads factory defaults, to put
the modem in a known state, then after that, changing
the S15 register.

S15 isn't defined here. But because it is labeled
as "flags register", we know the 128 value is a bit
flag. In hex it would be 0x80, in binary, the most
significant bit is turned on.

http://stanislavs.org/helppc/hayes_modem_info.html

If I get the Hayes AT command set for my specific
Sportster modem, I get a hint.

http://support.usr.com/support/sportster/sportster-files/techref_uk.pdf

S15 0 Bit-mapped register setup. To set the register, see instructions for S13.

Bit Value Result
0 1 Disable ARQ/MNP for V.22.
1 2 Disable ARQ/MNP for V.22bis.
2 4 Disable ARQ/MNP V.32/V.32bis/V.32terbo.
3 8 Disable MNP handshake.
4 16 Disable MNP level 4.
5 32 Disable MNP level 3.
6 64 MNP incompatibility.
7 128 Disable V.42 operation. <---

So now we know what the Modemhelp site is
attempting to do. Now we need to know what
V.42 is :-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_Access_Procedure_for_Modems

The ITU-T V.42 LAPM procedure is considered more robust than
the Microcom Networking Protocols (MNP) that preceded it, and
has a more sophisticated and powerful data compression option
in V.42bis, allowing much greater data throughput.

So it sounds like they're (perhaps) trying to make that
modem fallback to some MNP flavor.

Each modem can have specific suggestions for fixing their
shortcomings. And you need to go through the PDF manual
for your modem, like the techref_uk.pdf example above,
and "decode" what each one does. You don't want to
select settings which might conflict with some
other part of an INIT string. Here, you can see
"Spiral of Death" is mentioned for several of them.

http://www.goyubasutter.com/techsupport/modemstrings.htm

Paul

[[email protected]]

On Sat, 01 Aug 2015 23:52:05 -0400, Paul > wrote:

>I used to keep two modems, one a K56 type, the other an X2 type,
>to deal with different modem pool front ends. The IT department
>told me, that the Livingston front end only worked well with
>K56 modems. Others would work with X2. After spending around
>a week debugging the stuff years ago, and borrowing a modem
>from the IT department, I had to concur with their analysis.
>The borrowed modem worked perfectly well.
>
>And I ended up buying a Supra branded modem at the time, so
>I would have two of them. One modem worked with the dialup
>pool at work. The other modem worked with the local Freenet
>dialup service. And I also had a connection to the telephone
>company dialup service. So I got some experience with the
>various front ends. If you used the wrong modem, you could
>experience "spiral of death" as the session transfer rate
>would drop and drop as time passed. After ten minutes the
>connection would drop, because TCP/IP timeouts were
>getting triggered. Good times...
>
>And is debugging this stuff "techie" ? You betcha.

I know what is involved in debugging this stuff, and I dont have the
time or patience for it.

However, you mentioned there are two types of modems. The K56 type, the
X2 type.

What type is this USRobotics 56K Faxmodem? (model 5686)?
What BRAND(s) is the other modem type? Is it a Diamond Supra?
Rather than spend hours of frustration, I'd rather just spend $20 (or
less) on Ebay for another modem. There are lots of them available.

If that dont do it, I guess I'm just stuck with using Win98 for dialup.
Win98 can and does stay connected as long as 2 days, and remains usable.
Most of the time my ISP disconnects me, (or I need to make a phone
call), but I have maintained a connection for close to 50 hours a few
times. But my problem is that the browsers no longer work for most
websites. (The browsers that work on Win98). My newsreader (Agent) and
Email (Thunderbird) work fine in W98.

I'm prepared to buy another modem to use on XP. What brand should I buy?
(External modems ONLY. I hate internal ones).

I have noticed that many external modems are now USB. Are they better or
worse than Serial port types? I can use either, since all my computers
still have serial ports????

[Paul]

wrote:
> On Sat, 01 Aug 2015 23:52:05 -0400, Paul > wrote:
>
>> I used to keep two modems, one a K56 type, the other an X2 type,
>> to deal with different modem pool front ends. The IT department
>> told me, that the Livingston front end only worked well with
>> K56 modems. Others would work with X2. After spending around
>> a week debugging the stuff years ago, and borrowing a modem
>>from the IT department, I had to concur with their analysis.
>> The borrowed modem worked perfectly well.
>>
>> And I ended up buying a Supra branded modem at the time, so
>> I would have two of them. One modem worked with the dialup
>> pool at work. The other modem worked with the local Freenet
>> dialup service. And I also had a connection to the telephone
>> company dialup service. So I got some experience with the
>> various front ends. If you used the wrong modem, you could
>> experience "spiral of death" as the session transfer rate
>> would drop and drop as time passed. After ten minutes the
>> connection would drop, because TCP/IP timeouts were
>> getting triggered. Good times...
>>
>> And is debugging this stuff "techie" ? You betcha.
>
> I know what is involved in debugging this stuff, and I dont have the
> time or patience for it.
>
> However, you mentioned there are two types of modems. The K56 type, the
> X2 type.
>
> What type is this USRobotics 56K Faxmodem? (model 5686)?
> What BRAND(s) is the other modem type? Is it a Diamond Supra?
> Rather than spend hours of frustration, I'd rather just spend $20 (or
> less) on Ebay for another modem. There are lots of them available.
>
> If that dont do it, I guess I'm just stuck with using Win98 for dialup.
> Win98 can and does stay connected as long as 2 days, and remains usable.
> Most of the time my ISP disconnects me, (or I need to make a phone
> call), but I have maintained a connection for close to 50 hours a few
> times. But my problem is that the browsers no longer work for most
> websites. (The browsers that work on Win98). My newsreader (Agent) and
> Email (Thunderbird) work fine in W98.
>
> I'm prepared to buy another modem to use on XP. What brand should I buy?
> (External modems ONLY. I hate internal ones).
>
> I have noticed that many external modems are now USB. Are they better or
> worse than Serial port types? I can use either, since all my computers
> still have serial ports????

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/56_kbit/s_modem

USRobotics began work on the technology first, calling theirs X2

Rockwell began work on a rival 56k technology and joined with
Lucent and Motorola on what it called K56Flex.
[Rockwell became Conexant...]

$20 gets you a Conexant chipset, but does it have the
characteristics of K56, or is it now a middle-of-the-road
and well behaved V.92 ? Who knows.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825164005

I personally wouldn't throw money at the problem, without
trying to craft an INIT string. With the money approach, you
might never get it working right. and end up with a pile
of modems.

Paul

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message >, Good Guy
> writes:
[]
>In UK we don't have dial-up network anymore.* All we have is broadband
>and they are much cheaper than you would think!!* In fact, in my area
>we also have free wi-fi but it is very slow and you have to connect
>every one hour.
[]
If by "dial-up network" you mean dial-up access to the internet, then
yes we do; not many ISPs advertise it, and quite a few do indeed not
provide it, but some do. AFAIK PlusNet provide it as a backup (they
certainly did when I joined them), and Demon certainly did up to about
three months ago (I don't know that they've stopped either, but it
wouldn't surprise me if in the fiasco of their transfer to namesco that
it got lost).

Who provides the "free wi-fi" in your area?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

I long for the commercialised Christmas of the 1970s. It's got so religious
now, it's lost its true meaning. - Mike [{at}ostic.demon.co.uk], 2003-12-24

[Mike Easter]

wrote:
> US Robotics External modem, (Serial Port connection)

USR makes 5686G & 3453C ext serial 56K modems with the latter called
'business' and much more expensive x3.

http://www.usr.com/en/products/56k-modem-comparison/
56k Modem Comparison

> I also tried to connect using my USB booted PC-Linux

My choice of linux for dialup would be a relatively modern retro version
of Puppy such as precise 5.7.1 retro

It is mis-filed at ibiblio under quirky instead of puppylinux
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/precise-5.7.1/

Puppy has a much more powerful dialup wizard than PCLOS.

PCLOS doesn't take the strategy of Puppy of mitigating/replacing the
loss of dialup capabilities from more modern kernels.




--
Mike Easter

[[email protected]]

On Tue, 04 Aug 2015 17:17:31 -0400, Paul > wrote:

>> still have serial ports????
>
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/56_kbit/s_modem
>
> USRobotics began work on the technology first, calling theirs X2
>
> Rockwell began work on a rival 56k technology and joined with
> Lucent and Motorola on what it called K56Flex.
> [Rockwell became Conexant...]
>
>$20 gets you a Conexant chipset, but does it have the
>characteristics of K56, or is it now a middle-of-the-road
>and well behaved V.92 ? Who knows.
>
>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825164005
>
>I personally wouldn't throw money at the problem, without
>trying to craft an INIT string. With the money approach, you
>might never get it working right. and end up with a pile
>of modems.
>
> Paul

I thought USR modems were the best, but maybe it's just not
compatible....

Is there a list of what brands use what chipset anywhere?
Somehow I thought Supra was another top of the line brand.
But what chipset?

I dont mind buying another modem, because I'm tired of swapping the same
modem from my Win98 machine to the XP one. Actually, I do have a spare
(identical) USR modem, but I only have one cable, since USR is the only
modem I've ever seen that has that extra wide plug on the back. I got
that extra modem because some months ago, someone had one listed with no
power supply or cables for $5. I have extra power supplies from modems
that got hit by lightning, but only one of those special cables. I got a
working modem for $5, so that was a deal.

Suppose I should look on ebay for another of those cables!!!

I'd like to try the init strings, and you told me what to try (sort of),
but you did not tell me where to put them.... So, I'm asking!
WHERE DO I PUT THEM? (Probably wheere the sun never shines. huh ) :)

Also, what about those tiny modem switches on the back? I never mess
with them, and every USR modem I've gotten has the same settings it
seems, so that must be the factory settings!

[[email protected]]

On Tue, 04 Aug 2015 15:57:46 -0700, Mike Easter >
wrote:

wrote:
>> US Robotics External modem, (Serial Port connection)
>
>USR makes 5686G & 3453C ext serial 56K modems with the latter called
>'business' and much more expensive x3.
>
>http://www.usr.com/en/products/56k-modem-comparison/
>56k Modem Comparison
>
>> I also tried to connect using my USB booted PC-Linux
>
>My choice of linux for dialup would be a relatively modern retro version
>of Puppy such as precise 5.7.1 retro
>
>It is mis-filed at ibiblio under quirky instead of puppylinux
>http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/precise-5.7.1/
>
>Puppy has a much more powerful dialup wizard than PCLOS.
>
>PCLOS doesn't take the strategy of Puppy of mitigating/replacing the
>loss of dialup capabilities from more modern kernels.

Thanks for the help with Linux. As far as linux, I like both Puppy and
PC-Linux. I also tried Linux Mint and Zorin. Both of them caused a video
lockup, so I quit trying them. I also tried Damn Small Linux, but I
didn't care for it.

PC-Linux is nice, but someone really screwed up on the dialup part,
because wanting to download a file in order to set up the modem is
absolutely really stupid.

Anyhow, I like Puppy too, so I'll go with that. The version I'm using is
TAHR-6.0-CE_PAE.iso That was the newest one they had, but I can download
Precise 5.7.1 retro. The one thing I like about Puppy is the small
download size, and ease of use. (Plus no video problems).

Actually, I dont have to download it. I have it. That one and
pup-431.iso I downloaded when I was at a WIFI. (I just checked my
download list)! And I just found Precise 570 Retro, also on my list.
(appears to be a tad older, since the download was march 2014.)

[[email protected]]

On Tue, 4 Aug 2015 23:52:16 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
> wrote:

>Who provides the "free wi-fi" in your area?

The Library, several restaurants, and one bar. The bar and one
restaurant require a password though, but everyone in town knows them!

[Paul]

wrote:
> On Tue, 04 Aug 2015 17:17:31 -0400, Paul > wrote:
>
>>> still have serial ports????
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/56_kbit/s_modem
>>
>> USRobotics began work on the technology first, calling theirs X2
>>
>> Rockwell began work on a rival 56k technology and joined with
>> Lucent and Motorola on what it called K56Flex.
>> [Rockwell became Conexant...]
>>
>> $20 gets you a Conexant chipset, but does it have the
>> characteristics of K56, or is it now a middle-of-the-road
>> and well behaved V.92 ? Who knows.
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825164005
>>
>> I personally wouldn't throw money at the problem, without
>> trying to craft an INIT string. With the money approach, you
>> might never get it working right. and end up with a pile
>> of modems.
>>
>> Paul
>
> I thought USR modems were the best, but maybe it's just not
> compatible....
>
> Is there a list of what brands use what chipset anywhere?
> Somehow I thought Supra was another top of the line brand.
> But what chipset?
>
> I dont mind buying another modem, because I'm tired of swapping the same
> modem from my Win98 machine to the XP one. Actually, I do have a spare
> (identical) USR modem, but I only have one cable, since USR is the only
> modem I've ever seen that has that extra wide plug on the back. I got
> that extra modem because some months ago, someone had one listed with no
> power supply or cables for $5. I have extra power supplies from modems
> that got hit by lightning, but only one of those special cables. I got a
> working modem for $5, so that was a deal.
>
> Suppose I should look on ebay for another of those cables!!!
>
> I'd like to try the init strings, and you told me what to try (sort of),
> but you did not tell me where to put them.... So, I'm asking!
> WHERE DO I PUT THEM? (Probably wheere the sun never shines. huh ) :)
>
> Also, what about those tiny modem switches on the back? I never mess
> with them, and every USR modem I've gotten has the same settings it
> seems, so that must be the factory settings!

There is an adhesive label on the bottom of my USR modem,
that indicates what each switch does. One of the switches
says to use the factory defaults, so maybe that switch
carries more weight than some of the others.

I looked inside my Supra, and it has one big chip in it

RCVDL56ACFW/SP
R6772-22
Copyright Rockwell 1997

If you look on your documentation page for Linux, there
would be a separate entry for ACF modems. And that
string in the part number, tells me it is ACF and
that's what I should look up.

And later chips like that would have the Conexant logo
and part number. The chip has a Flash ROM and RAM chip
next to it, so it's a complete datapump. The chip holds
a DSP, and it does digital signal processing to convert
the phone tones into bytes of data. It does not require
the host CPU to do any work. You can send it INIT strings
over RS232, and that little datapump processor parses
them and figures out what to do. This makes it
"not a WinModem", "not a dumb modem".

It has an analog DAA, with a transformer for isolation,
plus two optoisolator chips. That's to prevent, say, voltage
around 2kV, from attacking the user. Phone lines could
have just about any kind of disturbance on them, including
the 25Hz ringing tone with the 170V amplitude. You don't
want to be holding phone wires and rewiring a junction
box, if someone dials your house and tries to make the
phone ring.

Looking through the available modems, it's pretty
hard to tell what you're getting.

Rosewill RNX-56USB - Modem - Conexant Hardware-Based 56Kbps $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16825164005

http://www.rosewill.com/products/1164/ProductDetail_Specifications.htm

Model RNX-56USB
Chipset Conexant CX93010 + CX20548 (SmartDAA)

http://www.conexant.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/pb_CX9ZNR0226.pdf

So that's what $20 buys you.

Paul

[Ant[_3_]]

On 8/3/2015 11:50 AM, wrote:

> The website for my phone company dont have any setup specs for dialup.
> In fact they dont even mention or sell dialup anymore. I'm sort of
> "grandfathered in". While it's not published, they do include free
> dialup on all landlines, but if there was never a paid dialup account, I
> dont know how anyone can create a username.
>
> A guy who worked for a phone company said that nearly all phone
> companies in the US have free dialup service now, but few people know
> it, or use it..... I'll take his word for it!

Really? Where? How do we get to it? I assume one has to be a landline
subscribers like on Verizon? I'd like to try it!
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