[H-GEN] Modem under Mandrake 7.1

[Frank Brand]

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David Underwood wrote:
> 
Generally, the default settings for nmotherboards set the PnP O/s
setting to OFF or NO anyway.
 

> 
> If I am reading this correctly then it would appear that both IRQ 4 (what
> the modem is currently assigned) and IRQ 5 (modem under DOS) or both free.
> 
> Also I was reading something about IRQs in "Using Linux", Ball, Que in which
> a table indicates that ttys0 and ttys2 use IRQ 4 and that ttys1 and ttys3
> use IRQ 3.
> 
> Is this set in concrete then or can it be changed so that /dev/modem linked
> to ttys2 can use IRQ 5.


As a default setting COMM1 (ttyS0) and COMM3 (ttyS2) are both set to IRQ
4. COMM2 (ttyS1) and COMM 4 are both set to IRQ 3 That is why it is not
easy to use COMM1 and COMM3 simultaneously. Eg. if you use a mouse on
COMM1 and an internal modem on COMM3 you may have problems. It is also
the reason that it is advisable (other than the Winmodem complication in
Linux) not to use an internal modem at all as this increases the chamnce
of an IRQ conflict. For an internal modem you should be careful in
setting your modem port.

Any COMM port can be set to various port settings in the motherboard
BIOS but, from memory, IRQ 5 is not one of the usual options. Since IRQ
5 is a typical setting for many sound cards and network cards I would
think setting you modem to IRQ 5 would not exactly be a preferred
option.

I imagine it is possible to set the port to IRQ 5 using a software
setting (Ive never even thought about doing this) but it is not
something I would prefer to do. The tty's (or COMM ports) are set to
operate properly at the standard settings and I expect there is
something either in the modem setup or your setup that is the culprit
here.

What sort of mouse are you using and what IRQ is it occupying (ie. do
you have an AT case or an ATX case ...serial or PS/2 mouse)? Is the
modem a winmodem, most of the internal PCI modems I have seen are
winmodems (but not all). It is difficult to understand that the modem
worked in Red Hat and not in Mandrake as Mandrake sits on top of a Red
Hat Linux install.


-- 
Frank Brand
E-mail:- fbrand at uq.net.au
Home Page:-http://www.uq.net.au/~zzfbrand

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