Anyone get a recent TP modem working in any distro?

[Edward Mendelson]

Header says it all. I've been trying to get the modem working on my TP42, with no luck at all. The modem responds "OK" to commands, but doesn't get a dial tone. That may be because it's a soft modem that obediently answers OK because it's software, but can't connect to anything.

Anyone else have any better experience?

[kaiser]

I haven't tried to get mine working, but AFAIR the new modems (Intel ICH4) can only be convinced to work if you use the Linuxant HSF-Drivers. These are available for free, but then limited to 14,4 kbps. If you want the unlimited version, you will have to pay.

Built-in soft modem

0000:00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 01)

This modem is supported by the Linuxant HSF drivers. They offer a free (as in beer) version limited to 14kBps, the upgrade to full speed and fax functionality costs $14,95. Not nice but better than not being able to use the modem at all. At least, the installation of the drivers works without problems. Just download the deb archive and install it. You need to have the linux-headers package matching your running kernel installed.

The deb also contains an init script for loading/unloading the driver modules. This comes in handy as it turns out that the modules need to be removed before going into suspend modes. Add hsf (the name of the init script) to the list of services to be stopped before suspend in /etc/default/acpi-support:

STOP_SERVICES="mysql hsf "

[Edward Mendelson]

Yes, that turns out to be correct. The free Conexant driver does work correctly - nothing else did. The modification to acpi-support is needed for hibernation to work (suspend to RAM is not a problem).

I probably won't buy the Conexant driver until I'm somewhere where I absolutely need the modem, but it's very good to know that it works. Too bad it will be the *only* non-free software on this system...

[kgorilla]

I installed SuSE 9.3 Pro on my current toshiba laptop and it did it all during the install, i tested it out with an ISP, worked fine.

My toshiba also has the 855 chipset as a T42.

I plan to install SuSE when i receive my second T43 here, but the modem is small priority to me.

[Edward Mendelson]

Yep - the Pro version of Suse reportedly has the commercial driver. (DISCLAIMER: I've only read that, haven't looked for myself.) OpenSuse has the open source driver, which doesn't work (at least in my setup).

[yossarian]

Check the thinkwiki.org entry on modems.

The smartlink driver might work on ICH4 modems but wont on the ICH6 ones (like the one on my t43).

Conexant works but that's proprietary...

I've decided I'm getting a serial->usb dongle and pluggin my serial modem in out of principle. heh

imo paying $15 for a modem driver is blue murder!

[jprigot]

Just got a T61 and love it. My distro of choice is Ubuntu 8.04. I ordered my laptop without a preinstalled OS so I wouldn't be paying for a distro that I won't use. Everything's fine except for the internal modem. I see that Lenovo has a driver for SuSE that indicates this is an HSF modem. Go over to Linuxant and download their free driver. Build/install it and now I have /dev/modem and /dev/ttySHSF[0-7]. Crank up minicom, point it at /dev/modem, and activate it. minicom immediately bombs out with a "modem went away" message. Try it under Kubuntu, same thing. Install SuSE, and Lenovo's HSF driver, try again, and it works with SuSE. Has anyone else run into this? Any suggestions? I'm off to Linuxant to pose the same question to them.

[jprigot]

Problem fixed (at least in Ubuntu). Make up a file in /etc/modprobe.d and have it say: options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=3
(Thank you Jonathan @ Linuxant.)

Worked for me. I also think that while $19.95 for the unlimited driver is a mite high for my liking, I still spent it because I believe in contributing to useful projects.

[dmitrio]

I used to use a cellphone with usb cable as a modem. It is slow for internet, but to send a fax is enough.