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$Id: minicom.FAQ,v 1.1.1.1 2003-03-30 18:55:39 al-guest Exp $
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Frequently Asked Questions about Minicom:
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Q1: I have a "winmodem". How can I use it with minicom?
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A1: This is actually a hardware problem, not a minicom problem.
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Sorry, but there is often no hope to use those things in Linux at all.
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They are not actually real modems, they rely on the processor to do much
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of the work that really belongs to the modem. So they need some drivers.
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And many manufacturers of them are ignorant. So they write the drivers
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only for windows, and don't care about people who use something better.
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Not even enough to publish information that would be required to write
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drivers for more decent operating systems. However, some of them DO have
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the necessary drivers. The list should be available at
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http://www.linmodems.org/
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If your "winmodem" is mentioned there as Linux-compatible, then you should
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be able to use it like any real modem, once you get it installed properly.
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Follow the instructions on the website.
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If your device is not mentioned, it probably is not supported in Linux
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at all and you should get a real modem.
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As far as I know, most PCI modems (but not all) are these "winmodems".
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All external modems and almost all ISA card modems are real things, and
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they can be used with no problem (or if you seem to have problems with an
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ISA modem responding slowly or losing characters, see the next question).
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Q2: Why does my modem respond so SLOWLY to everything I type? Even the init
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string seems to pause for seconds between each character.
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A2: This is another hardware problem.
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You have an interrupt conflict in your computer. That means, some other
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device is using the same IRQ as your modem. This happens quite often if you
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have an internal modem set up as /dev/ttyS2 or /dev/ttyS3 (also known as
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com3 or com4 on some other operating systems). By default, /dev/ttyS0 and
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/dev/ttyS2 (or com1 and com3) use IRQ 4 and /dev/ttyS1 and /dev/ttyS3 (or
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com2 and com4) use IRQ 3. So, if you have an internal modem, disable the
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serial port using the same irq on your motherboard or i/o card (check the
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motherboard manual), or change one of the ports to use some other irq
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(probably with the setserial command in /etc/rc.d/rc.local or some other
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bootup script).
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Q3: When I try dialing out, minicom just says "you are already online" and
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refuses to dial. Why does it do that and what should I do?
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A3: Since version 1.82, Minicom doesn't begin dialing if the modem says that
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you are online by keeping the carrier signal on.
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Maybe your modem always keeps the carrier signal on. Consult the manual of
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your modem for the right command to use the carrier signal properly.
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On my modem, the command would be at&c1 but it may be different in your
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modem. Save the changed modem settings or add &c1 (or whatever it is) to
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your init string.
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If your modem is broken and can't handle the carrier signal, you may set
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minicom to ignore DCD by going to the "modem and dialing" settings and
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turning off the "Modem has DCD line" setting.
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