From: Mark Bell (bytehead_at_bellatlantic.net)
Date: Fri Dec 11 1998 - 21:11:26 EST
At 10:04 AM 12/11/98 -0600, Ron Heiby wrote:
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>Hi! My wife just phoned to tell me that my ThinkPad 770ED has arrived!
>
>It is my understanding that this ThinkPad uses the Mwave DSP for its modem
>functions. Now, I don't want to say anything bad about Mwave, but I *did*
>choose to purchase a Megahertz modem for my 755CE.
I have several 755ce's, 770's and 77ed's on deployment here for consultants.
I personally use a 770 and a 770ED (Getting to replace with 770x, cause I'm
the boss and I'm greedy and materialistic <g>). The 755ce modem wasn't the
greatest thing on the earth, but was ok in a pinch. The 770 modems have worked
pretty much flawlessly and with no perceptible degredation of system
performance.
I am very happy with their execution, which I can't really say for the
755ce (which
is why it uses a 33.6k Motorola).
>
>I could use some help in figuring out what Ethernet and/or modem card to get
>for the new ThinkPad.
Skip the modem card. As for ethernet, I've had great success with the 3Com
3c574-tx series (now disco'ed and remarketed under the Megahertz brand),
Xircom
IIps and 3c589 series.
>While I am open to other suggestions, I have been favorably impressed with
the
>reliability and service related to my previous two Megahertz purchases.
Ditto. Go with 3Com/USR/Megahertz. I've usually stayed with their products and
have usually had great success.
>At this time, I do not seem to have any need of 100 Mbps Ethernet, though
I am
>not opposed to products that have that additional capability, as long as it
>does not require too much compromise or additional expense.
>one with XJack for both modem and Ethernet. I *like* my XJack modem
>connection.
In the realms of 3com, it depends on dongle vs. Xjack. I like both, but the
ease
of Xjack technology is a plus. I leave the cards in the machine and never
worry
about dongles, cables or removing them. I've had *0* usage breakdowns based
upon
the Xjack. I had one client step on a consultants connector, and, well, um,
that
was all she wrote. :)
>I have the 10 Mbps dongles that came with my current MHz card, both 10Base2
>and 10BaseT. I don't think I've ever used the coax dongle, so figure I am
>unlikely to need to do so. If I did, would my existing one be compatible with
>the new cards?
I rarely run across co-axial cabling anymore.
>I have a Nokia 6160 wireless phone. Theoretically, it can be attached to
>certain MHz modem cards, using a special cable. That would tend to imply that
>if I want to make such connections, I want to make sure to avoid XJack,
and go
>with the dongle modem connection, even though I like XJack. But, since I've
>wanted to make such a connection maybe once in the past five years, I would
>guess that it is probably not worth it.
I know some of the older, cellular ready Xjack cards had a adapter port along
side the Xjack in case you needed to have a cellular connect. They might still
be available.
>I suppose the big question is, "How is the 770ED Mwave modem implementation?
>How is it's V.90 support? Does it give high speed V.90 connections on good
>lines? Is it solid or flakey? Does it eat away at main memory?". Hmm, maybe
>that's more than one question! Anyway, would I be happier spending an extra
>$100-150 to get V.90 modem capabilities in my PCMCIA Ethernet card?
I've had zero problems with X2 connections with consistent 44k+ connects
consistently.
I haven't really had a chance to test the V.90 connections yet.
>Also, as best I can tell from what I've read, the 770ED uses the PCMCIA or PC
>Card style of interface (I think that's a 16 bit interface?), and not the
>newer and faster CardBus interface (32 bit?). Is this correct?
I am sure the 770 series uses 32-bit cardbus technology which is also
backwards
compatible with 16-bit PC Card (PCMCIA) technology.
-------------------------------------------------
Mark Bell @ ElectroSoft Consulting
800 College Drive #126 * Vineland, NJ * 08360
Voice: 609-293-9426 =-= Fax : 609-293-9423
Email: bytehead_at_bellatlantic.net
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