Re: tlug: isdn dsu/ta + isp providers in Tokyo - Linux/WinNT compatible?

[Scott Stone <sstone@example.com>]

On Thu, 3 Sep 1998, Jonathan Byrne - 3Web wrote:

> On Wed, 2 Sep 1998, Joseph Norton wrote:
> 
> >1) isdn dsu/ta 
> >
> >I used to have a Motorola BitSurfrPro on my linux/WinNT box in the U.S.  
> 
> The BitSurfPro is not a bad unit by all accounts, and they are sold in
> Japan, so if you have a preference for them using them with NT would not be a
> problem, since I'm sure they come with a driver.  I don't know about Linux.

Any external TA that responds to AT commands via a serial terminal program
such as minicom will work with Linux.  SOME internal ones will as well,
but AFAIK none of the Japanese ones.  All of the kernel-level ISDN driver
development seems to be happening in Germany, and supporting German ISDN
cards, which won't work in japan.

> 
> The most popular TA in Japan is NEC, and they have a wide model range going
> from basic home-use units up to higher-end SOHO units with lots of bells and
> whistles.  They're quite good, and NTT's own TAs are OEM NECs.
> 
> Aiwa also works with Linux, although due to broken microcode, it needed a
> Linux kernel patch to prevent dropping about half of the packets (Scott, is
> this patch still necessary, or is it incorporated into the current kernel?).

no, it's not, and it shouldn't be - the kernel is correct, the TA is
broken.  You take a performance hit on non-AIWA TAs/modems if you install
the patch.  Basically the patch comments out the line in ppp.c that tells
it to compress PPP header packets or something like that.  Aiwa's TA needs
the patch, not the kernel :)

--------------------------------------------------
Scott M. Stone <sstone@example.com, sstone@example.com>
               <sstone@example.com>
Head of TurboLinux Development/Systems Administrator
Pacific HiTech, Inc (USA) / Pacific HiTech, KK (Japan)
http://www.pht.com		http://armadillo.pht.co.jp
http://www.pht.co.jp	        http://www.turbolinux.com


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