Conexant (formerly Rockwell) Softmodem HSF Modem

This post was imported from an old blog archive, and predates the creation of AdamCaudill.com.

I was actually rather lucky to have this brand of WinModem, as the good people over at Linuxant.com offer a very high quality driver that makes installation a breeze! But, they have recently changed their marketing methods and charge $15 for the driver, so these really lives no viable, free alternative (a rarity to say the least for linux). So you have 2 options, you can use the free version they offer that is limited to 14.4kbps or pay the $15 for the full version of the driver. If you want a high quality, fully supported modem driver I’d highly recommend going to Linuxant.com and buying the driver from them, the support alone should be worth it, but if you want to try and save $15 and go it on your own, the information below may help.

Linuxant.com at one time offered a free, full version of the driver released under a BSD like license (parts are also released under the GPL), as a beta release. These beta version are now totally unsupported, and they do not offer them for download. They also claim these versions to be unstable and unreliable. Well, I’m running one of these beta version now and it’s very stable, and I’ve yet to have any issues at all! Linuxabt.com makes it clear that they wont support these old beta versions, but if you’re willing to go it on your own it might be a good option. (See the Readme & Install files)

Installation: #

Installing the driver is a very simple task, only a couple short commands and you’re ready to go! Now, one thing that is important is that you install the kernel source, otherwise it won’t compile properly. Here is an excerpt from the ‘Install’ file:

1. extract the package with tar -xzf hsflinmodem-{version}.tar.gz
1. change to the package directory with cd hsflinmodem-{version}
1. run make install from the top of the package directory. (Debian users might need to change the KERNELSRC definition in modules/common.mak first)
1. run hsfconfig to complete the installation and configure your modem.

(Alternatively to this whole procedure you may generate RPMS from the tar package using rpm -ta hsflinmodem-{version}.tar.gz)

Now once that’s done all you have to do is fire up kppp (or the remote dial-up software of your choice) and you’re ready to go!

Configuration: #

You can configure your modem just like any other modem, not even like a WinModem! The driver creates a symlink to ‘/dev/modem’ and you system will treat this as a normal normal modem and can be used as such.

Download: #

You can get the last free version on the driver here. This is the source tar, I don’t have, nor will I publish any of the RPM versions.

Note: Due to bandwidth usage, I have removed this file, if I find another source for this file I will post it, but until then you can still download it at Louis Mann’s page (see below). I apologize for any inconvenience.

More Information:

Linuxant.com
Louis Mann’s ‘Linux on Sony Vaio PCG-V505AX’ Page

Adam Caudill

APISettings

This post was imported from an old blog archive, and predates the creation of AdamCaudill.com. Visual Basic provides a less than elegant method of saving data in the Windows registry, the GetSetting & SaveSetting functions. These functions store setting in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\<AppName>\<Section> not very pretty is it? The APISettings module is a drop-in replacement using pure Win32 API for its processing power and increased stability. The reason for developing this and for making it drop-in compatible is to all those new to the Win32 API to add its functionality with minimal difficulty.

CloseApp

This post was imported from an old blog archive, and predates the creation of AdamCaudill.com. This is a useful function to close a program based on a windows caption, this should work for any top-level window. Paste all this into a standard module, save it. Then call CloseApp("Notepad") or whatever the name of the window is, it’s nice & simple and should close the program instantly. This requires Windows 2000 plus, for older versions of Windows a different method is required, that isn’t covered here, seeing as Windows 2000 and better require special privileges to forcefully close a program.

The Door to Nowhere

Today I was walking around, exploring the local downtown area, and I noticed a door. Or more accurately, what used to be a door, and the symbolism was too perfect to ignore. It’s a door to nowhere. A door once stood here, carefully built, thoughtfully placed, well crafted. Long ago someone decided that they didn’t want the door to exist anymore — so they filled it in. They made an attempt at reversing the decisions of the past to suit their desire at the moment — but they couldn’t.

Back From New York

This post was imported from an old blog archive, and predates the creation of AdamCaudill.com. Wow, the summer’s over and I’m finally home! After spending the last five months in New York (quite a difference from my native Florida), I’ve finally made it back home. Much has happened while I’ve been away, not the least of which is the death of Imspire and a few related projects. While giving up on these dreams has been difficult, I believe the result will be for the best.

Declaring War on Ransomware

It’s time for everyone from the industry, developers, and the government to declare war on ransomware and make it as hard as possible for them to ply their insidious trade. There have been false starts and baby steps, diligent fighters without enough resources, and vendors that have only given a nod to the issue. It’s time to use every tool reasonably available to stop this scourge. For so many in the industry that have dedicated so much of their time and effort to this fight, this statement may seem to diminish their efforts, but that is not my intent.