Which Version Best for Dial-up?

[Javelin Dan]

I have my brother's old Pentium II "E-Machine" up and running with Wary Pup 5.1.2. The OS flies like the wind, but we wanted to try dial-up with it, and it's S_L_O_W! Much slower than I remember dial-up back in the day. He's currently using Sea Monkey, and I've read the suggestion to use either Opera or Firefox as they are both supposed to have drivers built in for dial-up. Should we expect a noticable difference with either one of these? Also, I've got a nice iso of Rudy Puppy .070227 which looks really nice, based on an older kernal - 2.something. I've also read some of the older versions work better (at least on older machines) with dial-up. Worth a try or not?

[crshbndct]

puppy is great for dial up (if you can get the modem to work if it is a winmodem, i would use opera on that one.

puppy doesnt seems to be constantly updating like the bigger distros, so dial up suits it as well as dial up can suit anything

i like macpup for older pcs

[hoven]

Much slower than I remember dial-up back in the day. He's currently using Sea Monkey, and I've read the suggestion to use either Opera or Firefox as they are both supposed to have drivers built in for dial-up.

The internet is "bigger" than it used to be (along with the webpages themselves) so unfortunately today's large webpages filled with rubbish don't download quickly on dial-up. Get Seamonkey/Firefox extensions like Noscript and Adblock and you might find dial-up tolerable again.

Another thing is that the default config for Firefox these days might be for broadband but you can change those settings easily on the about:config page.

Some things to start with:
nglayout.initialpaint.delay - might not exist but you can create it (integer) and set it to 0
network.prefetch-next - toggle it to false
increase the disk cache to 100MB
browser.cache.memory.capacity - create integer and set it to 262144

Also read this:
http://codebetter.com/darrellnorton/200 ... right-way/

[starhawk]

Who made the main chip (aka chipset) on the modem card? I recall hearing *somewhere* that some Puppies have issues with Conexant modems...

Best IIRC is if you can get an external modem (USB type) that is from a big company like US Robotics and is rated 56k. A lot of the PCI type that go inside the computer seem to do everything in software -- which works fine for Windows (but most certainly *not* Linux!).

[muggins]

You could give Wary-5.1.2 a try as, from what I can recall, it has more dialup modem drivers than standard pupversions.

[hoven]

Who made the main chip (aka chipset) on the modem card? I recall hearing *somewhere* that some Puppies have issues with Conexant modems...

Best IIRC is if you can get an external modem (USB type) that is from a big company like US Robotics and is rated 56k. A lot of the PCI type that go inside the computer seem to do everything in software -- which works fine for Windows (but most certainly *not* Linux!).

I've got a laptop with a Winmodem, I think it is a Conexant chipset and it works fine in Puppy since about 2.17. It's actually slightly faster than the old external serial 56k modem that I haven't thrown away yet.

[`f00]

The internet is "bigger" than it used to be (along with the webpages themselves) so unfortunately today's large webpages filled with rubbish don't download quickly on dial-up.

Got that right :geezerwheeze: Hardly anyone bothers to optimize images anymore and some image-servers pile in cr*p or make it a bit awkward to get a direct link (:Phrog)

Anything's worth a try with older kit. How else will you know?

I like opera but it's not so good at picking out embedded images if you run with no/cache-only setting for images (and opera 'turbo' is ok if you like .jpgs mangled a bit). Other than that I definitely recommend it in any version you find that fits your needs .. sooo easy to hit F12 for quickprefs

Lots of pups that are optimized well for vintage (or a bit challenged) hwr, all depends what you're comfy with. Ditch the prawn (unless you find an internet suite truly necessary)

[starhawk]

I've got a laptop with a Winmodem, I think it is a Conexant chipset and it works fine in Puppy since about 2.17. It's actually slightly faster than the old external serial 56k modem that I haven't thrown away yet.

Baaah, that's my memory fer ya, always makin' cr*p up... >.<

[Javelin Dan]

Thanks to all who responded. I'll try as many suggestions as possible, or until my head explodes - whichever comes first. FYI, we first ordered a (used) USR external serial port modem from ebay. Never could make it work. Puppy recognized it in it's port, but it just wouldn't flash its lights and dial out. We then purchased a new Actiontech (serial port) from Amazon which sat up and fetched on the first try. That's the one we're now struggling with. I'll definitely try Opera, and may play around with the Rudy Pup distro just to see. I'll post if any appreciable results. Thanks again.

[muggins]

What is the modem's model number?

[Javelin Dan]

Muggins - don't have that here at work, but I'll post it tonight. Anything else?

[muggins]

Does hardinfo give the modem's VendorID & ProductID?

[Javelin Dan]

This modem is at my brother's house - was there last night. Number at top of label reads Actiontec EX560LKA. there are some other numbers in smaller print at bottom of label but I didn't record them (sorry muggins - I didn't get your your request about "hardinfo" until after I left). Also on the box is some other info; you decide if it's important. "All standards supported: V.44,56K Flex, V.90 and V.92. System Requirements: one Pentium 133 or higher computer with minimum 64 MB RAM. Speeds: 56k (download only),33.6k,31.2k, 28.8k,26.4k, 21.6k, 19.2k,16.8k, 14.4k, 12k, 9.6k, 7.2k, 4.8k, 2.4k, 1.2k, and 300bps. Standards: ITU-T,V.92, V.90, V.44,V.34, V.32bis, V.32, V2.2 bis, V2.1, Bell 212A, and 103. Data transmission speeds: 115,200bps. Dial type: tone and pulse. Command set: Industry Standard AT Command set, Extended AT Commands, EIA Class 1 (EIA 578). Interestingly, it claims to be approved only with various Windoze OS's, but has worked flawlessly so far with Puppy, except for the speed. I hear everything you are all telling me about dial-up's limitations versus the amount of data the internet is throwing at it. We talked it over, and my brother decided that turning off a lot of graphics would ruin his enjoyment of the internet. Unless anyone has some real good suggestions for speeding this thing up, I guess he'll have to resign himself to the gawd-awful Roadrunner lite that he's been overpaying for. Thanks again to all.

[Javelin Dan]

One more number on box I forgot to include: EXV9212-01.

[starhawk]

May I ask what's wrong with Roadrunner? I've never used them and I don't know that much about 'em.

[Javelin Dan]

My brother originally signed up for "Roadrunner Lite" because he already had a basic TV cable package from Time Warner, and he was thinking his service would actually be similar to other people's cable supplied internet. This was actually a minimal DSL service. His is intermittantly slow and cluncky, and his service drops out regularly. To add insult to injury, they keep raising the price on him - he is now paying almost $50 (US) per month. I also have a minimum DSL service from AT&T, but it's actually pretty fast and except for a very few times, VERY reliable. My service was originally $14.95, but was raised to $19.95 a couple of years ago and still holding. He checked to see if he could get any other DSL Service and was told that AT&T recently upgraded his area to fiber optic cable and the only thing available (other than what he has) would be some high-zoot service that would be almost $75/month. He's a divorcee left with all the debts and can't afford that much. I understand that all internet service depends on time of day, how many are online, etc., but his service just plain stinks! Anyone have any suggestions?

[starhawk]

@ what he's got now: wow, that really sucks!

@ suggestions: Wireless Internet. As long as you don't mind a 5gig cap, you can get it for about the same price ($50/mo). Mind you, every gig over that is another $10... and you'll need someone to run the "activation" stuff for you, because it needs Windblows to activate

I've actually got a Verizon branded Pantech UM175 modem that I could send you if you wanted (subject to approval by my maternal parental unit), I don't know if it's locked or not, though. Uses two USB ports (needs more power than one can provide, so it comes with a special booster cable), and is definitely 3G compliant. Only thing is, it's well used, so I've no idea how long it'll last.

[Dewbie]

Juno/NetZero dial-up software here.
(Scroll to bottom for Juno.)

Also try these (both Linux-compatible):
http://www.basicisp.net
http://www.copper.net

For browsers, there's the lightweight Dillo, which is quite fast with dial-up.
And here's a faster SeaMonkey 2.2 from BarryK.

[muggins]

Also, if you;re using a mozilla browser, plugins like flashblock, adblock & noscript, will stop a lot of unnecessary background stuff.

With the latter, you need to selectively unblock stuff until only essential stuff is running. On some sites you'll be
surprised how many unnecessary things are running in the background.

[Frank Cox]

As far as my experience I used 4.3 and Wary for dial up. You need to pay attention to the offerings and choose the version w/ the additional dialup modems.
When it comes to dialup you have to realize the majority of modems are known as winmodems which means they are cheap telephone interfaces that depend on the software for the majority of the processing. Some of these will work fine in puppy if you have the modem package version ,maybe 50 - 60 percent . Old Dells usually have "Linmodems" which are winmodems that Linux has the software drivers for . Dell had to offer full speed drivers because they shipped machines w/ Ubuntu installed.
There are things you can do to increase the speed of dialup but if you are going that slow it probably means you have the "free" Linmodem driver which runs at half speed.

Full speed drivers are available for 20.00 but I was very unhappy with them so if I can't find an old linux compatible modem laying around I found it money and time better spent to forget that route and buy a Linux compatible modem. On E-Bay they sell a USB winmodem that works well on Puppy ,Ubuntu ,and LinuxMint that I know of. If you want an internal just read the ads, so far all the ones that claim to work on Linux will.

The best solution is to use an external serial modem , also known as a hardware modem. The old USRobotics Sportster 33.6 modems run about 15$ and can be easily flashed to 56k and work well. There are USB hardware modems available but be sure they are not USB winmodems. Like I said the cheap USB winmodems, $10-12 work well , the others I just don't know. USRobotics makes a USB serial modem for $30.00 called the Modem Blaster and it is a good unit .

Serial Modems are faster 5 -10% and the connection is more stable. There are internal serial modems but they are expensive. When you setup a serial modem they are not detected on boot so you have to probe for them. All the instructions are right there in the dialup program. All the drivers for serial modems are built into all Linux kernels.

Be sure to cut off the graphics! You can get an addon called image switcher w/ FF and I imaging Opera has a similar app so you can turn them off and on easily. The combination of not having your bandwidth eaten up downloading virus updates and not using the graphics save when needed will make Linux dialup much less painfull than windows. The other tips on this page will also help .

Sorry for the long post but I am trying to save someone else the problems I have had. The last word of wisdom I have is recommending natblast.com as an ISP. The last year I had them it was $81.00 a year $8.00 a month. I ran into this post looking for help with ccifastnet.com , I can't get it to work for a customer and am suspecting they have so much tracking malware if makes it unusable on Linux.

Puppy is the best OS for dialup period!