Thinkpad 600E modem and Linux

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vtpup
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Joined: Thu 16 Oct 2008, 01:42
Location: Republic of Vermont
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#61 Post by vtpup »

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vtpup,
Thanks for defending holding out for a real puppy fix, beyond settling for workarounds.
I think that what you're doing proves that "developers" do not ignore changes in hardware compatibility. And that things get broken inadvertently, not on purpose, when versions advance.

It seems very clear to me also that "developers" often don't have access to every old piece of hardware in the world, nor the ability to test against them all even if they did. Clearly mwave was included in later Puppy versions, not removed as an expedient, purposely obsoleting hardware.

It is pretty obvious that all of this is a volunteer effort, and that effected users should participate in testing and cooperating with anyone who takes on the personal task of improving things for them.

I certainly am in favor of sharing workarounds and patches with any user who needs one to get his computer working, if one has the knowledge to help. I think those workarounds don't block "developers" from addressing problems in the slightest. They certainly haven't here.

My only reason in holding back from writing a "how to" (other than the steps printed already in this thread) is that it would obviously be obsoleted by your imminent solution. Thank you rerwin for working on this problem with such long term determination and patience!

Finally, thinkpads are difficult beasts in the area of BIOS ports and irq assignments, and "enablements" of hardware functions. These are semi-accessible to the user, but not completely so. Besides getting Mwave working again, there will need to be How-To instructions for setting hardware BIOS values properly in a Thinkpad to work with it. This isn't a Puppy issue per se, but a hardware issue.

I'll test as requested and get back to you.

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