At 10:04 AM 2/7/1999 Ted Neitz wrote:
>
>I'm looking to upgrade my modem from a 28.8 to a 56K.  Can anyone provide me
>with the advantages/disadvantages of a modem using a PCI bus vs the ISA bus.
>


Ted:

Everyone has their preferences, probably due
to their unique experiences with modems.

Currently, my preference is an external
modem, from a reputable maker (I prefer USR
and Zoom). That way you avoid COM port conflicts
when you have to play around with peripherals
such as digital cameras, HPCs, and serial label
printers.

The on-the-fly resource allocation performed by
Windows, PnP and PCI make it a headache when the
system resources of any COM/serial device can be
dynamically reassigned.

So, having a serial switch box, while manual, is
certainly the definitive way of assigning each
device its system resources.

If you go internal modem, I recommend assigning the
modem COM1, serial mouse (if you have one -- I've
gone to PS/2) to COM2 (higher IRQ priority), etc...

The only reason I see to get a PCI modem is if
all your ISA slots are occupied.

Regards,

John Chin

            Do you want to signoff PCBUILD or just change to
                    Digest mode - visit our web site:
                    http://nospin.com/pc/pcbuild.html