[net.unix] Summary of Responses

elvy@hscfvax.UUCP (750103@Marc Elvy) (12/03/85)

The following is a brief summary of the responses to my request for information
about an /etc/modemcap file or something like it.  As I suspected, the problem
has been recognized and dealt with before, in a variety of ways.  I have not
yet tried any of the available facilities, so I cannot vouch for the accuracy
of this information or make any recommendations at this time.  Thank you all
for responding so quickly.

Marc

Enc.
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There is rumored to be a file called /etc/acucap in 4.3BSD UNIX and Ultrix 32
version 1.2.  This file is an abstraction allowing independent identification
of modems (automatic call units) in the termcap style.

Dennis Ritchie's paper in the Portland Usenix proceedings mentions a "dial"
command that handles modems in a modem-independent manner.  Supposedly, this
exists in the Version 8 UNIX operating system.

Under Honey-Danber UUCP, the modem capabilities are to be found in
"/usr/lib/uucp/Dialers".  The uucp program contains routines for accessing
the information necessary to make the dialer do its tricks.

The Perkin-Elmer version of AT&T System V Release 2 contains an extension
to  the  uucp/cu environment to help isolate dialer inconsistencies.  They
are located in /usr/lib/uucp/L.modem.<type>, and they look like L.sys entries.

The AT&T PC7300 contains a file called /usr/lib/uucp/modemcap that looks
rather like a termcap file.  I have not heard which routines use it.

The version of UNIX running on Gould computers (mostly 4.2 with some Sys V)
supports a file called /etc/modcap, which is used by (System V based) uucp
and (4.2BSD based) tip.  This looks like a termcap file.