ulmo@ssyx.ucsc.edu (scritzifchisted ulmo qzutvchsxik) (10/03/88)
Most of the modems out there today fall into what could be said to be three categories; great, so-so, and horrible. That is not perhaps what most system designers are used to ... they probably used to usually frown down on what today are better than so-so modems. However, because of cost, need and popularity, I would think that these qualms could be overcome by much more intelligent software which would have not only a robust set of tools for configuring dynamic crappy (and high quality) modem use, but a sort of awareness of the ups & downs of any particular modem. Such software could conceivably be simple enough to implement that it could come as part of standard OS distributions. Thus, we wouldn't have to constantly be fixing a myriad of poorly and averagely manufactured modems and OS's. This obviously gets into the realm of changing source code for uucp, many kernels, etc. But, that's what I think needs to be done, despite the fact that many modem manufacturers are kicking us in the face (for a cheap price).