🚀 go-pugleaf

can't speak for the other but I LOVE my SupraExpress 336isp!

Mike
mhoenig@ast.cam.ac.uk (Michael Hoenig) wrote:

>
>[this might be more relevant to people in the UK]
>
>Hi there,
>
>I have decide to finally buy my own modem and it looks like two 33.6k modems
>have made it to the final choice (because of price/quality considerations
>mainly!): the Psion Dacom Surfer and the Diamond SupraExpress 336i (internal).
>The Surfer got really good reviews, and I would be willing to purchase it
>despite its rather garish (or "stylish" as the PR dept. puts it) exterior. The
>SupraExpress also seems a good choice, and it seems to have Flash ROM which
>might be a wise investment. But internal modems are more difficult to set up,
>right? All that IRQ bother.
>If anyone has any advice or experience regarding these two modems I'd be very
>grateful for any e-mail. Thanks!
>Cheers,
>
>Mike.
>
>
>
> ==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==
> Michael Hoenig			e-mail:	mhoenig@ast.cam.ac.uk
> Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, England.
> Tel. (01223) 339278		WWW: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~mhoenig
> ==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==
> 

can't speak for the other but I LOVE my SupraExpress 336isp!

Mike
mhoenig@ast.cam.ac.uk (Michael Hoenig) wrote:

>
>[this might be more relevant to people in the UK]
>
>Hi there,
>
>I have decide to finally buy my own modem and it looks like two 33.6k modems
>have made it to the final choice (because of price/quality considerations
>mainly!): the Psion Dacom Surfer and the Diamond SupraExpress 336i (internal).
>The Surfer got really good reviews, and I would be willing to purchase it
>despite its rather garish (or "stylish" as the PR dept. puts it) exterior. The
>SupraExpress also seems a good choice, and it seems to have Flash ROM which
>might be a wise investment. But internal modems are more difficult to set up,
>right? All that IRQ bother.
>If anyone has any advice or experience regarding these two modems I'd be very
>grateful for any e-mail. Thanks!
>Cheers,
>
>Mike.
>
>
>
> ==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==
> Michael Hoenig			e-mail:	mhoenig@ast.cam.ac.uk
> Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, England.
> Tel. (01223) 339278		WWW: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~mhoenig
> ==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==
> 

On 16 Apr 1997 14:17:45 GMT, mhoenig@ast.cam.ac.uk (Michael Hoenig)
wrote:
>I have decide to finally buy my own modem and it looks like two 33.6k modems
>have made it to the final choice (because of price/quality considerations
>mainly!): the Psion Dacom Surfer and the Diamond SupraExpress 336i (internal).
>The Surfer got really good reviews, and I would be willing to purchase it
>despite its rather garish (or "stylish" as the PR dept. puts it) exterior. The
>SupraExpress also seems a good choice, and it seems to have Flash ROM which

	FWIW the SupraExpress 33.6i does not have FlashROM.  The
SupraExpress 56k does, the SupraFAXmodems and SupraSonics do, but not
the plain old Express 33.6 (unless this was changed recently and/or
different for the UK as opposed to North America).

>might be a wise investment. But internal modems are more difficult to set up,
>right? All that IRQ bother.

	The SupraExpress at least is a Plug 'n Pray ONLY modem, which
means it'll either be really easy to set up (just plug it in and turn
on your computer) or a HUGE pain in the butt if PnP doesn't work (and,
as you might be able to guess from the Plug 'n Pray name, PnP often
does not work).  Setting the jumpers for comm and IRQ ports isn't
really that complicated.  Com3 IRQ5 almost always works.

	Anyway, as for the modems, I can't rally comment on the Psion
Dacom Surfer since I've never heard of it.  As for the SupraExpress
though, I'd definately avoid that one.  Supra makes soem excellent
modems in their FAXmodem and Sonic line, but in all testing their
Express line is outperformed by the FAXmodem and Sonics by a LONG
margin (like an Express getting 2500byte/s+ on a Network sim test
where the FAXmodems are getting about 3000byte/s).  In that sort of
price range, the modem that I'd personnaly recommend would be the
Motorola ModemSURFR 33.6.

Anthony Hill           |  Despite popular belief, this
ahill@travel-net.com   | is NOT a .sig file.

mhoenig@ast.cam.ac.uk (Michael Hoenig) wrote:

>Hi there,

>I have decide to finally buy my own modem and it looks like two 33.6k modems
>have made it to the final choice (because of price/quality considerations
>mainly!): the Psion Dacom Surfer and the Diamond SupraExpress 336i (internal).
>The Surfer got really good reviews, and I would be willing to purchase it
>despite its rather garish (or "stylish" as the PR dept. puts it) exterior. The
>SupraExpress also seems a good choice, and it seems to have Flash ROM which
>might be a wise investment. But internal modems are more difficult to set up,
>right? All that IRQ bother.
>If anyone has any advice or experience regarding these two modems I'd be very
>grateful for any e-mail. Thanks!

Hey Mike,

I have a Surfer and seeing as you don't seem to have had many replies
regarding this modem, I thought I'd stick my oar in!

Firstly I would like to say that I was also rather daunted by the
stylish look it gave, thinking that it was all show and no trousers!!
But...I was wrong, it belts along.  It also seemed to be a good deal
and a rather good shape for my cluttered desk!

Anyway...down to performance.  VERY good.  Hardly any line drops and a
very good constant speed.  I haven't actually been able to connect at
full 33.6k as yet, but I have a feeling it's my phone line or a dodgy
init string.

In summary I thoroughly recommend this modem and ask you not to be
concerned about the snazzy look of the thing!  It does the job and
does it well.

Damn, I should be an ad woman or a rep!

Regards,
Tiffany

-- 
----------Art To Choke----------
http://www.tiffg.demon.co.uk

In article <3354f465.1042311@nntp.uunet.ca>, Anthony Hill <ahill@travel-
net.com> writes
>On 16 Apr 1997 14:17:45 GMT, mhoenig@ast.cam.ac.uk (Michael Hoenig)
>wrote:
>>I have decide to finally buy my own modem and it looks like two 33.6k modems
>>have made it to the final choice (because of price/quality considerations
>>mainly!): the Psion Dacom Surfer and the Diamond SupraExpress 336i (internal).
>>The Surfer got really good reviews, and I would be willing to purchase it
>>despite its rather garish (or "stylish" as the PR dept. puts it) exterior. The
>>SupraExpress also seems a good choice, and it seems to have Flash ROM which
>
>       FWIW the SupraExpress 33.6i does not have FlashROM.  The
>SupraExpress 56k does, the SupraFAXmodems and SupraSonics do, but not
>the plain old Express 33.6 (unless this was changed recently and/or
>different for the UK as opposed to North America).

This certainly was different in the UK and probably still is different.

My general impression is that in the US Supra have always sold one or
two modems at the bottom of their line as "Express", these modems lack
flash.  When Supra have sold modems in the UK ( as opposed to US modems
imported here ), then all their UK models have lacked flash and so are
designated "Express".  I imagine this has been done to avoid telecoms
approval problems work for upgraded flash images.  Of course all this
may change during 56K transition.

[snip good stuff about internal & PnP]

>       Anyway, as for the modems, I can't rally comment on the Psion
>Dacom Surfer since I've never heard of it.  As for the SupraExpress
>though, I'd definately avoid that one.  Supra makes soem excellent
>modems in their FAXmodem and Sonic line, but in all testing their
>Express line is outperformed by the FAXmodem and Sonics by a LONG
>margin (like an Express getting 2500byte/s+ on a Network sim test
>where the FAXmodems are getting about 3000byte/s).

I think that the UK SupraExpress 336 V+ modems may be non-flash versions
of US Sonic models,  but that is only a guess.

>  In that sort of
>price range, the modem that I'd personnaly recommend would be the
>Motorola ModemSURFR 33.6.

Interestingly, I think that ModemSURFR is an AT&T HMS288 based modem, 
like the Psion Dacom Surfer.  That is not to say that they necessarily 
show equal performance, you understand.

Regards
-- 
Dave English, Turnpike Modem Support, T U R N P I K E  Ltd
Dorking Business Park, DORKING, Surrey, UK. RH4 1HN
Trying to help

Turnpike Modem Support <modems@turnpike.com> wrote:


>[snip good stuff about internal & PnP]
>
>
To clarify.  The 336isp that I bought here in the USA IS flashable.  I
know this is true because I HAVE updated it to version 2.00.00

Mike 

Anthony Hill wrote:
> 
> On 16 Apr 1997 14:17:45 GMT, mhoenig@ast.cam.ac.uk (Michael Hoenig)
> wrote:
> >I have decide to finally buy my own modem and it looks like two 33.6k modems
> >have made it to the final choice (because of price/quality considerations
> >mainly!): the Psion Dacom Surfer and the Diamond SupraExpress 336i (internal).
> >The Surfer got really good reviews, and I would be willing to purchase it
> >despite its rather garish (or "stylish" as the PR dept. puts it) exterior. The
> >SupraExpress also seems a good choice, and it seems to have Flash ROM which
> 

To clarify:

In general, the SupraExpress line does not have flash ROM.  The
exceptions being:

1)  SupraExpress 336 ASVD
2)  SupraExpress 56k

Darin

>mhoenig@ast.cam.ac.uk (Michael Hoenig) wrote:
>
>>Hi there,
>
>>I have decide to finally buy my own modem and it looks like two 33.6k modems
>>have made it to the final choice (because of price/quality considerations
>>mainly!): the Psion Dacom Surfer and the Diamond SupraExpress 336i (internal).
>>The Surfer got really good reviews, and I would be willing to purchase it
>>despite its rather garish (or "stylish" as the PR dept. puts it) exterior. The
>>SupraExpress also seems a good choice, and it seems to have Flash ROM which
>>might be a wise investment. But internal modems are more difficult to set up,
>>right? All that IRQ bother.
>>If anyone has any advice or experience regarding these two modems I'd be very
>>grateful for any e-mail. Thanks!

Hi Mike,

I decided to go with the surfer just before Xmas, and have been very
pleased with it.  The main reason for choosing it was the very good
eI've had with my work laptop and it's Psion Gold Card V.34 modem - we
have something of a variety of modems at work, and the Psion certainly
seems the most reliable, especially given that I travel to some odd
countries sometimes.  Foe example, in Cambodia recently it performed
very well!!!

Anyway, back to the Surfer.  I've been very pleased with it.  Don't
always get the full 33.6K, but usually get 30 something.  It's extremely
reliable; think I've only dropped a couple of lines this year - I
connect to the COLT 0171 number.  Setting up with Turnpike was easy; the
generic Rockwell setup works fine, and Windows 95 had no probs with it
either.

And, since I spend my working life with computers, I actually think it
looks different in it's surf suit - sad, eh?  It's about time somebody
came out with an innovative design for modems, and at least it's not
totally laughable like that old US Robotics Sportster thing that loked
like one of those Rolf Harris Xylophones!

So, I'd recommend the Psion - it does a great job.  No connection with
them, by the way, other than as a satisfied customer.

Rgds,

Colin
-- 
Colin Rennison
St. Albans, England
Email: colin@renni.demon.co.uk
URL: http://www.renni.demon.co.uk

On Wed, 16 Apr 1997 16:34:00 GMT, ahill@travel-net.com (Anthony Hill)
wrote:

>On 16 Apr 1997 14:17:45 GMT, mhoenig@ast.cam.ac.uk (Michael Hoenig)
>wrote:
>>I have decide to finally buy my own modem and it looks like two 33.6k modems
>>have made it to the final choice (because of price/quality considerations
>>mainly!): the Psion Dacom Surfer and the Diamond SupraExpress 336i (internal).
>>The Surfer got really good reviews, and I would be willing to purchase it
>>despite its rather garish (or "stylish" as the PR dept. puts it) exterior. The
>>SupraExpress also seems a good choice, and it seems to have Flash ROM which
>
>	FWIW the SupraExpress 33.6i does not have FlashROM.  The
>SupraExpress 56k does, the SupraFAXmodems and SupraSonics do, but not
>the plain old Express 33.6 (unless this was changed recently and/or
>different for the UK as opposed to North America).
>

Actually it would seem that most, if not all SupraExpress 33.6Sp
internal models (33.6 V/D/F, w/ Speakerphone and ASVD) seem to have
Flash ROM and thus can be updated if necessary. I've successfully done
so with 3 SupraExpress 33.6Sp modems already. It would appear that
Diamond probably has or had 2 runs of the Sp, one with Flash ROM and
one without (this is sorta verified on their modem firmware flash
page, where there's a flash update available for 33.6Sp modems that
support feature #190 from the ATI10 info). Anyone know if all current
33.6Sp modems have Flash ROM?

Kevin Maharaj.
FutureWorld Computers
Email: fworld@carib-link.net

fworld@carib-link.net (FutureWorld Computers) wrote:

>Actually it would seem that most, if not all SupraExpress 33.6Sp
>internal models (33.6 V/D/F, w/ Speakerphone and ASVD) seem to have
>Flash ROM and thus can be updated if necessary. I've successfully done
>so with 3 SupraExpress 33.6Sp modems already. It would appear that
>Diamond probably has or had 2 runs of the Sp, one with Flash ROM and
>one without (this is sorta verified on their modem firmware flash
>page, where there's a flash update available for 33.6Sp modems that
>support feature #190 from the ATI10 info). Anyone know if all current
>33.6Sp modems have Flash ROM?
>

My external 336e V+ (with ASVD) appears to support feature 190

What useful flash upgrades are available, and from where ?

Phil

Hi it's me again - thanks to everyone for replying, some really helpful stuff
there! Sorry I'm not able to thank everyone individually.
I just ordered a Psion Dacom Surfer 33.6. And that's after some loooong period
of thought... The SupraExpress seems fine, except the UK retailers that I spoke
to that offered it for a bargain price said I'll need to get a 11 pounds
firmware update so enable it to run at 33.6k! Even though the modem is called a
33.6. How very odd. Makes me suspicious - are they selling off old 28.8k modems
here?
I can buy the real thing directly from Diamond - the SupraExpress 33.6i Sp - but
the price advantage is gone so I decided not to bother.
Thanks again!
Any comments...?

Mike


 ==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==
 Michael Hoenig			e-mail:	mhoenig@ast.cam.ac.uk
 Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, England.
 Tel. (01223) 339278		WWW: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~mhoenig
 ==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==