*WAY* OT: Anyone familiar with FreeSCO?

Hi-

I know this is a *very* long shot, but I'm wondering if any of the hardware gurus here have any experience with FreeSCO, specifically running it in VMWare player, and even more specifically, with modem data transmission problems using that combo?

I won't go into all the gory details unless someone replies in the affirmative, but basically a few of us with old-timey dial-up Showstoppers and ReplayTVs (DVRs) are looking for a way to keep these units working after the ReplayTV server stops delivering channel guide information at the end of the month.

The solution is already there for newer RTVs with ethernet connections, but the dial-ups are presenting some challenges.

The Showstopper (SS) dials in to a PC running FreeSCO in VMWare player, which routes the requests to a server, and the data is sent back to the SS. When we do this with a direct dial-in from the SS modem through a phone line, the whole process takes maybe 10 minutes. Using FreeSCO in the VM it takes anywhere from 90 mins to up to 4 hours, when it works at all. I've tried different init strings & speed settings, etc. to no avail.

There aren't a whole lot of folks trying to get this working, but those of us who are are using different PC modems, so the problem doesn't seem to be modem-specific.

There are one or two who are running FreeSCO directly in Linux, and they don't have this issue. I have a friend with the same SS, and unfortunately neither of us can do that -- at least I can't find any way to install FreeSCO that doesn't require a floppy drive at some point.

If anyone's read this far ;), *any* clues as to where to look or what to try would be most appreciated. Upgrading to an ethernet-capable unit isn't an option for either of us at this point, and the machines themselves work great, but aren't of much use without show schedules.

BTW, there are two forums (http://planetreplay.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=32 and http://www.avsforum.com/a...forumdisplay.php?f=27) where this is all being discussed in depth, but the focus is understandably on the newer units with ethernet capability.

I have a Wireshark capture if that would be of any use in diagnosing this (it isn't to me, frankly). I was looking for a way to just monitor the modem traffic (internal on a Windows XP laptop) but came up empty there, too.

TIA-

-Susan

Hi Junski-

Yes, that's how the guy who provided the VMWare player version of FREESCO [I've been told that's how I should spell it] created it. It "works", except for the darn connect times & reliability problems.

I was finally able to create a bootable USB stick with FREESCO on it to avoid VMWare, but it couldn't find my internal laptop modem, which is a Conexant D480 MDC V.92. I gather that might be a "Winmodem", which could be the root of all these problems.

I *just* got rid of the last of my external modems a couple weeks before the shutdown of the RTV service was announced. They're cheap on ebay now, but they really get you on the shipping.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and for the link!

-Susan