From: clau@acs.ucalgary.ca (Christopher Lau)
Subject: Re: Upgrading a ZyXEL 1496E to an E+
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 93 02:11:01 GMT
Organization: The University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Zero_One@p101.f701.n202.z1.fidonet.org writes:
>  > Hello, ZyXEL owners.
> 
>  > I am interested in upgrading my ZyXEL 1496E to an E+ and I would
>  > like to ask
>  > the net for some assistance.  I understand the differences are
>  > minor enough
>  > that someone with hardware experience should be able to perform
>  > the necessary
>  > modifications (my E board has the '+' blacked out).
> 
> There is no way possible that you can turn the E into an E+.
> 

Hmmm...  well, after weeks of debate of whether one can turn an E into an E+
I have this to say:

1-  OK, it may or may not be possible to "upgrade" an E into an E+ through
    various hardware "fixes" etc..  but from what I've heard on the net and
    by looking inside my E, it seems to me that the two TMS320C25's do most
    of the work...  One SHOULD be able to do CELP and maybe a non-optimal
    19.2 and maybe even a few more "E+" functions on the "E" model.  If you
    need more memory, the memory board is "piggyback" so you can replace it.
    All that really needs to be done is to program some EPROMs to do these
    things..  which leads me to my second point:

2-  (I'm not accusing anybody here, least of all Tyrone- he HAS been extremely
    helpful and attentive to the questions of all of us net-people- BUT), his
    remark that "There is no way possible that you can turn the E into an E+"
    just sounds a lot like something the marketing droids would say- "NO,
    you can't do that with the normal model, you have to spend another $$$$$
    and get the "enhanced" model instead".  I looked at quite a few modems
    before I bought my 1496E and while I'm happy with my choice, words like
    this tend to make me lose all respect for the company.  When you say
    there is no way that we can "upgrade" the product, are you really saying:
    "Yes, we could offer an upgrade, but its too much bother for us and
    marketing/management wouldn't approve because they want you to spend
    more $$$ on the "enhanced" product rather than less $$ on an upgrade"?????

3-  OK, if its too much bother for you, how about you let some of us, your
    customers do it?  Many of us are more than qualified, and many would
    probably be willing (including myself) to sign a non-disclosure agreement
    or whatever in order to gain access to documentation on the innards of
    the modem (- which brings up again the issue of a "Developer's Kit")

So, in summary: Is it REALLY not possible to upgrade (or at least add some of
the E+ features onto the E)?  Or is it just economics/marketing?  From looking
at the innards of the modems, it seems to me that even if its not possible to
upgrade, one SHOULD be able to add some E+ features to an E modem.  If a
"developer's kit" is made available, someone out here in netland could
probably do this job and save you a whole lot of time and money (you could
sell the developer's kit with an upgraded DSP memory piggyback board, and
then once someone has written code for whatever feature, you could package
EPROMS with DSP boards and sell those as upgrades...  possibilities are
endless..)

Oh well.. I've had my say- I hope somebody takes the time to listen and maybe
act on some of my suggestions.. 

c4













> Tyrone Horton
> (Zero One)
> Tech Support
> ZyXEL USA
> 
> --- FMail 0.92
>  * Origin: ZyXEL USA (1:202/701.101)
-- 
Christopher Lau                      |    Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor,
The University of Calgary            |    not an engineer!
Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engg. |    Well, you're an engineer now..
lau@enel.ucalgary.ca -OR- clau@acs.ucalgary.ca -OR- root@fusion.cuc.ab.ca
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems