Modems for a Linux PC 4. Modems for a Linux PC 4.1 External vs. Internal A modem for a PC may be either internal or external. Internal modems are less expensive, are less likely to overrun, usually use less electricity, and use up no space on your desk. External modems are much easier to install, require less configuration, and have lights which may give you a clue as to what is happening.
External modems are easy to move to another computer.
Some of the modems which will work only under MS Windows are, unfortunately, not labeled as such. If you buy a new one, make sure that you can return it for a refund if it will not work under Linux. If you want the PnP BIOS to do the configuring, all you need to do is to make sure that it knows you don't have a PnP operating system. But it may not do it correctly. Patching the kernel can be complicated too and there might not be a patch against recent kernels.