RPI Modems require a few extra steps (and a little bit of extra luck) to setup with the Shiva dialer in Windows 3.1x. First, you must have the version 3.0 or above Shiva dialer. This is provided with either of the SouthWind CDs and with the 3 diskette set. The 2 diskette set had version 2.0 and will not work with a RPI Modem.

The first trick is often to determine if a modem is an RPI modem and which kind. The best way to do this is to open Windows Terminal and send the command ati3 to the modem. Basically, if the string that is returned includes the words ROCKWELL RPI, you have a RPI modem. Also look for a plus (+) symbol in the ati3 string. If you find a plus symbol you then have an RPI+ modem.

Once you determine that you have an RPI modem, you must install drivers. SouthWind distributes those drivers. They exist on either of the CDs. If the customer has diskettes, we must send an additional disk that is usually labeled "disk 0."

Start the File Manager and find the archive with the RPI driver files. In the case of a floppy diskette 0 this will be the A drive or B drive. In the case of the CD this will be in the archive/win311 directory of the CD. Find the file wrpi226.exe and double-click on it This will extract and install the RPI drivers. Once installed, a new program group will exist named "RPI Enhancer." You do not need to do anything with it.

On the same diskette or in the same directory as the driver, there will also be a file named mdmrpi.exe. Double-clicking on that file will extract a couple INF files to be used by the Shiva dialer for setting up an RPI modem.

After installing the driver and INF files, start the Shiva dialer. Click the "Properties" button and click the Modem tab. Click the "Change Modem" button, check the box that tells the wizard not to detect the modem. When the modem list comes up, choose "WinRPI Technologies" for the manufacture and either the Rockwell RPI or Rockwell RPI+ for the specific modem, depending on what you learned from step 1.

When you get back to the initial modem properties, check the Communications Port setting and the Maximum Speed setting. Click "Ok" on the properties and give things a try.

When you send an ati3 command to the modem from Terminal, take note of the version number. If the version is 1.403, you may not get it to work no matter what you do. The WinRPI driver has a documented problem with RPI version 1.403. I spent a fair amount of time trying to get one of these to work with the Shiva dialer and never had success.