A PCI hardware modem should work without a problem... mine probably
would but i couldn't be bothered messing about to get it going. For a
serial modem all you do is install "setserial" from the repos and it
works. That simple and hardly worth the time or effort trying to get
something else to work. I still find being able to send faxes very
useful and it is a backup for internet access (admittedly only for
reading emails) should i have trouble with the broadband connection
(which i haven't so far for a year). Alternatively if you're
dual-booting which i am on another machine you can just go onto
winblows (goes against the grain i know!). As far as winmodems go i've
got several spare if you like!