Mwave
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(March 2016) |
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| Designer | International Business Machines Corporation(IBM) |
|---|---|
| Bits | 16-bit |
| Introduced |
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Mwavewas a technology developed byIBMallowing for the combination oftelephonyandsound cardfeatures on a single adapter card. The technology centers around the Mwavedigital signal processor(DSP). The technology was used for a time to provide a combination modem and sound card for IBM'sAptivaline and someThinkPadlaptops, in addition to uses on specialized Mwave cards that handled voice recognition or ISDN networking connectivity. Similar adapter cards by third-party vendors using Mwave technology were also sold. However, plagued byconsumer complaintsabout buggy Mwavesoftwareandhardware,IBM eventually turned to other audio and telephony solutions for its consumer products.
History
[edit]Malcolm Ware, a former developer on Mwave, dates the technology back to its development in an IBM research lab inZurich, Switzerlandin 1979. The firstprototypewas tested in an IBMPCin 1981. After being utilized in some other adapter cards, Mwave was given its official name and used in IBM's WindSurferISA/MCAcard. IBM manufactured Mwave hardware for bothMicrosoft Windowsand its ownOS/2.Another revision of the technology was used in IBM's newly renamed Aptiva line. Gary Harper developed some automated test software, loosely based on the movie War Games, to test how well the Mwave modem could connect to modems used by various bulletin board systems.
One of the revisions of the Mwave card was the Mwave Dolphin. The card was an ISA legacy card that did not supportplug and playand natively supported Windows through its software. It featured a 28.8k/second fax/modem and aSound Blaster-compatible audio solution. One of the card's most publicized features was its software upgradeability: a version of the Mwave software upgraded the modem function to 33.6k. In addition, the card was key in the support of some of the Aptiva's Rapid Resume features, including Wake-up On Ring. There were various consumer complaints with users reporting problems involving either the sound or modem features separately, or using both at the same time.[2]Some consumers were offered a check for the purchase of hardware to replace the Mwave card,[3]while others were offered a replacement modem, sound card or both.[4]At one point, aclass action lawsuitwas filed;[5]it was finally settled in 2001.
Mwave Dolphin drivers version 20D and the Stingray version of the Mwave adapter addressed some shortcomings of the Dolphin (Stingray addedplug and playsupport), but IBM eventually stopped using the Mwave adapter card in its Aptiva computers and resorted to conventional sound card and modem options.
Mwave in some form or another has been produced for the MCA, ISA and PCMCIAbusses.Select ThinkPad 600 and 770 models had a PCI version integrated (the Mwave chip integrated in select ThinkPad 755, 760 and 765 models was ISA-based). Certain Sun Sparcstation workstations incorporated the Mwave DSP chip for sound card functionality.
Although Mwave adapter cards were discontinued, aLinuxdriver for the PCI-based Mwave in the ThinkPad 600 and 770 models was developed and released by IBM.[6]
See also
[edit]- U.S. Robotics, Courier modems- Internal DSP design allowed soft upgrades.
References
[edit]- ^Corcoran, Cate (November 2, 1992)."Multimedia on a chip debuts".InfoWorld.14(44). IDG Publications: 32 – via Google Books.
- ^Schneider, Don."MWave Issues".Archived fromthe originalon June 12, 2000.
- ^Schneider, Don."MWave Check".Archived fromthe originalon June 12, 2000.
- ^Schneider, Don."MWave Deal".Archived fromthe originalon June 12, 2000.
- ^Schneider, Don."Class Action Suit Against IBM".Archived fromthe originalon June 11, 2000.
- ^"Linux Technology Center: ACP Modem Driver for Linux".IBM developerWorks.Archived fromthe originalon 2005-02-23.
- Notes
- Schneider, Don."IBM Financed MWAVE Dumping".Archived fromthe originalon June 12, 2000.RetrievedMay 20,2006.
- Bryer, Jeff."Mwave Based Telephony/Sound Combo Cards, MDSP1000".Archived fromthe originalon January 15, 1998.RetrievedMay 20,2006.
External links
[edit]- Ted Felix's Mwave page
- Jeff Bryer's unofficial Mwave home page
- Mwave MDSP2780,as used in select ThinkPad 755, 760 and 765 models, at ThinkWiki.org
- Mwave MDSP3780,as used in select ThinkPad 600 and 770 models, at ThinkWiki.org