Mwave was a technology developed by IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 allowing for the combination of telephony

Telephony

In telecommunications, telephony encompasses the general use of equipment to provide communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other....

 and sound card

Sound card

A sound card is an internal computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as opposed to using hardware...

 features on a single adapter card. The technology centers around the Mwave digital signal processor

Digital signal processor

A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...

 (DSP). The technology was utilized for a time to provide a combination modem and sound card for IBM's Aptiva line and some ThinkPad

ThinkPad

ThinkPad is line of laptop computers originally sold by IBM but now produced by Lenovo. They are known for their boxy black design, which was modeled after a traditional Japanese lunchbox...

 laptops. Similar adapter cards by third-party vendors using Mwave technology were also sold. However, plagued by consumer complaint

Consumer complaint

Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods and services generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer is used in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary....

s about buggy Mwave software and hardware

Computer hardware

Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...

, IBM eventually turned to other audio and telephony solutions for its consumer products.

History

Malcolm Ware, a former developer on Mwave dates the technology back to its development in an IBM research lab in Zurich, Switzerland in 1979. The first prototype

Prototype

A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...

 was tested in an IBM PC

Personal computer

A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...

 in 1981. After being utilized in some other adapter cards, Mwave was given its official name and used in IBM's WindSurfer ISA

Industry Standard Architecture

Industry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...

/MCA

Micro Channel architecture

Micro Channel Architecture was a proprietary 16- or 32-bit parallel computer bus introduced by IBM in 1987 which was used on PS/2 and other computers through the mid 1990s.- Background :...

 card. IBM manufactured Mwave hardware for both Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 and its own OS/2

OS/2

OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...

. Another revision of the technology was used in IBM's newly renamed Aptiva line.

One of the revisions of the Mwave card was the Mwave Dolphin. The card was an ISA legacy card that did not support plug and play and natively supported Windows through its software. It featured a 28.8k

Kilobyte

The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...

/second fax/modem and a Sound Blaster

Sound Blaster

The Sound Blaster family of sound cards was the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system platform, until the widespread transition to Microsoft Windows 95, which standardized the programming interface at application level , and the evolution in PC design led to onboard...

-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. http://members.aol.com/mbs1058/mwave/issues.html Some consumers were offered a check for the purchase of hardware to replace the Mwave card http://members.aol.com/mbs1058/mwave/check.html, while others were offered a replacement modem, sound card or both. At one point, a class action lawsuit was filed; 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 added plug and play support), 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 PCMCIA busses. In addition, 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).

Though Mwave adapter cards were discontinued, a Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 driver for the PCI-based Mwave in the ThinkPad 600 and 770 models was developed and released by IBM.

See also

• U.S. Robotics, Courier modems
  U.S. Robotics
  USRobotics Corporation is a company that makes computer modems and related products. It sold high-speed modems in the 1980s, and had a reputation for high quality and compatibility. With the reduced usage of voiceband modems in North America in the early 21st century, USR is now one of the few...
  
  - Internal DSP design allowed soft upgrades.