SOUND BOARDS: IBM
Mwave-based boards
Last update: 12/26/97
- Phone:
- ??
- Fax-back:
- 800-426-4329 (option 2, document 3928)
- Fax:
- 800-426-3396
- BBS:
- 919-517-0001
- e-mail:
- ??
- Web:
- http://watson.mbb.sfu.ca
IBM offers a number of products based around their Mwave chips.
Most of IBM's offerings have OS/2 drivers available and are reasonably
well supported under OS/2 3.0; but Warp 4.0 support is spottier, and
you should check the section on Mwave in general. These models tend
not to be heavily marketed; the best source of supply is IBM PC
Direct.
1000-series boards
- Type:
- Wavetable
- Chipset:
- IBM Mwave 1000-series
- CD-ROM:
- ??
- Street price:
- Discontinued
- OS/2 Drivers:
- Available for some or all models
- Drivers from:
- IBM -- usually in the box; ftp.pcco.ibm.com,
/pub/os2_apps, /pub/mobiles, /pub/refdisks (various files)
- Comments:
- IBM sold various boards based on the 1000-series
Mwave DSP, including an MCA card. The 1000 series is barely able to sustain
a 28,800 bps modem connection, however, and is limited in its SoundBlaster
emulation.
Multimedia Modem Plus
- Type:
- Wavetable
- Chipset:
- IBM Mwave 2780
- CD-ROM:
- Proprietary (Sony, Panasonic)
- Street Price:
- ~$300
- OS/2 Drivers:
- Available
- Drivers from:
- In the box; ftp.pcco.ibm.com,
/pub/os2_apps, /pub/mobiles, /pub/refdisks (various files)
- Comments:
- This board is identical in hardware to the Spectrum Office F/X, but comes with
different software. Older boards (minus the "Plus" in the name) have
identical hardware but come without 28,800 bps modem support; software
updates for these boards are available free from IBM's ftp sites. The
Windows voicemail software provided with this board reportedly
functions well under OS/2. Unfortunately, there are two problems with
these boards under Warp 4.0 (these problems don't exist under Warp
3.0, though). First, the provided CONFIGO.EXE utility, used to
configure the board's interrupts and so on, doesn't run. An updated
version of this utility is available from the unofficial Mwave site, but IBM
reportedly is not planning on actively supporting the board under Warp
4.0. The second problem is that Win-OS/2 configuration doesn't work.
I've seen two reported fixes for this problem. The first is to use
the Windows drivers for some other Mwave product, such as for the IBM
ThinkPads, on the theory that the Windows drivers interface with the
OS/2 drivers and so should be compatible across products under OS/2,
assuming the correct OS/2 drivers are installed. The second method is
to set a Win-OS/2 session to DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION OFF and
full-screen and to start the installation in this session. You must
then interrupt the installation early on by madly hitting [Ctrl-Esc]
and edit the file INSTALL.INI (created in your WINOS2\TEMP directory)
so that the line DO_SYSTEMREQ=1 instead reads DO_SYSTEMREQ=0. You
should then be able to continue with the installation. Timing on this
is critical, though; if you interrupt it too early, the file won't be
in the WINOS2\TEMP directory, and if you do it too late, the install
will fail. Instead of madly hitting [Ctrl-Esc], you might try the
following procedure:
- Attempt the install of the Windows drivers and allow it to fail --
but do not exit the program; simply [Ctrl-Esc] out of it when it
presents the error message.
- Copy the file INSTALL.INI to another name (say, INSTALL.BAK).
- Edit the line that causes the problem to read "DO_SYSTEMREQ=0",
as described above, in the INSTALL.BAK file.
- Create an OS/2 REXX file (say, KLUDGE.CMD) which reads:
/* */
stop = 0
do while stop = 0
if stream('INSTALL.INI','c','query exists') <> " " then
do
stop = 1
'COPY INSTALL.BAK INSTALL.INI'
end
end
(Note that the above includes HTML escape sequences; you can download the REXX script itself without the HTML
codes.)
- Go back to the Win-OS/2 session installation program and clear the
error dialog, to let the program clean up its temporary files.
- Go back to OS/2 and start the REXX script running.
- Go back to the Win-OS/2 session and do the install again.
- If all goes well, the install should proceed smoothly. The REXX
script will execute until the Windows install program creates the
INSTALL.INI file, and it will then replace that file with your edited
backup, which should then allow everything to go fine. I've also
received one report to the effect that the Windows install sets up a
pair of Windows DLLs in the /OS2/MDOS/WINOS2 directory, MWAVE.DLL and
MWAGENT.DLL, which may interfere with operation under OS/2. The
person reporting this problem said that deleting these files fixed it.
Note that these install problems are unique to the MultiMedia Modem
Plus; they don't exist with other Mwave boards. Another option for
getting sound from Win-OS/2 is to rely on the board's SoundBlaster
emulation and to use SoundBlaster Pro drivers in Win-OS/2. Windows
programs should still be able to use the OS/2 Mwave Modem, but not
Windows-based voicemail software, in this configuration. This product
is not available in Europe. This product has been discontinued.
16-bit DSP Wavetable Sound Card
- Type:
- Wavetable
- Chipset:
- IBM Mwave 2780
- CD-ROM:
- Proprietary (Sony, Panasonic)
- Street Price:
- ~$200
- OS/2 Drivers:
- Available
- Drivers from:
- In the box; ftp.pcco.ibm.com,
/pub/os2_apps, /pub/mobiles, /pub/refdisks (various files)
- Comments:
- This board is essentially a Multimedia Modem Plus
minus the modem and voicemail functionality.
PCMCIA Sound Card
- Type:
- Wavetable
- Chipset:
- IBM Mwave 2780 (?)
- CD-ROM:
- None
- Street Price:
- ??
- OS/2 Drivers:
- Available (??)
- Drivers from:
- In the box; ftp.pcco.ibm.com,
/pub/os2_apps, /pub/mobiles, /pub/refdisks (various files)
- Comments:
- I'm not positive if OS/2 drivers exist for this
board, and I know relatively little about it other than that it exists.
ThinkPad Notebooks
- Type:
- Wavetable
- Chipset:
- IBM Mwave 2780 (?)
- CD-ROM:
- N/A
- Street Price:
- N/A
- OS/2 Drivers:
- Available
- Drivers from:
- In the box; ftp.pcco.ibm.com,
/pub/os2_apps, /pub/mobiles, /pub/refdisks (various files)
- Comments:
- Some (but not all) of IBM's ThinkPad notebook
computers come with Mwave chips for sound and modem functionality.
Aptiva Computers
- Type:
- Wavetable
- Chipset:
- IBM Mwave 2780
- CD-ROM:
- ??
- Street Price:
- N/A
- OS/2 Drivers:
- Available for some models
- Drivers from:
- In the box; ftp.pcco.ibm.com,
/pub/os2_apps, /pub/mobiles, /pub/refdisks (various files); see also
http://www4.pc.ibm.com/aptips/sprtdsks.html
- Comments:
- Some (but not all) of IBM's Aptiva desktop computers come with
Mwave chips for sound and modem functionality. If you have a Windows
95-preloaded Aptiva and want to install OS/2, you'll need a complete
set of Mwave driver disks from the net (be sure to get the drivers for
the Aptiva; drivers for the IBM Multimedia Modem or some other Mwave
board likely won't work), or a driver update CD from IBM. The newest
Aptiva computers (the S-series) come with a new model of Mwave board
(the "Stingray") for which OS/2 drivers are not yet available. Check
with the unofficial Mwave web
site and/or the Mwave mailing list (instructions on joining are at
the web site) for updates on this.
Copyright © 1996, 1997, Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
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