Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 23:51:16 -0400 From: "Gary T. Corcoran" <garycorc@idt.net> To: "Rick C. Petty" <rick@kris.wpi.edu> Cc: freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Toshiba Tecra 550 int. modem, addendum II Message-ID: <35C290B4.889F8C3A@idt.net> References: <199807312251.SAA02705@kris.wpi.edu>
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Rick C. Petty wrote: > > > > Sure, the Satellite 440, 460, 470, 480; Tecra 500, 510, 520, 530, 710, > > > 720, 730, 730X, 740; and the Portege 650 and 600 are models which > > > include non-winmodems. > > > > Looks to me like the 550 has a WinModem. > > I just talked to three different departments in Toshiba, and they all said > that the 550 doesn't have a Winmodem. ... > The Tecra 550's internal modem is the same modem in the Tecra 780, Tecra > 750, and the Satellite 320. So does that help anybody? Yes. Apparently you, like me, have a Lucent "Mars" modem chip in your Tecra. I believe "Winmodem" is (technically) a U.S. Robotics term. The Mars modem isn't a "Winmodem" - it's a "controller-less" modem. Instead of something like a Z80 CPU to interpret AT commands and control the modem's DSP, those chores are handled by the main CPU (e.g. Pentium) via a device driver. The major computer makers, including Toshiba, love controller-less modems because they save a few (but only a few) dollars on the modem. In other words, don't get mad at Lucent about this, ask Toshiba why they didn't choose the Lucent "Venus" modem chip, which *does* include the controller on chip... (the answer, I'm sure, is that it costs a bit more :-( ) > If I can somehow > get some technical information, I don't mind writing the driver... :) To make a long story short, forget about it. The Win95 host driver for Mars not only interprets AT commands, it also manages the DSP, writing certain values to certain registers at certain times, and implements or controls the DSP to support all the myriad of standards included in modern modems (e.g. V.42, V.42bis, V.8, V.80, etc.) which go beyond the V.34 or K56Flex modulation itself. All this complexity results in a Win95 driver _binary_ of about 0.5 megabyte (see LTMODEM.VXD in \Windows\System). Gary To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-mobile" in the body of the message
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