[Asterisk-Users] Is the X100P a WinModem?

[Jon Pounder]

Yes, a winmodem has all the hardware you need to do the job - however that 
is not the entire picture.

Unless the card happens to contain a dsp, or interface chip whose 
specifications are public you might as well give up.

This is a similar problem to having an ethernet card and a driver, but 
expecting a different card with a different chip on it to just work with 
your driver. (Obviously you totally missed out on this sort of fun in the 
early days of Linux/FreeBSD)

Having hardware I would say is not even half the battle - whether it is 
commercial or custom, often the designs are based closely on the 
manufacturer's app notes, so designs using the same core chip are often 
interchangable. Having software that makes the hardware work for your 
application is the hard part since often there is no reference design at 
all for this from the manufacturer, let alone one that will work with Linux 
or FreeBSD.

Over the summer Atheros (makes the radio modules in the dlink and linksys 
wireless stuff) took the groundbreaking step to release a "sort of" open 
source driver for their hardware, but this is not the norm at all. Take 
another example of ATI vs NVidia and compare the driver availability.


So in summary, unless you happen to have some pipeline of information 
coming from a winmodem manufacturer, making it into a linmodem let alone 
another specialized telephony device is anything but trivial, unless it 
happens to be based on exactly the same chips and reference designs as the 
software you have is for.




At 06:16 AM 10/22/2003, you wrote:
>So I've been on the Asterisk list for a long time. Mostly looking to set
>it up as a cheap alternative to a commercial MeetMe bridge, as a for-fun
>project.
>
>I keep noticing the Wildcard FXO X100P sorta seems like a Winmodem.
>Winmodems are basically a sound card chip tied to a pots port, where the
>Winders driver takes on the MO/DEM functions in software. I've always
>despised them as a data communications device but the other uses of the
>cards do seem good.
>
>It would seem like this kind of board would be exactly what was needed to
>provide a FXO port, assuming it can do full duplex operations, which it
>should since data calls are full duplex....
>
>The picture isn't quite high enough quality to read the chip specs... It
>sorta looks likea  Winbound or Connexiant silkscreen....
>
>So is that thing a winmodem with a different PCI identifier?
>
>                                 -- Ethan (Tele Monster)
>
>
>
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