SmartLink SmartRISER56-USJ ACR,AMR,CNR,MDC,Mini PCI 56k Soft (FCC)

Soft V.92/V.44 Twin-Chip CNR/ACR/AMR/MDC/Mini-PCI Chipsets

Usage: To find other modems with the same chipset.

All drivers, downloads & info on this site are found via the modem.
Each Modem Manufacturers’ page also has external web-links, where available.

General Information

These were a V.92/V.44 development of the highly-successful HAMR5600 AC`97 chipsets, and appears within both desktop and mobile computers. SmartLink’s practice of providing a single driver for (virtually) all it’s chipsets, and all form-factors of modems using those chipsets, makes updating very simple indeed.

AC`97 is a standard and AC-Link is an interface. Initiated by intel, the two are concerned with the integration of both sound and modems into motherboards (there is a functional overlap in the nature of sound- and modem-codecs).

The principle of AC`97 was to provide a standard means by which the DSP-processing could be performed by the host OS rather than by an expensive DSP chip--and likewise with the modem-controller functions. AC’97 modems are therefore soft by design.

AC-Link also specified the interface to the AMR, CNR (called ACR by VIA), MDC & mini-PCI slots. This was placed by intel within the South Bridge chip, and declared to be a feature of all future M/B chipsets. VIA & SiS followed suit. Use of these slots allows telecom-dependant features to be isolated from the M/B.

Soft modems have been notorious in the past for their poor performance, suffering defects ranging from summarily shutting the computer down on connection (!) to drop-outs and line-hangs. This has been mitigated in recent times by:

1. Speedier computer hardware
2. Constant driver improvement
3. More reliable computer OSs

SmartLink are not really a chipset manufacturer--STMicro supply the silicon--but rather a software, design & marketing company. In stark contrast to other companies, they have not only constantly improved their drivers (all chipset mfcs do this) but have also made sure that these updated drivers are available to the public in a generic form which will work with all modems that contain one of their chipsets. It is also pleasant to see that their drivers include Linux, even if the majority development occurs on the Windows platform.

Extra Info

Country (how to find)

ati7 in More Info & changed via the Control Panel applet (Modem Settings).

Driver Version (how to find)

ati2 in More Info

Known Problems

v3.60.03: Matthew advises Windows XP connections considerably improved from erratic 49.3/33.6k (with 3.00e) to a steady 48k. Matthew also reports “one odd thing was that with the new driver, echoing can be heard while it dials”.
v3.04.00: Karen Tamrazyan advises AT#UD (Unimodem Diagnostics) are not reporting correctly.

Uninstaller

Supplied with latest drivers.

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