A Softmodem, or software modem, is a modem with minimal hardware capacities, designed to use a host computer's resources (mostly CPU power and RAM but sometimes even audio hardware) to perform most of the tasks performed by dedicated hardware in a traditional modem.
A Softmodem is also referred to as a Winmodem because the first commercially available softmodems mostly worked only with the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems running on IBM PC compatibles. Although their usage has become more widespread on other operating systems and machines, such as embedded systems and Linux, they are still difficult to use on operating systems other than Windows due to lack of vendor support and lack of a standard device interface. The term "Winmodem" is a trademark of U.S. Robotics but it is usually used to describe other modems with similar technologies.
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