Jazz (computer)

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The Jazz computer architecture is a motherboard and chipset design originally developed by Microsoft for use in developing Windows NT. The design was eventually used as the basis for most MIPS-based Windows NT systems.

In part because Microsoft intended NT to be portable between various

-class machines.

For those and other reasons, Microsoft decided to design their own MIPS-based hardware platform on which to develop NT, which resulted in the Jazz architecture. Later, Microsoft sold this architecture design to the MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. where it became the MIPS Magnum.

The Jazz systems were designed to partially comply with the

to the MIPS Magnum.

The Jazz architecture includes:

• a MIPS
  R4400
  or compatible microprocessor
• an EISA bus
• a
  G364 framebuffer
  )
• PS/2 connectors
  for mouse and keyboard
• a floppy-disk controller
• onboard 16-bit sound system
• onboard National Semiconductor SONIC Ethernet
• onboard
  hard disk and CD-ROM
  interface
• standard IBM AT serial and parallel ports
• IBM AT-style time-of-year clock

This design was simple enough and powerful enough that a majority of Windows NT-capable MIPS systems were based on modified versions of the Jazz architecture. A list of systems which more or less were based on Jazz includes:

• MIPS Magnum (R4000 PC-50 and SC-50 versions)
• Acer PICA – uses S3 videocard
• Olivetti M700 – has different video and sound system
• NEC RISCstation – Jazz with PCI

There were also some MIPS systems designed to run Windows NT and comply with the ARC standard, but nevertheless were not based on the Jazz platform:

• DeskStation Tyne
• NeTpower FASTseries Falcon
• ShaBLAMM! NiTro-VLB
• Siemens-Nixdorf
  RM-200, RM-300 and RM-400

• Linux-MIPS Jazz article
• NetBSD/arc