Re: Microsoft Windows Sound system ISA Drivers help.

Posted on 2015-08-26, 17:22

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It is 100% compatible with Adlib, but not with OPL3-based Sound Blasters, and that is the issue. OPL3 can be addressed at the old Adlib IO adresses or the SoundBlaster IO adresses. If the game uses the former, then it will work if you select Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 or even Sound Blaster 16 as the …

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Re: Suntac 286 saved from the dump (now with pictures!)

Posted on 2015-08-26, 15:56

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Can you try increasing wait states for memory?

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Re: Microsoft Windows Sound system ISA Drivers help.

Posted on 2015-08-26, 15:14

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Digital sound can't really be emulated either. The SB just has a very simple DAC that can be fed via DMA or port I/O, and a very simple 'DSP' to select the DAC mode, and get status info. It could do some basic port rerouting, similar to what SBOS does on a GUS, but that would require a 386+ system …

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Re: Microsoft Windows Sound system ISA Drivers help.

Posted on 2015-08-26, 14:40

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I believe the emulation is for digital sound. The OPL3 chip is there, though I'm not sure it receives data on the SB-specific ports, so games might need to be configured for WSS specifically or have to drop down to OPL2 (Adlib) mode.

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Re: Suntac 286 saved from the dump (now with pictures!)

Posted on 2015-08-26, 14:32

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Rooting for that 286 board here. It is such a nifty-looking compact 286 board. Although it only has 6 ISA slots I kindda like it.

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Re: Microsoft Windows Sound system ISA Drivers help.

Posted on 2015-08-26, 14:25

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For Windows 9x and beyond, the drivers are built in, including Sound Blaster 2 emulation. For DOS there is no need to install drivers for games that natively support WSS, but you'll need drivers for the SB emulation. Not the best card for SoundBlaster gaming, though, as it does need a TSR AFAIK. Get …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2015-08-25, 23:13

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Today I replaced the 700MB HDD on my 486 with a 2GB CF card. So far so good. FDISK + SYS C: D: + XXCOPY16 and it is like nothing ever happened, except more free space 😀

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Re: building old 386/486 systems.. AT form factor vs ATX

Posted on 2015-08-25, 22:17

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

486DX have built in math coprocessor. No need to get an ISA only machine unless you want period correctness - PCI motherboards are easier to work with than ones with VLB or some other kind of local bus.

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Re: HardMPU, anyone?

Posted on 2015-08-25, 14:40

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I bought myself a XT board (not arrived yet), so I guess I now actually need a MIDI interface ^^ Good to see one project succeeding.

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Re: Is there any disadvantage to using the 64bit version of a program?

Posted on 2015-08-25, 14:03

by

by alexanrs

in Milliways

in Milliways

Beware of codecs. AFAIK a 64-bit player needs 64-bi codecs and 32-bit players also need 32-bit codecs. That is why I usually install both 32 and 64-bit versions of FFDShow in my machines. Some old codecs might not have 64-bit codecs (I think RMVB is like that), so you'll have to play them in a 32- …

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Re: Torrent Trackers Banning Windows 10 Users?

Posted on 2015-08-25, 13:59

by

by alexanrs

in Milliways

in Milliways

Or a router with OpenWRT... or executing your torrent client in compatibility mode so it will identify the OS as Windoes 7/8.

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Re: Are there new ATX PSUs with -5 volts?

Posted on 2015-08-25, 13:56

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It is not part of the standard anymore, and no PCs without ISA slots can use it.

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Re: building old 386/486 systems.. AT form factor vs ATX

Posted on 2015-08-25, 00:51

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

ok i think i will try to get an Asus TX97 series board.. seems to support 168 pin SDRAM, aswell as ATX form factor + 3 or 4 ISA slots.. aswell supporting pentium 75Mhz chips through to the K6 AMD up to 233Mhz and UDMA33 IDE speeds if i put in a pentium 75Mhz CPU it will basically be as fast as a …

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Re: building old 386/486 systems.. AT form factor vs ATX

Posted on 2015-08-25, 00:27

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

God no... It might actually work but will need EMM386 and does need a TSR driver. When it comes to a DOS machine, stick to ISA or something like a YMF724 on a Pentium 2/3 motherboard with a PC/PCI connector.

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Re: Happy Birthday Win95

Posted on 2015-08-24, 22:44

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Happy birthday! I might start up my Pentium 133 just to boot Windows 95 today! (though I have OSR2 installed, not the original 20-year old release)

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Re: building old 386/486 systems.. AT form factor vs ATX

Posted on 2015-08-24, 22:43

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Choose a motherboard first, then go looking for the expansion boards. I'm not too experienced with pre-1995 hardware, but someone here should be able to tell you what's period correct. If it is a VLB 486 board, then get a VLB multi-IO and a VLB graphics card as that was the best you could use back …

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Re: Sound cards - from best to worst

Posted on 2015-08-24, 19:22

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I think some games like Duke Nukem 3D test channels independently in their sound setup.

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Re: HardMPU, anyone?

Posted on 2015-08-24, 17:04

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

AFAIK even UART MPU interfaces should recognize the RESET command and return an acknowledgement signal. Not every sound chip manufacturer obeyed that, though.

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Re: Acer 500+ XT system

Posted on 2015-08-24, 15:18

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

But isn't that their main charm? xD IMHO all PCs should beep. I'm kindda sad when I see a PC with a crappy piezo beeper soldered and no leads for a true speaker, even though I only use true speakers on retro (pre P4/Atlhon) machines.

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Re: Parts Suggestions

Posted on 2015-08-24, 04:02

by

by alexanrs

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You only REALLY have to support three standards to get the most out of the majority of games back in the day: Direct3D, OpenGL and Glide. There were proprietary standards too (check here ), but not that many games were exclusive to them (as in they also support other standards) and it is impossible …

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