I just got some fun out of playing with some retro hardware on my retro PC(s) over the weekend, which includes 3 ISA Sound Blaster cards, and two Gameport controllers, so I decided to share. No particular purpose / underlying theme to this topic, just posting my experiences. 😀

Audio Cards

1. Sound Blaster 16 PnP CT2940: This one is the CQM variant (CT1978) instead of the CT1747 Yamaha OPL. It used to be the main audio card in my DOS/Win9x setup for a few years before I got the AWE64 below. I was quite happy with the sound of this card and with the compatibility. I wish I had the OPL version, just to see if the hoo-ha vs CQM is justified (from some of the sample recordings in the Grand OPL3 comparison thread here I could not quite come to a decision on the matter). Maybe I'll get one eventually. The card has the CT2502 chip, which is often referred to as "Vibra Pro", although I am not sure why, as there is no Vibra branding anywhere on the card, and no software identifies it as a Vibra. It also works with a Low and High DMA channel, like a true SB16 PnP. I used to have a Vibra at some point, but misplaced it. I recall that variant sounded quite bad and was a pain to configure sometimes.
2. Sound Blaster AWE64 Value CT4500: This is the first revision (CT8903+CT1745T). I scored it from a used PC shop a few years ago, and used it as the DOS card instead of the SB16, mostly cause I wanted to see if the music will sound better in games that actually support AWE. It does. In games that don't support AWE, it sounds a little bit flat compared to the SB16 I have, but not by much.
3. Sound Blaster AWE64 Value CT4520: This is the second revision (CT8920 chip), which I got from a relative's junk pile. It is a bit shorter than the first revision, and has color-coded ports, instead of black ones. But it seems to be broken. OPL music works (albeit flat), but AWE sounds like a total mess, and a couple of times AWEUTIL and Win98 failed to detect it. I didn't really have time to investigate the matter, so I just put the old CT4500 back in the system.

Gamepads

I got a couple of oldschool Gravis gamepads (a regular one and the Pro version) in mint condition real cheap from some eBayers a while ago. Mostly because I never owned/used a gamepad growing up and just wanted to be able to share in the experience. My findings so far are mixed.

1. Gravis Gamepad: For a while it was considered as the definitive controller for DOS games, with unmatched flexibility. It has a hardware switch to set it to 4-button or 2-button with Turbo, and another one to switch the directions of the d-pad and buttons for left handed use. In my tests it worked flawlessly in terms of detection, in both DOS and WinXP (via DOSBox), although in DOS I had to calibrate it separately. However, the D-Pad itself is not so good. It is very sensitive and when pressing right or left, if you are just a little bit off-center, a diagonal move will be executed instead.
2. Gravis Gamepad Pro: Not to be mistaken with the dark gray USB variant, this is a classic Gameport pad. Much more advanced than the original, with 10 buttons and an ergonomic grip, it is also quite flexible: it has a piggy-back adapter which can connect a second pad, and has a hardware switch to emulate a 2-button or 4-button controller as well. But here is the problem: the 10-buttons and dual-controller support is only achieved through the proprietary GrIP technology, which must be specifically supported, and as far as I can see - most DOS games do not support it, so you will have to be stuck with the 4-button emulation. Also, it seems that it cannot support a second standard 4-button controller which does not use GrIP. No software detected the Gravis Gamepad when I had it connected as a secondary. Finally, although the controller was detected flawlessly by Windows (with the appropriate software installed), I was surprised that it didn't work in the DOS version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy (a game that specifically advertised itself as supporting this very pad) - it seemed that the D-Pad was stuck moving somewhere, it did not respond to any buttons and did not allow me to calibrate it. Perhaps I need to install some DOS software to get it to work? I'll have to investigate another time.

One other thing that I was surprised to learn is that the GamePort controllers are not really plug-n-play, even in Windows XP. I had to manually specify which one to use (in the Joystick control panel - joy.cpl), and only one profile can be used at a time. If I wanted to connect the other pad, I had to first remove the assignment of the first one. It does detect when the controller is plugged in, but it does not detect which one, forcing manual switching of profiles.

Finally, there seems to be a bug in the WinXP driver of the Audigy 2 ZS card (ctaud2k.sys) I use in the XP system, which frequently causes it to bluescreen with IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL after resuming from S3 standby if any gamepad is connected. A quick search did not reveal it as a known issue, and I did not have time to investigate it further at this point.