VOGONS


First post, by mateusz.viste

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Hello all,

I recently acquired a sound card proudly named "Sound-Boostar 16/32 3D v1.4". Apparently it's a Highscreen sound card. It contains a wavetable chip, and I'd like to use it in DOS - problem is, I think I need some drivers for that.

I got the card without any drivers, and it works fine in DOS, just by setting the BLASTER variable to usual values (A220 I5 D1). I get both synthesized sound, as well as OPL3 music. No way to get wavetable music, tough. There is a MPU-401 UART under port 300h, but when I write to it, it goes out via the joystick port, instead of being played on the internal wavetable.

It's a PnP card, so I guess that the internal wavetable might need to be enabled by software - so here comes the question: does anybody have some DOS drivers for this card by any chance?

I attach a photo of this card.

Attachments

  • boostar.jpeg
    Filename
    boostar.jpeg
    File size
    118.77 KiB
    Views
    1503 views
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 1 of 2, by elianda

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

There you go: https://web.archive.org/web/19981206140138/ht … ett07/index.htm

Retronn.de - Vintage Hardware Gallery, Drivers, Guides, Videos. Now with file search
Youtube Channel
FTP Server - Driver Archive and more
DVI2PCIe alignment and 2D image quality measurement tool

Reply 2 of 2, by mateusz.viste

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
elianda wrote:

AWESOME - thank you for your quick and 'to the point' answer. I fetched the drivers from the site you provided. The "good" file was the "bst32_31.zip". It provided me with tools to initialize the card under DOS, set its I/O ports and IRQs, and adjust volumes.

Now I am able to control it plainly, and the wavetable works perfectly. Thank you!

For those that might wonder - the Sound Boostar 32 3D v1.4 card is a budget card with excellent compatibility (Sound Blaster, Adlib, WSS, MPU-401), so it's great for DOS games or so, but the sound quality is really bad. The card's SNR is probably similar to a SoundBlaster 2.0, and the onboard wavetable is sounding like someone would play music with kitchen utensils. But it WORKS :)

Also, just in case some future generations find this thread and the vobis archive doesn't answer anymore, I mirrored the Sound Boostar drivers on my own drivers repo: gopher://gopher.viste.fr/1/hardware/sound/Highscreen/Sound%2520Boostar