You could always use a super expensive PCMCIA to PCI slot adapter and then get a PCI card with a MIDI port on it.

https://sewelldirect.com/pcmcia-to-pci-1-slot
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magma-1-Slot-Half-Len … utorefresh=true
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magma-Chassis-w-Pro-T … vcAAOSwx2dYJ5BO

Edit: Not sure if those would even work in DOS or not.

However, back onto your RS232 to MIDI idea. It should work with SOFTMPU, but only if you build a converter. It can't be just a straight wire as others have said.

See here for a schematic.
https://www.compuphase.com/electronics/midi_rs232.htm
And another:
http://www.midi-and-more.de/midiconverter.htm

What laptop do you have? Is there a docking station that would give you more options?

The old Dell D series docks had a version that had a PCI slot built in.

Using a cheap external Midi device such as a Yamaha MU5 connected to your laptop serial port and its Midi Out to your standalone module would work and still be pretty much portable as it can be powered with AA batteries...
Docking bays often have the DB15 joystick/Midi port on them, look into those.
What's your laptop?

Cardbus is itself a PCI port, those adapters look interesting but the prices don't make them to useful for a non professional use...

lolo799 wrote:

Using a cheap external Midi device such as a Yamaha MU5 connected to your laptop serial port and its Midi Out to your standalone […]
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Using a cheap external Midi device such as a Yamaha MU5 connected to your laptop serial port and its Midi Out to your standalone module would work and still be pretty much portable as it can be powered with AA batteries...
Docking bays often have the DB15 joystick/Midi port on them, look into those.
What's your laptop?

Cardbus is itself a PCI port, those adapters look interesting but the prices don't make them to useful for a non professional use...

In response to the previous two posts, this is my laptop (only differences I got mine imported from a different country.

It's labeled as a Fujitsu FMV Biblo on the back of the screen, and the FMV - 5122NUB/W on the inner besel.

Because it is difficult to find the specs, I shall list them here.
Intel Pentium 133Mhz
32MB SDRAM
1.3 GB HDD
Trident Cyber ​​9385 2MB (No 3D Accelerator support)
ESS Audiodrive ES1878
2x PCMCIA
3x 3.5mm Audio (Mic, Headphone, Line-in)
1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive
PS/2 Mouse port
External Floppy Drive Port
1x 9 Pin Serial
1x Printer/Parallel Port
1x VGA Out

Ok, you might be able to use a MAC serial to midi box and SOFTMPU to get it working.

A Midiman mini macman might work.

If only SOFTMPU supported Parallel that would be sweet. Not sure how hard or possible it would be to add that functionality.

cyclone3d wrote:

If only SOFTMPU supported Parallel that would be sweet. Not sure how hard or possible it would be to add that functionality.

That would only require the hardware to be made (for example a microcontroller programmed to take in bytes from parallel port according to handshake signals and send them out at MIDI baud rate), so I would think that is not very hard to add to SOFTMPU software-wise.

It would not be impossible to put just an UART like 16550 there instead of microcontroller, so there would be no need to write software for the microcontroller, it's just a bit more complex hardware-wise.

So, it's doable. Someone just needs to do it, and I can even help.

But then again, if one needs special hardware for this, it could be easier to use SOFTMPU through standard serial port and use something to baud-rate convert it to MIDI, and this requires a microcontroller anyway.

Jepael wrote:

That would only require the hardware to be made (for example a microcontroller programmed to take in bytes from parallel port ac […]
Show full quote

cyclone3d wrote:

If only SOFTMPU supported Parallel that would be sweet. Not sure how hard or possible it would be to add that functionality.

That would only require the hardware to be made (for example a microcontroller programmed to take in bytes from parallel port according to handshake signals and send them out at MIDI baud rate), so I would think that is not very hard to add to SOFTMPU software-wise.

It would not be impossible to put just an UART like 16550 there instead of microcontroller, so there would be no need to write software for the microcontroller, it's just a bit more complex hardware-wise.

So, it's doable. Someone just needs to do it, and I can even help.

But then again, if one needs special hardware for this, it could be easier to use SOFTMPU through standard serial port and use something to baud-rate convert it to MIDI, and this requires a microcontroller anyway.

For PCs, there were a bunch of different Parallel midi interfaces made.

PCs generally used Parallel, while MAC, and possibly others, used serial.

The only real question I have is if it would work with interfaces that have more than one midi out. Most of them have Windows drivers so not sure if it would work or not. Not sure exactly how the MPU-401 protocol is set up. If no specific port changing software is there, does it default to the first port?

Edit:
Another thing is that at least some of the parallel midi interfaces have driver source code available for Linux. I messed with trying to convert the Linux driver code to work in Windows 7 but I couldn't get it to do anything. This is for a EGO-SYS Miditerminal 4140. I may have to mess with again later. The original drivers that came with it only support Windows up to 2000.