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OPL2LPT

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Reply 120 of 566, by keropi

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Scali wrote:
Yes... however... There is a trick to make OPL2 play digital samples as well. Some games use this (I believe Supaplex is one). I […]
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Yes... however...
There is a trick to make OPL2 play digital samples as well.
Some games use this (I believe Supaplex is one).
In theory you could create a TSR that simulates Covox and DSS through an OPL2LPT.

Electrobody is another game that does that and when I heard it I was amazed - samples playing through AdLib? 🤣 🤣 🤣

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 122 of 566, by dreamblaster

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Yes,
there are a limited amount of preassembled handsoldered boards available...
thanks to the help of a great friend !
If interested, just PM me for details

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 124 of 566, by jaZz_KCS

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dreamblaster wrote:
Yes, there are a limited amount of preassembled handsoldered boards available... thanks to the help of a great friend ! If inte […]
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Yes,
there are a limited amount of preassembled handsoldered boards available...
thanks to the help of a great friend !
If interested, just PM me for details

I sent you an email! 😀

Reply 126 of 566, by dreamblaster

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jaZz_KCS wrote:

I sent you an email! 😀

I didn't see e-mail appear ?
Could you PM me ??

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 127 of 566, by dreamblaster

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Hi
OPL2LPT is now available in my webshop : http://www.serdashop.com/OPL2LPT
This is normally a solder kit, for 30 euro. It is all through hole.
For people who cannot solder it, you can order a fully handsoldered and tested unit for 20 euro extra

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 128 of 566, by Jo22

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Paralel wrote:

Since the Digispeech Port*Able Sound Plus is based on an ESS chip, which, if I'm not mistaken, emulates a soundblaster in
hardware, couldn't you just treat it like a soundblaster but instead of using the standard port 220, you use the port for LPT instead?
I'm sure its not that simple, I just don't know enough to predict why it wouldn't work.

Hi, sorry for the late reply, but I've just came across a review about the Digispeech Port*able Sound Plus! 😀
Link: http://www.dcee.net/Files/Music/General/portable.arj

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 129 of 566, by Scali

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Paralel wrote:

Since the Digispeech Port*Able Sound Plus is based on an ESS chip, which, if I'm not mistaken, emulates a soundblaster in hardware, couldn't you just treat it like a soundblaster but instead of using the standard port 220, you use the port for LPT instead? I'm sure its not that simple, I just don't know enough to predict why it wouldn't work.

The Sound Blaster doesn't just use port 220h. 220h is its base port.
It uses the range from 220h-22Fh.
The AdLib only uses ports 388h and 389h as mentioned, so it is not too difficult to implement a single 'address bit' to select the port.
The Sound Blaster however would require 16 addresses, so you would need 4 address bits. I'm not sure if you have enough signals on a standard printer port for that.
Alternatively a two-way indexing system could be implemented, but that would be more complicated on the hardware side... You would still only need one 'address bit'. If the bit is set, you can send an 8-bit address index over the LPT. If the bit is clear, the 8-bit value on the LPT is interpreted as data. You would then need some kind of latch to store that address index, and this will be connected to the address lines on the chip. You can support up to 256 IO ports this way. In this case, a 4-bit latch would be enough.

http://scalibq.wordpress.com/just-keeping-it- … ro-programming/

Reply 130 of 566, by lolo799

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Jo22 wrote:
Paralel wrote:

Since the Digispeech Port*Able Sound Plus is based on an ESS chip, which, if I'm not mistaken, emulates a soundblaster in
hardware, couldn't you just treat it like a soundblaster but instead of using the standard port 220, you use the port for LPT instead?
I'm sure its not that simple, I just don't know enough to predict why it wouldn't work.

Hi, sorry for the late reply, but I've just came across a review about the Digispeech Port*able Sound Plus! 😀
Link: http://www.dcee.net/Files/Music/General/portable.arj

I'm not sure where you got the idea that the Digispeech unit uses an ESS chip...

The most interesting part of that review is the mention of this:

portblaster.gif
Filename
portblaster.gif
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1.11 KiB
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1556 views
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Fair use/fair dealing exception
midiblaster portblaster.jpg
Filename
midiblaster portblaster.jpg
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21.54 KiB
Views
1555 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

https://trademarks.justia.com/743/44/port-bla … r-74344858.html
https://books.google.fr/books?id=blEEAAAAMBAJ … Blaster&f=false
https://books.google.fr/books?id=IuaYd-eFaFoC … Blaster&f=false

PCMCIA Sound, Storage & Graphics

Reply 131 of 566, by dreamblaster

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Hi, another youtube video !
Phil used an OPL2LPT in his core i 7 PC : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPVqAvgGbWo

Also good news on the software side, from pdw.

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 132 of 566, by NilsWorld

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I received mine ! Works very well in DOS. It's very impressive to have a 'tiny' real sound card on the LPT1 port.

Possible to make the same with the OPL3 chip ? 😵 😵 It would be incredible.

Also, It will be interesting to make, for the OPL2LPT card, a box printed with a 3D printer with a rechargeable battery or a battery holder (for AAA/LR3 batteries for example) in it to power up the card.

Do you think 4,5Volts is enough for the OPL2LPT card ?

Thank you.

Last edited by NilsWorld on 2017-11-23, 14:05. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 133 of 566, by pdw

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So, news from the software side. There's a new release available on https://github.com/pdewacht/adlipt/releases with two big new features:

First, support for the JEMM386 memory manager. In my tests JEMM386 was notably faster than EMM386, so people with slow PCs might see better performance. JEMM386's website seems to have disappeared, but you can still download it here:
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/fre … -html/jemm.html

Second, there's the beginning of a new project: ADPATCH. Rather than emulating an Adlib card, we can patch games to support the OPT2LPT. The big upsides are that there's no 386 CPU requirement, patched games will work on any x86. And it can work with protected mode games (the TSR doesn't). There's also no emulation performance hit. The big downside is that patches need to be written be hand (but it's not too hard if you have basic assembly knowledge).

Currently ADPATCH supports most of Sierra's and id Software's catalog.

Reply 134 of 566, by keropi

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The new driver package + ADPATCH is a game changer IMHO - great work pdw!!!
Now even people with MCA machines can have at least AdLib support on quite a few games 😊

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 135 of 566, by konc

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pdw wrote:

Second, there's the beginning of a new project: ADPATCH. Rather than emulating an Adlib card, we can patch games to support the OPT2LPT. The big upsides are that there's no 386 CPU requirement, patched games will work on any x86. And it can work with protected mode games (the TSR doesn't). There's also no emulation performance hit. The big downside is that patches need to be written be hand (but it's not too hard if you have basic assembly knowledge).

Currently ADPATCH supports most of Sierra's and id Software's catalog.

^^ this is huge!

Reply 136 of 566, by dreamblaster

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NilsWorld wrote:

Possible to make the same with the OPL3 chip ? 😵 😵 It would be incredible.

OPL3LPT -> For 2018

NilsWorld wrote:

Also, It will be interesting to make, for the OPL2LPT card, a box printed with a 3D printer with a rechargeable battery or a battery holder (for AAA/LR3 batteries for example) in it to power up the card.
Do you think 4,5Volts is enough for the OPL2LPT card ?

You do need 5Volt for proper operation, 3xAAA batteries will give you a variable voltage even less than 4V
What I tested with and worked perfectly well, was a cheap small USB power bank. (you know what I mean ?)
It gives you a stable 5V supply (hopefully) and long autonomy + low cost.
Worked fine for me.

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 137 of 566, by jaZz_KCS

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dreamblaster wrote:
You do need 5Volt for proper operation, 3xAAA batteries will give you a variable voltage even less than 4V What I tested with an […]
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NilsWorld wrote:

Also, It will be interesting to make, for the OPL2LPT card, a box printed with a 3D printer with a rechargeable battery or a battery holder (for AAA/LR3 batteries for example) in it to power up the card.
Do you think 4,5Volts is enough for the OPL2LPT card ?

You do need 5Volt for proper operation, 3xAAA batteries will give you a variable voltage even less than 4V
What I tested with and worked perfectly well, was a cheap small USB power bank. (you know what I mean ?)
It gives you a stable 5V supply (hopefully) and long autonomy + low cost.
Worked fine for me.

There are some simple solutions. As you can power the OPL2LPT with either the miniUSB socket or the +5V/GND connection on board.

One simple solution I found to be working wonderfully is using the PS2 ports 5V power. First I wanted to solder a PS2 cable to the +5V/GND connection... but then I had another idea.

I use the OPL2LPT device on laptops that lack a soundcard. By using one of those widespread USB->PS2 converter plugs i can just attach one of those also widespread USB to miniUSB cables and plug them via the adapter into the PS2 port so the power comes from the laptop/PC itself. And if I want to use a mouse on that port as well I use a PS2-Y-Splitter cable (those for using Keyboard and Mouse simultaneously) which lets me use a mouse on that port AND power the OPL2LPT at the same time 😀

Since on the OPL2LPT only the power cables are connected, you can plug it into any running PS2 port and it will be powered without the computer realizing something is attached.

Reply 138 of 566, by Scali

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Yea, the XT and AT keyboard connectors also supply +5v on pin 5. So you may be able to grab the power from there as well on older systems, with a simple passthrough-adapter.

http://scalibq.wordpress.com/just-keeping-it- … ro-programming/

Reply 139 of 566, by matze79

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I use PS/2 Power.

Works really well.

Anyone tested GLX Mod Player with Adlipt ?
it does not work on my Machine.
But i'm not sure if this is a "Machine Problem" or a TSR Problem.

https://files.scene.org/view/mirrors/scenesp. … prog/GLX212.ZIP

Can some one give it a try ?

https://www.retrokits.de - blog, retro projects, hdd clicker, diy soundcards etc
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