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OPL2LPT

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Reply 480 of 566, by dreamblaster

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TimWolf wrote:

😲 You rock!

I'm going to get one of these for my Tandy RLX HD. I'm not going to put the port on it. I'm going to mount it internally and pipe it through the Tandy sound board sharing the volume knob. Goal is to have a switch for the Tandy Sound / LPT port so that I can still use the printer and Tandy sound on one setting, and the Adlib on the other. "Think it'll work?" ~

Thanks !
Yes i think it will work.

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 481 of 566, by SteveC

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Well would you look at this https://youtu.be/adhjvT4SeyQ 😀 Thanks sayjionix

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StevesTechShed
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SteveTechShed

Reply 484 of 566, by 640K!enough

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Paralel wrote:

To me, it sounds like it should be a revision to the board to include this resistor.

Agreed; at the very least, the design should be revised before another batch is ordered.

Reply 485 of 566, by dreamblaster

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640K!enough wrote:
Paralel wrote:

To me, it sounds like it should be a revision to the board to include this resistor.

Agreed; at the very least, the design should be revised before another batch is ordered.

Yeah will do. I will also list the mod on my site, after some more testing.
I don't have a PS/2 system here, will pm sayjionix for some more tests.

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 486 of 566, by Scali

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sayjionix wrote:

today I made some analyses to find out what causes the OPL2LPT to output only distorted screechy sounds on some of my computers / IO-controllers. I think I came to an idea and an option to fix it, but not sure if this is the preferred way, so please let me know what you think.

Interesting...
I found a similar problem on my IBM 5160 and PCjr... I wrote my own VGM replayer for OPL2LPT, and initially tested it on my 286-20 and Celeron 1.5 GHz laptop. The code worked fine on both.
Then I tested on the 5160 and PCjr, and found that they only played garbage.

The way I solved it was by changing the order of the commands sent to the LPT.
Apparently the IBM printer interfaces were sensitive to this somehow. The changed code still worked fine on the other two machines.

I can build some test programs using both variations. I wonder if the issue I had was similar, and changing the commands around would somehow change something in the signals similar to the resistor you added.

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

Reply 487 of 566, by sayjionix

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Scali wrote:

I wonder if the issue I had was similar, and changing the commands around would somehow change something in the signals similar to the resistor you added.

That's interesting! As it can be seen on the comparison of the Adlipt TSR and the OPL2TEST program, a small timing difference of the command lines can have impact on the result (at least if the STROBE signal is not too washed out, as it is for example on my 486). So your command sequence may have provided enough time for STROBE to rise again, before RESET toggles. But that's just a guess...

Reply 488 of 566, by sayjionix

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@dreamblaster: got your pm and will do more tests tomorrow 😀 Unfortunately I can't pm you back right now, as new members on vogons apparently don't have rights for that. I already asked the admins if they can unlock me. If it's not working soon, I will contact you differently.

Reply 489 of 566, by dreamblaster

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OPL2LPT easy mod : 1k pullup on strobe signal, for solving compatibility issues on PCJr and possibly other early computers
only needed if you experience problems (I could not test on my PC, as it always works, also without the mod)

OPL2LPTMOD.JPG
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OPL2LPTMOD.JPG
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Fair use/fair dealing exception

If you have PCJr or similar, and this does not solve the problem, please report in this thread

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 490 of 566, by dr.zeissler

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I'll check out this little nice device soon. I have a FSC-C6-Desktop (D1026) with integreated Onboard-Sound.
I think I am able to deactivate the bad fm-synthesis and use this little device instead.

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 491 of 566, by kirikl

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dreamblaster wrote:
OPL2LPT easy mod : 1k pullup on strobe signal, for solving compatibility issues on PCJr and possibly other early computers only […]
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OPL2LPT easy mod : 1k pullup on strobe signal, for solving compatibility issues on PCJr and possibly other early computers
only needed if you experience problems (I could not test on my PC, as it always works, also without the mod)

OPL2LPTMOD.JPG

If you have PCJr or similar, and this does not solve the problem, please report in this thread

Does TSR program requires 386+ processor? Or it could run from 286? I have Toshiba T3100e/40. It would be cool if I can make it work with that computer! I don't have your device yet, just wondering!

GA-5AX/k6-3+ 600mhz
XT Turbo 10mhz
HP TC4200 / NC6400
Sony Vaio PCG-SRX99 / PCG-505TR / C1 Picturebook
Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CXL / LTE 5000
Toshiba T1100+ / T3100e/40 / T3200SXC
Tandy 1400 LT / 1000HX
PB G4 1.33 / G3 300
iBook Cl 300

Reply 492 of 566, by obaltus

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The TSR provides ADLIB emulation and won't work in a 80286. It requires specific 386 CPU behaviour in order to intercept ADLIB target port instructions and route them to the LPT port.
But, existing software could be adapted to support this device natively without requiring the emulation TSR.

Reply 493 of 566, by kirikl

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That would be awesome! Since I have portable with no ISA available for the sound card

GA-5AX/k6-3+ 600mhz
XT Turbo 10mhz
HP TC4200 / NC6400
Sony Vaio PCG-SRX99 / PCG-505TR / C1 Picturebook
Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CXL / LTE 5000
Toshiba T1100+ / T3100e/40 / T3200SXC
Tandy 1400 LT / 1000HX
PB G4 1.33 / G3 300
iBook Cl 300

Reply 494 of 566, by kirikl

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obaltus wrote:

The TSR provides ADLIB emulation and won't work in a 80286. It requires specific 386 CPU behaviour in order to intercept ADLIB target port instructions and route them to the LPT port.
But, existing software could be adapted to support this device natively without requiring the emulation TSR.

What existing software is BTW?

GA-5AX/k6-3+ 600mhz
XT Turbo 10mhz
HP TC4200 / NC6400
Sony Vaio PCG-SRX99 / PCG-505TR / C1 Picturebook
Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CXL / LTE 5000
Toshiba T1100+ / T3100e/40 / T3200SXC
Tandy 1400 LT / 1000HX
PB G4 1.33 / G3 300
iBook Cl 300

Reply 495 of 566, by kirikl

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Scali wrote:
Interesting... I found a similar problem on my IBM 5160 and PCjr... I wrote my own VGM replayer for OPL2LPT, and initially teste […]
Show full quote
sayjionix wrote:

today I made some analyses to find out what causes the OPL2LPT to output only distorted screechy sounds on some of my computers / IO-controllers. I think I came to an idea and an option to fix it, but not sure if this is the preferred way, so please let me know what you think.

Interesting...
I found a similar problem on my IBM 5160 and PCjr... I wrote my own VGM replayer for OPL2LPT, and initially tested it on my 286-20 and Celeron 1.5 GHz laptop. The code worked fine on both.
Then I tested on the 5160 and PCjr, and found that they only played garbage.

The way I solved it was by changing the order of the commands sent to the LPT.
Apparently the IBM printer interfaces were sensitive to this somehow. The changed code still worked fine on the other two machines.

I can build some test programs using both variations. I wonder if the issue I had was similar, and changing the commands around would somehow change something in the signals similar to the resistor you added.

My question was about 286. Is it only your player could work with 286?

GA-5AX/k6-3+ 600mhz
XT Turbo 10mhz
HP TC4200 / NC6400
Sony Vaio PCG-SRX99 / PCG-505TR / C1 Picturebook
Compaq LTE Elite 4/75CXL / LTE 5000
Toshiba T1100+ / T3100e/40 / T3200SXC
Tandy 1400 LT / 1000HX
PB G4 1.33 / G3 300
iBook Cl 300

Reply 496 of 566, by dreamblaster

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kirikl wrote:

My question was about 286. Is it only your player could work with 286?

the adlipt TSR uses 386 features and will not work on 286.
a number of games can be patched using adpatch

Have a look at this release : https://github.com/pdewacht/adlipt/releases/tag/v0.8.0

Games that should work with the patcher :

Sierra Games using the "SCI" engine. Patch ADL.DRV.
id Software
The Commander Keen series
Wolfenstein 3D
DOOM (v1.9 tested)
DOOM II
Softdisk
Keen Dreams
Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue
Dave Does Nutz
Apogee
Bio Menace

and now @codedwrench contributed patches for Wacky Wheels, Duke Nukem 3D and SCUMM games such as Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis,
as well.

full history of adlipt/adpatch releases can be seen here : https://github.com/pdewacht/adlipt/releases

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 498 of 566, by Scali

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zarkon wrote:

Would this work on a modern windows 10 computer (so using a usb to parallel convertor and dosbox)?

In theory, it could.
In practice, DOSBox has no support for parallel ports currently. Also, USB printer ports tend to buffer data before sending it, which messes up the timing of the music.
A 'real' onboard parallel port, or a PCI(e) one will work, with a modified version of DOSBox.

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

Reply 499 of 566, by zarkon

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Scali wrote:
In theory, it could. In practice, DOSBox has no support for parallel ports currently. Also, USB printer ports tend to buffer dat […]
Show full quote
zarkon wrote:

Would this work on a modern windows 10 computer (so using a usb to parallel convertor and dosbox)?

In theory, it could.
In practice, DOSBox has no support for parallel ports currently. Also, USB printer ports tend to buffer data before sending it, which messes up the timing of the music.
A 'real' onboard parallel port, or a PCI(e) one will work, with a modified version of DOSBox.

I see, thanks for the info.