VOGONS


First post, by janskjaer

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According to multiple resources on VOGONS and the rest of the Internet, my Dell Dimension XPS M200s has an onboard Vibra16C. I also have the AWE32 Wavetable upgrade PCI card installed.

As part of my MS-DOS 6.22 installation, I've been using the latest sbbasic drivers (30 Dec 97) that include the CTSB16.SYS driver (1997-02-20) which I appear to have been using for a while (and without issue, for both devices).

Due to the above driver not providing me an AWEUTIL TSR during installation (even though the driver description specifies an AWE Control Panel is included), I tried out the CT-1920 AWE32 Upgrade Card Driver CD posted here at vogonsdrivers.
During the installation, I noticed the drivers although older than the versions in sbbasic, were set up in a default C:\VIBRA16 directory (as opposed to the regular C:\SB16 directory as done from the sbbasic pack previously).
As well as including the AWEUTIL.COM TSR I was looking for, I noticed the omission of the CTSB16.SYS file in \VIBRA16\DRV, and instead the existence of a VIBRA16.SYS (1996-02-07). Although the AWE32 Upgrade driver CD can provide drivers for both my Vibra16C and AWE32 Upgrade card, some of the other driver files such as AUXDRV.DRV (1995--07-05) are much older than those found in sbbasic's AUXDRV.DRV (1997-03-21).

After testing, the AWEUTIL.COM TSR also seems to work perfectly with the \SB16\DRV\CTSB16.SYS driver.

Given that I have Vibra16C hardware, is it more appropriate for me to be using the VIBRA16.SYS instead of the CTSB16.SYS? Is there any difference?
During testing, I've not noticed any difference. However, perhaps there is something I should be aware of?

I would expect continuing to use CTSB16.SYS would be prudent as it is a later driver, and perhaps offers more support for later applications and games.
However, if the VIBRA16.SYS is more appropriate (for reasons I don't know), then I would happily change.

DELL Dimension XPS M200s
:Intel P1 MMX 200MHz
:64MB EDO
:DOS 6.22/Win95b
:Matrox Millenium II + m3D (PowerVR PCX2)
Chaintech 7VJL Apogee
:AMD AthlonXP 2700+
:512MB DDR
:Win98SE/2000 SP4
:3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP

Reply 1 of 3, by Joseph_Joestar

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janskjaer wrote on 2021-10-11, 20:56:

As part of my MS-DOS 6.22 installation, I've been using the latest sbbasic drivers (30 Dec 97) that include the CTSB16.SYS driver (1997-02-20) which I appear to have been using for a while (and without issue, for both devices).

Due to the above driver not providing me an AWEUTIL TSR during installation (even though the driver description specifies an AWE Control Panel is included)

IIRC, there was a separate version of that file for AWE32/64 which did contain AWEUTIL and some other tools needed for those cards. EDIT - found it:

AWE64 Basic Disk for DOS/Windows 3.1. 
File Name: s64basic.exe
Release date: 22 Dec 97
Filesize: 1.14 MB

Solves a problem on 486 system with CT4520 with large amount of upgrade sample DRAM when '/S' command line parameter is used.
Fixes bug on the shift in the Master Volume slider (jump to the end) whenever focus is switched back to it. This only happens after the Master-In Volume slider is adjusted.
Fixes wave playback looping problem in full duplex mode.
Removes the POP sound that can be heard during bootup. This event happens when the MIXERSET /p /q is inserted in the AUTOEXEC.BAT.
Fixes a bug on AWE Control Panel.
Resolves a problem when "Default" button is pressed under Creative MIDI Instrument Mapper when MIDI is playing.

https://support.creative.com/downloads/downlo … nDownloadId=283

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 2 of 3, by janskjaer

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Yes, I have that file too. However, I always refrained from using that on my Vibra16C/AWE32 setup, as I always felt it was more appropriate for my AWE 64 I have in another system. I also didn't want to have to extract that file on a system, just to pull out the pieces I needed (e.g. AWEUTIL) and delete the rest (e.g. the driver).
I also wanted to avoid having to install more than the "all-in-one" driver/utility package. However, if I was to use the installation from the AWE32 Upgrade CD, many of the tools are outdated, and I would have to install all the other separate packages from Creative's FTP to upgrade utilities such as CTCM, CTCU, MIXERSET, DIAGNOSE, etc...

The most pertinent questions I would like to answer within this topic are, what is the difference between using VIBRA16.SYS and CTSB16.SYS, and is it more appropriate for me to be using the VIBRA16.SYS instead of the CTSB16.SYS, given I'm using Vibra16C hardware? Is there anything I need to be aware of when choosing one over the other?

DELL Dimension XPS M200s
:Intel P1 MMX 200MHz
:64MB EDO
:DOS 6.22/Win95b
:Matrox Millenium II + m3D (PowerVR PCX2)
Chaintech 7VJL Apogee
:AMD AthlonXP 2700+
:512MB DDR
:Win98SE/2000 SP4
:3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP

Reply 3 of 3, by chinny22

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I doubt it makes much difference.
On the hardware level only difference is a SB16 allows you to adjust Bass/Treble where a Vibra can't
so maybe CTSB16.SYS has provisions for this which just go unused if it detects a vibra chip.