It would be easier to just get a different SB16 that has a gameport for midi in/out, or get a dedicated MPU board.

BloodyCactus wrote on 2022-01-05, 15:01:

It would be easier to just get a different SB16 that has a gameport for midi in/out, or get a dedicated MPU board.

Unfortunately, the Latpop doesn't come with ISA expansion slots for adding a card with gameport. It has PMCIA slots, but I don't think MS-DOS music software support that kind of expansion.

oh sorry, I missed that important "laptop" part 🙁 ugh. my bad. I dont know if they made a specific RS232 to MIDI DIN cable as it could be any of the pins.

serdashop sell the MPU 232 serial port to midi din card.

https://www.serdashop.com/MPU-232

thats probably what you want.

BloodyCactus wrote on 2022-01-05, 18:17:

oh sorry, I missed that important "laptop" part :( ugh. my bad. I dont know if they made a specific RS232 to MIDI DIN cable as i […]
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oh sorry, I missed that important "laptop" part 🙁 ugh. my bad. I dont know if they made a specific RS232 to MIDI DIN cable as it could be any of the pins.

serdashop sell the MPU 232 serial port to midi din card.

https://www.serdashop.com/MPU-232

thats probably what you want.

Yeah, I looked into that one but it only features a MIDI OUT DIN conector, and I want to send MIDI notes and commands to the computer. This is what makes me wonder if SoftMPU has any kind of support for MIDI input.

Thanks for the link!

there are some LPT midi interfaces - old professional ones like this one: https://www.esi-audio.com/products/miditerminal4140/
maybe it is the only solution for a p1 laptop but these only have windows drivers AFAIK

Foco wrote on 2022-01-05, 14:08:

I'm buying an old Pentium 133MHZ Laptop, which I intend to use on my live Chiptune shows with some MS-DOS software.

Does the software-in-question have native support for serial port MIDI input/output? That could greatly simplify things, if so.

Cloudschatze wrote on 2022-01-05, 19:50:

Foco wrote on 2022-01-05, 14:08:

I'm buying an old Pentium 133MHZ Laptop, which I intend to use on my live Chiptune shows with some MS-DOS software.

Does the software-in-question have native support for serial port MIDI input/output? That could greatly simplify things, if so.

Sadly it doesn't have support for serial MIDI 🙁

The notebook seems to have a 330h MPU-401 port, at least that's what the Sound Blaster Diagnostic software says... But there's no physichal connector to be seen on the computer. Any ideas how I can send MIDI data to this computer in DOS?

Foco wrote on 2022-01-05, 14:08:

Hello there, […]
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Hello there,

I'm buying an old Pentium 133MHZ Laptop, which I intend to use on my live Chiptune shows with some MS-DOS software. It has a Soundblaster compatible card, but lacks the game port which I need for sending MIDI data to sync the computer with my other gear.

I've seeing that SoftMPU has a serial a MIDI OUT mode for the DB9 port, does it work as a MIDI IN port too? and, where I can get a DB9 to MIDI DIN cable/interface to make it work?

Thanks!

They do exist. I ran across this a few years back in near mint condition at a recycle center. Gave it to a friend who wanted them pretty bad. Maybe those photos will help in your search.

I've had this one on my watchlist for a while too. Probably a long way from you unfortunately!

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/tecoma/instru … face/1242489045

SoftMPU doesn't seem to do any MIDI input, albeit it seems possible to add support for at least passing through MIDI in data in UART mode.
It can already simulate MPU interrupts (but it requires a real SB for that) , so basically only the (real)UART ISR needs to be written, which would just call queuebyte()s to the simulated MPU.

I'm not sure if dumb/UART mode would enough for the software-in-question, though.
And as for intelligent-mode input support, I have not seen any intelligent MPU emulator capable of input yet, so I'm not sure what would be involved.