Re: Tiny Vortex86-based DOS gaming PC - weeCee

Posted on 25 minutes ago

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by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

A revised version of rasteri's bin file is attached. I removed the EEPROM header (first four bytes) and stripped the part that is supposed to be firmware patch data. The rest is entirely his file, byte-for-byte. To use this, simply add it to your hostload directory, and invoke it with " HOSTLOAD …

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Re: Tiny Vortex86-based DOS gaming PC - weeCee

Posted on Today, 18:39

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Part of the problem is that, per Crystal's own tools, that original file is not quite valid. The hardware configuration part seems acceptable, and the PnP part should work, but the size is definitely incorrect. It is unclear how the part will react to that, as actual behaviour varies significantly …

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Re: Tiny Vortex86-based DOS gaming PC - weeCee

Posted on Yesterday, 02:29

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Since it can affect the CS4237 in quite a number of ways, I would first tend to the EEPROM issues, and worry about the rest afterwards. For starters, try 3.3 kΩ for R9, with R10 unpopulated. If you're still not getting anywhere, try re-flowing the related pins on the CS4237. Frankly, the bulk of …

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Re: Tiny Vortex86-based DOS gaming PC - weeCee

Posted on 2021-06-19, 02:23

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I have been looking at a few different parts lately, so am sometimes confused. It looks like this EEPROM only needs a resistor for SDA (Crystal calls for 3.3kΩ for R9). EDIT: So, to clarify, R10 should not require a pull-up, and I'm not sure the CS4237 would like that too much. Certainly, don't …

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Re: Tiny Vortex86-based DOS gaming PC - weeCee

Posted on 2021-06-18, 19:37

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

640k!enough, keropi, OMG, I really, really appreciate your magical, on-point help. It freaking works. The corrected bin file did the trick in hostload! That means the chip is at least partially functional. Did you try writing the new ASM file to the EEPROM? What was the result? Using UNISOUND may …

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Re: Tiny Vortex86-based DOS gaming PC - weeCee

Posted on 2021-06-18, 19:16

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I don't know if this is a dumb suggestion but why not use the FLASH package from Orpheus website? That depends whether the chip will have (or allow) the control port to be configured directly, without first having the correct hardware configuration data. It might work, since it has a valid PnP ID, …

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Re: Tiny Vortex86-based DOS gaming PC - weeCee

Posted on 2021-06-18, 18:59

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

These should do the trick. With the updated files, replace those in the HOSTLOAD package, and try again.

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Re: Tiny Vortex86-based DOS gaming PC - weeCee

Posted on 2021-06-18, 18:43

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

From that, we know that the chip is not entirely defective. It shows that the hostload process worked, and you ended up with the correct plug-and-play ID. From there, instead try running UNISOUND, post the output, and check for sound again. If not, repeat with CWDINIT, and post that output as well. …

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Re: Tiny Vortex86-based DOS gaming PC - weeCee

Posted on 2021-06-18, 16:28

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

There is no evidence, so far, to suggest that the chip is defective. If what you're showing is correct, then the EEPROM is either not soldered correctly, or is (mostly) blank. This is much better than it being corrupted. For now, please try the attached tools. The first thing to do is use a more …

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Re: Tiny Vortex86-based DOS gaming PC - weeCee

Posted on 2021-06-18, 05:27

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I'm not familiar with this particular project, but have some familiarity with the CS4237. They can be quite picky about their EEPROM content, sometimes to the point where a sufficiently corrupt EEPROM will cause the chip to enter a “coma” state, in which it won’t enumerate or initialise properly …

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Re: Aztech Sound Galaxy & inconsistent WSS support in games

Posted on 2021-06-16, 18:51

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

What I meant to say was simply that they are slightly modified versions of an original Sierra-provided driver; none of us is responsible for writing it. The company that now owns the old Sierra On-Line IP still holds the copyright. I don't know why port 534 has to be the setting in orphinit, but the …

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Re: Aztech Sound Galaxy & inconsistent WSS support in games

Posted on 2021-06-16, 18:04

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Great news, the fix drivers created by 640K!enough made the Sierra games work! Thanks to 640K!enough for his work there! And thanks for you guys for getting me to try them. It's important for me to mention that I did not write those drivers. I merely did the necessary trouble-shooting and found the …

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Re: Orpheus Soundcard: a new DOS soundcard with SPDIF/OPL3/MPU support

Posted on 2021-05-03, 03:28

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I took a quick stab at the 32-bit driver as well. I didn't look too closely, so I make no promises of functionality or stability; it's virtually untested. EDIT: I also meant to mention that some Sierra titles allow the specification of alternate IRQ and DMA channels in the configuration file ( …

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Re: Orpheus Soundcard: a new DOS soundcard with SPDIF/OPL3/MPU support

Posted on 2021-05-02, 17:44

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

The SPDIF is reduced to a single channel (not just mono, it only plays out of the left speaker). This is a side-effect of the driver's initialisation routine. I'm not sure if that is actually a useful change for the Audiotrix Pro (I doubt it), or if they're using that as a cheap method of trying to …

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Re: Orpheus Soundcard: a new DOS soundcard with SPDIF/OPL3/MPU support

Posted on 2021-04-29, 20:13

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Thank for looking into it! I am inspired! I'll give it another shot today and see if I can get SQ5 working and any other games :D. SQ5 is one of the titles that doesn't work so well with the current version of ORPHINIT. You may get something out of the speakers, but the timing or playback rate may …

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Re: Orpheus Soundcard: a new DOS soundcard with SPDIF/OPL3/MPU support

Posted on 2021-04-29, 19:43

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I have also been doing some testing with the Sierra drivers that keropi posted on page 29, and have had some luck with the 16-bit driver. There are a few points that demand attention: Some Sierra titles are highly speed-sensitive (the drivers included). In some cases, they will throw intermittent …

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Re: ORPHINIT: New Init Software For The Orpheus Sound Card

Posted on 2021-04-29, 04:38

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I hope this dump is what you expect and I wish it help you with your project. Once again, if you need anything else, just ask! Thanks for the dump details. It provided a few hints about your system, and helped to confirm that ORPHINIT was not retrieving incorrect information, but the way that board …

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Re: ORPHINIT: New Init Software For The Orpheus Sound Card

Posted on 2021-04-27, 17:04

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

There you go sir, I have no clue what you have in mind, but if you want anything else I'll be just glad to have the chance to help. There seems to be something rather strange about the way your BIOS handles PnP support; I'm not sure if this points to another bug I have to fix, or if there isn't …

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Re: Orpheus Soundcard: a new DOS soundcard with SPDIF/OPL3/MPU support

Posted on 2021-04-27, 04:40

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I am trying to get it working in zork returns and the original descent. In Zork returns I get an error that they driver can't be loaded to resident memory, and in the sound setup for descent with "microsoft sound system" set to port 530 and DMA 1 I get no sound in the sound test. Sound blaster pro …

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Re: ORPHINIT: New Init Software For The Orpheus Sound Card

Posted on 2021-04-27, 04:00

by

by 640K!enough

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I notice the orphinit 53b (while not 52a and 53b-beta) output this string, I'm not sure what to make out of it : WARNING: Plug and Play read data port changed from 3E3 to 3E7. Board successfully initialised. I think I know why that is happening, but I am not absolutely sure. Please run the …

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