The Battle Chess (VGA) "/ducks" Easter Egg

Posted on 2023-06-02, 02:50

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by Cloudschatze

in Milliways

in Milliways

While poking around the Battle Chess (VGA) executable last year, I came across an undocumented, "/ducks" command-line parameter that the entire internet seemingly bears no mention of. I suspect it was an inside joke, being both a nod to, and supportively-evidenced by, an apocryphal tale concerning …

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Re: Aphex' Aural Exciter - Uh-oh, it's Magic

Posted on 2023-05-27, 05:05

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by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Closing the loop on this thread, the effected examples in the parent post now reference recordings that leverage the "version 2" MU100 configuration, detailed as follows: SYSTEM ================================ AD PartLock = on Mlt EQ Lock = on A/D ================================ Input Preset: ST …

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Re: TANDY Dos-Gaming-Thread (1000RL/HD)

Posted on 2023-05-21, 04:26

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by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I suppose I should provide a proper thread update otherwise. Similar to dr.zeissler, I also added an "XTA2SD" board to my RL recently, supplanting the obnoxiously noisy ST351A/X. https://www.symphoniae.com/misc/VC/xta2sd_rl1_s.jpg https://www.symphoniae.com/misc/VC/xta2sd_rl2_s.jpg https://www. …

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Re: TANDY Dos-Gaming-Thread (1000RL/HD)

Posted on 2023-05-21, 03:58

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by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

The connection is indeed basically identical to the diagram, but with the addition of an HD50F-to-DB25M adapter between the Shuttle interface and the Zip drive. Here's an example of such a setup, with Windows 3.0 running off of the Zip drive. https://www.symphoniae.com/misc/vogons/rl_zip_s.jpg …

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Re: DSS / Covox Speech Thing exclusive games

Posted on 2023-05-11, 16:58

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by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

matze79 wrote on 2023-05-11, 08:00: digger wrote on 2018-04-11, 22:38: Cloudschatze wrote: For what it's worth, the music that Maxis' SimAnt plays through a Covox or generic LPT DAC is unique to that device selection. YouTube recording or it didn't happen! 😜 I tried his it was so horrible "Unique" …

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Re: Aphex' Aural Exciter - Uh-oh, it's Magic

Posted on 2023-05-10, 04:16

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by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I spent an inordinate amount of time tweaking the MU settings further (because I lead a life of constant excitement). Does the following version sound any better than the first? Depeche Mode. (1990). Enjoy the Silence [Excerpt]. On Violator . Mute Records. ♫ Tandy PSSJ output (4.8 MB FLAC) ♫ Tandy …

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Re: PS/2 MCA Soundoptions

Posted on 2023-05-09, 23:03

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by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I am not sure - maybe I am missing some points from this discussion, because "Snark Barker" MCA Sound card, which is clone of the original "SoundBlaster MCA" card : https://github.com/schlae/snark-barker gives both SB and OPL3 compatibility and yes and I understand - it's a lot of effort to DIY one …

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Re: Sound Blaster: From best to worst

Posted on 2023-05-09, 22:57

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by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

OK, first results are in!! :D Thank-you for gathering and sharing that information. That's a considerable effort! The difference doesn't seem to be as great as I was thinking, so while I don't think I'll be modifying any of my own cards, it's certainly still an enhancement/fix worthy of …

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Re: Sound Blaster: From best to worst

Posted on 2023-05-05, 22:41

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by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Eep386 wrote on 2023-05-05, 17:45: Request: Add column for Floating Op-Amps too. This isn't meant to sound critical, but were you (or anyone else) able to get any pre/post-mod measurements to help better-define this issue and its implications, as applies to the affected SB cards?

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Re: Aphex' Aural Exciter - Uh-oh, it's Magic

Posted on 2023-05-03, 18:25

by

by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

The circuit designer, Frank Durda IV, has said that the 5.3kHz filter value was chosen solely for the purpose of computer-noise suppression. With the first DAC-bearing Tandy systems having been released in 1988, the effect this would have on higher playback rates likely wasn't even a consideration. …

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Re: Aphex' Aural Exciter - Uh-oh, it's Magic

Posted on 2023-05-03, 16:08

by

by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Thank-you for the feedback, Tiido! I know exactly what you're referring to with the artifact behaviors. Some of that can yet be tweaked; I mostly just focused on trying to match the sound of the original (CD) recordings with a single, generally-applicable effect configuration. With the entire …

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Aphex' Aural Exciter - Uh-oh, it's Magic

Posted on 2023-05-03, 03:45

by

by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I'm always looking for the most incredibly inefficient ways to spend my time here on Earth, and recently went about trying to enhance the digital audio output of the PSSJ, or "Tandy DAC." https://www.symphoniae.com/misc/vogons/rlxpssj_s.jpg (For reference, the Tandy DAC is an 8-bit, DMA-capable …

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Re: Sound Blaster AWE32 + Roland SCC-1- How do I use them together?

Posted on 2023-05-02, 22:11

by

by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Also, are you planning to run some flavor of Windows on your Pentium 200 system? If so, and perhaps to better understand what you already have with the AWE32, I would suggest running your GS/GM-supporting DOS titles from Windows (where possible), with MPU-401 emulation enabled, and with the 4GMGSMT. …

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Re: Sound Blaster AWE32 + Roland SCC-1- How do I use them together?

Posted on 2023-05-02, 21:08

by

by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So the midi section of the awe32 is totally useless? wavetable or internal ram or external using joystick? Hardly. I've personally only experienced the slowdown problems with the two titles mentioned. To clarify the second question, it's the hardware "MPU-401" interfacing that is affected, either …

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Re: Sound Blaster AWE32 + Roland SCC-1- How do I use them together?

Posted on 2023-05-02, 20:32

by

by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

[...] What exactly act a slodown? only in duke3D? Not just Duke3D, any game that plays 16b digital audio over a MIDI soundtrack. Tie Fighter is the most notorious example, but basically you can take everything on this list: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=54670 (and it's by no means …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2023-04-24, 20:22

by

by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-24, 19:27: Most of us are still rocking the 8086 anyways. Windows 3.0 and GeoWorks 1.2 are decent options on those systems. I run both on the 8086-based Tandy 1000 RL, in any event:

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2023-04-24, 17:43

by

by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

NewDeal Office 3.2a (or "GeoWorks 3.2a"), with some additional aesthetic tweaking to make it better-resemble a Windows 95 desktop environment. Is there any reason to run version 3.2a vs 2000? The PC/GEOS 4.x kernel found in NewDeal Office 2000 and later contains 386 instructions. NewDeal Office 3. …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2023-04-24, 15:13

by

by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

https://www.symphoniae.com/misc/vogons/bbund_s.jpg What is this GUI? I vaguely remember using something similar (Win9x look) on my 286 back in the 90s... I recently searched for it and found some similar GUIs but I think yours closest to what I've used back then... NewDeal Office 3.2a (or "GeoWorks …

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2023-04-24, 02:14

by

by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's one of Stanley "Artgerm" Lau's Pepper-themed pieces (NSFW link), converted to 800x600, 1-bit black+transparency.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2023-04-24, 00:07

by

by Cloudschatze

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

https://www.symphoniae.com/misc/vogons/bbund_s.jpg Recently patched a number of Brøderbund MPU and Ad Lib routines for RS-232 MIDI and OPL3LPT usage, respectively. Brøderbund heavily supported the Tandy DAC as well, making the 286/10Mhz-based Tandy 1000 RLX an excellent system for these titles. …

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