Re: CVX-2 : covox adapter

Posted on 2017-11-28, 15:06

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Some things I may add in the near future: 1) Commandline switch to select LPT port 2) Commandline switch to select sample rate I have updated CvxPlay again, adding these features. It can be downloaded here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d676aihs71fw2bk/cvxplay.zip?dl=0 Usage is simple: Usage: CvxPlay …

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Re: Multiple Questions Regarding Music Playback from IDE Optical Drives

Posted on 2017-11-27, 00:19

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

the_ultra_code wrote: So then without "EDAP" enabled and no audio cables going from the optical drive to a soundcard, there would be no sound? Indeed.

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Re: Multiple Questions Regarding Music Playback from IDE Optical Drives

Posted on 2017-11-27, 00:08

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Okay, so if "Enable Digital Audio Playback" (I will now say "EDAP" for short :) ) is NOT enabled in the OS or if the OS does not support it, and NO audio cables whatsoever (either the 4-pin or 2-pin) are connected to the optical drive, and the only way to transfer Redbook audio is over IDE, would …

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Re: Unlocking & downclocking a Pentium II?

Posted on 2017-11-26, 21:32

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Perhaps only some are. I see the option in my Asus P2B bios but it disappears after the bios screen finishes loading, like it's realizing the CPU is locked so hides the option from UI Yea, according to Wikipedia, later models were multiplier-locked, and some even locked to 66 MHz bus: https://en. …

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Re: Unlocking & downclocking a Pentium II?

Posted on 2017-11-26, 21:10

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I don't think most Pentium II CPUs are locked in the first place. I have an Asus P2B-LS with a Pentium II 333 on there, and afaik I can just select any bus speed and multipliers that I want. I've had it running at 350 MHz without a problem at least (bus speed to 100 MHz instead of the 66 MHz at its …

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Re: Multiple Questions Regarding Music Playback from IDE Optical Drives

Posted on 2017-11-26, 20:24

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

[*] Using Over-IDE Playback: Path: Optical Drive -> Optical Drive's DAC -> IDE Cable -> Motherboard -> Soundcard -> Audio Out [*] Using Over-IDE Playback (with "Enable Digital Audio Playback" Enabled in OS): Path: Optical Drive -> IDE Cable -> Motherboard (with CPU Acting as DAC) -> Soundcard -> …

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Re: Looking for a list of dos games that require an intelligent mode MPU-401

Posted on 2017-11-26, 15:25

by

by Scali

in DOS

in DOS

Intelligent MPU-401 does not make games sound better or worse, it allows games work with midi devices like the MT-32, otherwise they do not work with them at all. That is not quite correct. An original MPU-401 has its own CPU and simple MIDI sequencer functionality onboard. Intelligent mode allows …

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Re: Motherboard for 486 DX4

Posted on 2017-11-24, 00:17

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Unfortunately, the post screen, nor the bios is showing me the CPU Type or Speed On these older systems, there was no reliable way for the BIOS to determine the CPU (the Pentium was the first to introduce the CPUID instruction that can return a string describing the CPU brand and model). So the …

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Re: OPL2LPT

Posted on 2017-11-24, 00:12

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Yea, the XT and AT keyboard connectors also supply +5v on pin 5. So you may be able to grab the power from there as well on older systems, with a simple passthrough-adapter.

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Re: Multiple Questions Regarding Music Playback from IDE Optical Drives

Posted on 2017-11-23, 21:49

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

It's funny. Every time I think I'm out of questions, more come to my mind, so I have yet another question (sorry). Here is my new question: Let's take a moment to think about how audio played from actual files stored on a CD/DVD works. If I'm correct, that non-Redbook audio-file "data" is sent over …

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Re: Multiple Questions Regarding Music Playback from IDE Optical Drives

Posted on 2017-11-23, 16:12

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Two (this one could be subjective), is an optical drive's DAC better than a soundcard's? I think it's safe to assume that the DAC on a CDROM drive was mainly a 'checkbox feature'... They put it on there because it had to be there. They probably just picked some cheap generic DAC, and probably also …

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Re: Multiple Questions Regarding Music Playback from IDE Optical Drives

Posted on 2017-11-23, 11:38

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

[*] What is the benefit of using the 4-pin analog wire over the digital means of transmitting audio? This is mainly a legacy interface. When the first CD-ROM drives became available, most sound cards didn't have CD-quality DACs yet, let alone SPDIF support (we are talking SB Pro-era, older cards …

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Re: "Expensive" 486 system?? (Gameable)

Posted on 2017-11-23, 11:25

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

So an original Pentium-based system was more expensive, but DX4 had better gaming performance because of a higher frequency and probably was the top choice for home users. In my experience, the 486DX4 has always been a niche product. Reason is that it was late to the party (introduced after the …

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Re: "Expensive" 486 system?? (Gameable)

Posted on 2017-11-23, 11:00

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I would think the server-oriented 486 machines would be the most expensive. Perhaps those IBM PS/2 towers with MCA bus, SCSI drives etc?

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Re: Cirrus Logic-GD5424 VLB vs Tseng 4000AX

Posted on 2017-11-22, 12:38

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

badmojo wrote: CL cards on the other hand seem to be consistently very good and very compatible - some have better image quality than others because of the implementation. Yea, getting brand name cards may help. I have a Diamond Speedstar Pro VLB, which seems to have reasonable image quality.

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Re: Cirrus Logic-GD5424 VLB vs Tseng 4000AX

Posted on 2017-11-21, 18:54

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

fsmith2003 wrote: And am I correct in saying there was no version of the Tseng 4000AX in VLB? I think there are VLB versions of the ET4000AX, but they might be rare compared to the later revisions, such as the ET4000/W32,i,p.

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Re: Cirrus Logic-GD5424 VLB vs Tseng 4000AX

Posted on 2017-11-21, 18:13

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

The GD542x series are very good early VLB cards. They will have an edge over the 4000AX. I believe there was a comparison on this forum somewhere, but I can't find it now.

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Re: Umbherc.sys requirements ?

Posted on 2017-11-21, 11:35

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The card definitely has to be in half-mode, I don't know what the default is. 'Half' is the default mode. I have a real Hercules card (GB102), and it has no jumpers or dipswitches of any kind. It has to boot up in half mode in order to work alongside a CGA card, just like MDA does. You should …

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Re: OPL2LPT

Posted on 2017-11-20, 13:38

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Since the Digispeech Port*Able Sound Plus is based on an ESS chip, which, if I'm not mistaken, emulates a soundblaster in hardware, couldn't you just treat it like a soundblaster but instead of using the standard port 220, you use the port for LPT instead? I'm sure its not that simple, I just don't …

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Re: Keen 4-5-6 choppy scrolling on EGA card

Posted on 2017-11-19, 23:08

by

by Scali

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

English isn't my first language and I'm probably not old or obsessed enough to know what "A2286/8" or "Q700" mean. An A2000 is a Commodore Amiga 2000. An A2286/8 is a bridgeboard for the Amiga 2000, which contains a 286 CPU at 8 MHz for PC compatibility. The Q700 is an Apple MacIntosh Quadra 700 I …

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