All parts built into my favorite case, the chieftec midi tower.

UPDATE:

SB-Link / PC-PCI connextor is working now on my i845 mainboard !!!
With the soundchip: ESS Solo-1 ES1938S

I have tried again the ESSINIT batch file with all the pciset commands...

Testing Doom with setting:
music: soundblaster , A220
sound FX : soundblaster , A220 , IRQ5 , DMA1

Music and sound FX is fully working.

When i disconnect the SB-link cable, the sound fx is off and music is still running.

melbar wrote on 2024-01-06, 09:55:

SB-Link / PC-PCI connextor is working now on my i845 mainboard !!!
With the soundchip: ESS Solo-1 ES1938S

I remember SB-Link being tricky to set up with the ESS Solo-1 but I managed somehow as described here.

If it works out, you should see the message "DMA Mode is PC-PCI...ok" after the card gets initialized in DOS.

Well, i guess that you are using not the same chipset and a pentium2/3 based chipset, or non-intelt based?

You are using the ESSOLO.COM initialization.
With this routine, i do not getting PCPCI working.

But with the useful batch file from Kamerat,
PCI sound cards and Chipsets from various manufacturers...

i can set up the register, that full music and fx is working now.
Don't know, if it's still TDMA mode or real PC-PCI mode.

But the DOOM test is the prove: when i unplug the SB-link cable, i am loosing the sound fx.

melbar wrote on 2024-01-06, 10:51:

Well, i guess that you are using not the same chipset and a pentium2/3 based chipset, or non-intelt based?

That was on an Intel 440ZX chipset. Abit ZM6 motherboard, to be exact.

I followed the instructions provided here to edit ESSOLO.INI and force it to use SB-Link. Had to make the file read-only afterwards so that it would keep the setting, but otherwise, it worked fine.

melbar wrote on 2024-01-06, 09:55:

UPDATE: […]
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UPDATE:

SB-Link / PC-PCI connextor is working now on my i845 mainboard !!!
With the soundchip: ESS Solo-1 ES1938S

I have tried again the ESSINIT batch file with all the pciset commands...

Testing Doom with setting:
music: soundblaster , A220
sound FX : soundblaster , A220 , IRQ5 , DMA1

Music and sound FX is fully working.

When i disconnect the SB-link cable, the sound fx is off and music is still running.

Wow! Great news. I will test this with my P4 board (I purchased a different brand -- Yamaha works on my current one but I never got the Solo to work).

mockingbird wrote on 2024-01-07, 18:04:

Wow! Great news.

Well. It's only working with sound FM + sound FX.
When i try to use the general midi, i have no music, but the FX. This is with the PCI register method by Kamerat.

Loading the ESSOLO.COM file, i have anytime the message "TDMA".
Now with DOOM: There is no FX, but music only (either soundblaster or general midi).

Furthermore: i had to remove my soundblaster live card.
This mainboard has some strange behavior when running two "multimedia" devices simulaniously.
--> i do not get the Solo-1 running on IRQ 5.

Second: With the PCI set register mod, the MPU401 is not working.
I have tried to play some Roland music with my UM-one MIDI/USB device, but is failing....

So, there is something strange with this soundcard or simply the PC-PCI DMA request on this i845 platform...

melbar wrote on 2024-01-08, 20:06:

So, there is something strange with this soundcard or simply the PC-PCI DMA request on this i845 platform...

Ah ok then, I will leave that then because I remember experimenting with it for days and getting nowhere... I think there was some special sauce in his ROM on his card, but he could not dump it for me. The Yahama cards do work perfectly on this board with SBLink, but no Yamaha card exists with a wavetable header. It does work perfectly with the wavetable plugged in the gameport (you need a special adapter for that).

All that said, I possess a second i845 platform and I'll test the Solo on that and report back.