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Tecra 700CT Gameport not working

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First post, by that1crzywhtguy

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Hey there everyone!

I've been dinking around with my lovely toshiba laptop, and I've rediscovered how capable of a Dos/win9x machine this thing is. It has a quality TFT screen, the (imo) wonderful ESS688 sound card, and I've rarely run into a problem using it (with the exception a faulty backlight inverter I recently swapped and a pair of internal batteries I really oughta get around to changing).

I figured out that if you disable the l1. Cache, it drops the performance almost exactly in line with a 386-25!

So naturally, the next step was to install Wing Commander, and after fighting some issues (irq conflict, not enough conventional memory, adding extended memory), I got it working and working perfectly!

Naturally the next step was to find my Sidewinder 3D pro. I quickly realized that the tecra doesn't have a gameport! My moment of sorrow came and went however, my trusty port replicator II (thank goodness I have the docking station 🤣) to the rescue!

But then this is where I've hit the snag... It didn't work still, not in either mode.

I then booted to windows, and upon trying to add it under Game Controllers, I got an error: YOU ALREADY HAVE THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF SUPPORTED CONTROLLERS INSTALLED. TO INSTALL THIS CONTROLLER, YOU MUST REMOVE A PREVIOUSLY INSTALLED DEVICE.

Of course I have no game controllers installed, so this is nonsense. I tried my Sidewinder Gamepad and same thing. The correct drivers for the ES688 are installed in windows, confirmed no issues in Device Manager. So now...I'm stuck.

Anybody hopefully have any ideas? It will be sad if this pc won't support a stick or a controller, but the port replicator Game Port even has a little joystick symbol above it, so clearly it should be supported and there should be a way.

Thanks in advance.

Reply 1 of 9, by MAZter

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Hewlett-Packard HP4000CT laptop docking station New Media Systems Game Jammer PC card Roland RAP 10/AT Toshiba Tecra 700CT noteb […]
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Hewlett-Packard HP4000CT laptop docking station
New Media Systems Game Jammer PC card
Roland RAP 10/AT
Toshiba Tecra 700CT notebook computer

To use a SideWinder game controller with these devices, install a standard game port or PCMCIA game card in the computer, and then disable the game port on the device. If you have a SideWinder 3D Pro joystick, you can use it in Analog mode.

So try to disable gameport in the Bios first

Doom is what you want (c) MAZter

Reply 4 of 9, by snickersnack

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A wild guess, the gameport on your port replicator might not like digital joysticks. You may want to try a simple analog joystick or see if there is a way to switch your SideWinder 3D Pro into analog mode.

derSammler says here that digital gameport joysticks require the MIDI functionality found on the same port in Soundblasters/ clones of the period:
Is there a DOS-compatible handheld gamepad with analog stick?

Reply 5 of 9, by that1crzywhtguy

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I'll have to see if I can locate one. Currently I only have the sidewinder 3d pro (which is supposed to function as two different analogs in dos) and the sidewinder gamepad.

I sure hope that doesn't mean this gameport doesn't have midi functionality. I'm going to be doing some roland emulation on both of my Rigs, so that would be a Heartbreaker. I really wanted to play WC with that beautiful roland nectar. Would really mean I need a 386 rig instead of this laptop in that case.

Reply 6 of 9, by that1crzywhtguy

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Okay so got more info through some deep specs digging.

The port is definitely designed for midi. "NoteDock II Enhanced Port Replicator (Optional) Part# PA2713U
Two Type III CardBus ready PC Card slots Yes: each slot supports one card
Supported Interfaces Serial, parallel, PS/2 mouse, DC in,SVGA monitor, lock slot,
joystick/ MIDI, audio line-in, line-out, headphone, microphone
It makes sense that MAYBE dos wouldn't pickup the sticks, but I'd expect them to be seen in windows.

At least seemingly midi should work.

I'll track down an all analog controller or stick to at least rule that out.

Reply 8 of 9, by henryVK

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Hm, I did some research out of curiosity, but the only reference I could find was this:

http://www.dosforum.de/viewtopic.php?t=6237

The last post says the ESS 688 supports gameport, or rather, that joysticks work in DOS (but no midi)... it's a different laptop (210CT), though. I think it uses a different Toshiba port replicator than the PA2713U, however, I don't know that that would make a difference since it's the same sound chip.

Reply 9 of 9, by that1crzywhtguy

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Although it's the same chip, there is no guarantee that Toshiba populated the game port functionality on the 700ct.it appears they did populate that function on that other laptop.

If it was populated, shouldn't it show up in the device manager in windows? With my awe32 in my other pc, it lists the card, but also lists gameport.

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