middle_pickup wrote on 2022-11-18, 23:49:
chinny22 wrote on 2022-11-16, 12:56:
If you really want to boot into pure dos the Live! does have some basic support as well, although I'd seriously be thinking about getting an ISA sound card of some type as the first upgrade.
I was kinda wondering about that. I missed out on most of dos games as a kid, and there are a few games I want to experience like System Shock, Daggerfall and some of the Star Wars stuff. What sound card would you recommend?
I'm going to assume you have the onboard YMC sound card as all T500's I've come across included it.
The games you mention all have MIDI soundtracks which is where you will notice the most difference between cards.
Honestly I'd stick with the onboard sound which a XPS T500 should have and play those few games in windows.
The Windows driver can emulate a Sound Blaster Pro but most importantly as slivercr said you'll have XG lite Midi which is on par as say the comparable Yamaha MU10 a much more expensive MIDI module.
If you really do want to drop back to pure dos for some reason I'm 90% sure the onboard sound works but you loose midi (so music)
An interesting idea that would need double checking by someone else is you could attach a external midi device like the MU10 or Roland. But would need confirmation the MPU port works in dos, and midi devices are expensive.
Safe bet would be a SoundBlaster of ESS Audiodrive range of cards. Double check here once you find something for a good price and we can say the Pro's and Con's which all cards have.
I wouldn't get a Yamaha ISA card as basically you have just duplicated the onboard sound, More fun to get something different and you can compare the differences.
Now if you don't any onboard sound for some reason.
SoundBlaster Live - Audigy 2 ZS are great for Windows and EAX and as slivercr already mentioned do have dos support, and while aren't amazing should be enough for the occasional dos session.
Aureal Vortex -Again more of a Windows card which supports A3D but also included dos drivers.
If you wanted an additional ISA card for just dos
The already mentioned Sound Blaster, ESS Audio drive or yes Yamaha YMF cards are popular choices.
problem is ISA cards are going up in price, I'd find any ISA card for a good price and just research/check here rather then been too picky