VOGONS


Reply 20 of 43, by ih8registrations

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None that I've tested so far. MPS used the same file names and arrangement but I've never found any of their files interchangable. I suspect their "driver" files are meta files that include data; reusing things only at the source code level. If there was a fm or midi to sid converter and the drivers were reverse engineered ssi drivers could be retro implemented. Implementing sid output for scummvm would be an easier start though. That'd be a cool project; should pitch it to some sid fanatics:) Closest thing I found so far is a conversion table: http://www.elmerproductions.com/sp/peterb/sounds.html
Actually, an on the fly midi to sid would be better as then one could just select the sid midi device for midi playback.

Reply 21 of 43, by evo

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vasyl wrote:

Innovation driver file in U6 is one of the smallest audio drivers there (the only smaller driver is Roland). The file itself is barely 1K binary, should not be that difficult to analyze. Also, the game does not check for the card presense. Just setting that card and watching port 280 (or whatever you pick) may provide sufficient information.

Dam you were faster, I don't have internet at home, so I couldn't notice. But as you already said, it was easy and fun and I learned how dosbox audio system works. Actually I like the way how it is done.

The "hardest" part in analyzing the driver was obtaining the unpacked copy. The initialization routine simply sends 0 to ports 280-298. The rest is basically just a timer handler that sends data to those ports.

The only real problem I encountered was finding the correct clock value for timing of the SID. The C64 used either 980kHz or 1.0?MHz. But tones in U6 seem to be too low (can someone confirm this, my ears suck at this 😀

I added my hack for reference.

Reply 22 of 43, by Great Hierophant

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The only real problem I encountered was finding the correct clock value for timing of the SID. The C64 used either 980kHz or 1.0?MHz. But tones in U6 seem to be too low (can someone confirm this, my ears suck at this

I did not see a clock crystal on the poor pictures of the Innovation board available to us. I assume then it must use the system clock of 14.31818MHz (available on the ISA bus) and a divider circuit to bring the chip down to an appropriate clock level. The NTSC SID would have been operated at 1.023MHz. If Innovation wanted to get close to that as possible, they would have used a divide by 14 circuit and would have hit the money right on the nose. I note that the NTSC C-64 uses the same system master clock (14.31818MHz) as the IBM PC, Apple II and probably the Atari 8-bit computers. So I sincerely believe the SID on the Innovation would be clocked at 1.022727MHz.

It is important to remember two things about the Innovation. First, as an American company it have tried to keep to the NTSC spec. Second, the idea was to allow programmers to easily port their music to from the C-64 to the PC, so keeping the clock of the SID as close as possible to the C-64 would be necessary. Otherwise the programmer would have to spend some real time tweaking the music again.

Reply 23 of 43, by vasyl

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Sounds very reasonable. I should update my patch to NTSC frequency value -- it uses 985KHz right now. Not that the difference is dramatic, it's just 4%.

EDIT: Updated the patch.

Reply 24 of 43, by vasyl

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A little update about Lexi-Cross. I've got a "guaranteed good" copy in a box and it definitely does not support Innovation board. In fact, the copy floating around is fairly clean and complete (a few puzzles appear to be played though). The box does mention "Innovation," it also says "Most sound boards supported" on the side. That green sticker on the front is not a sticker, it's printed as part of the box. Digging through files, there is "MUSIC" with Roland music and "ADLIB" with Adlib/SB music; looks like there is no music on Tandy. I would speculate that the box was made before the game was complete, and by that time nobody cared for that particular board.

Reply 25 of 43, by MobyGamer

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I can confirm Lexi-Cross (own the original) does NOT support Innovation, even though it has it on the box.

If you guys come up with a list of corrections (which games DO and DO NOT support Innovation), I'd be happy to directly alter the MobyGames database to be accurate. Let me know.

Reply 26 of 43, by Xelasarg

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Aww, I had no idea...

Just tried Ultima VI with ykhwong's build, and it actually sounded like my good ol' C64...
That brought a little tear to my eye 🙄 - nice!

"What's a paladin?!"

Reply 28 of 43, by Great Hierophant

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As we have already proved how the SID was implemented on the Innovation board, his plea doesn't have the same power to compel anymore. The pictures show that it is a SID and a gameport with a mono RCA jack. I am sure you can implement that with a 6582 and the eleven logic chips as shown on the board. Also it had jumpers to select four sets of addresses and a joystick enable/disable jumper and josytick sensitivity jumper. All this can be created by anyone with a good understanding of ISA hardware.

Reply 29 of 43, by ih8registrations

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Discovered Falcon A.T. has innovation support. Select "innovation" from the options pull down menu.

Reply 30 of 43, by MiniMax

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The discussion about what and when new stuff gets integrated in the official DOSBox distribution has been moved to a separate thread:

Principles for getting new stuff into the official version?

DOSBox 60 seconds guide | How to ask questions
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Reply 31 of 43, by Penya

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Hi all!
I have one Innovation SSI 200.
How can i make it work? Any driver or something?
I got it from 1 euro in a flea market. I even didnt know what is it, just noticed the sid chip, and bought it.

Reply 32 of 43, by kreats

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pictures please? the existing ones are poor.

Reply 33 of 43, by vasyl

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Yes, definitely! As high resolution as you can get.
Do you have a proper hardware to try that card on? It would be very interesting to get some recordings and compare to what we have right now in the patch.
You don't need any drivers for that card. Just get Ultima VI or any other game mentioned in this thread as supported and run sound configuration.

Reply 34 of 43, by ih8registrations

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I did some sleuthing.

So first there was the press release posted on various sites, which I looked up the actual post on google groups:

Innovation Music Synthesizer SSI-2001 1989

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.synt … 6276751c695bfca

Now, there's a couple names from the posting, the one who posted it, George H. Heymann, and Kris Backhaus, stated in the press release to be Innovation's Sound Sales Director.

Searching on google groups shows George H. Heymann isn't affiliated
with Innovation, just someone interested in getting a sound card.
He made one other post referencing the Innovation, same day as his other post, this was his first, a few minutes before posting the SSI-2001 press release:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.synt … 79eacc146740a6c

Doing a web search for Kris Backhaus comes up with a very short list of a guy, inluding a facebook account:

http://es-es.facebook.com/people/Kris_Backhaus/1159764434

Doing a web search for "Innovation Computer Corporation" comes up with an old article on a clone they did:

1010XT 1987

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?re … &pagewanted=all

Going back to George Heymann's first post, he included the address of Innovation Computer Corporation. 1325-1327 Juniper Street
Cleveland, Wi. 53015

Adding the address to Innovation Computer Corporation to a google search came up empty but just Innovation and most of the address, sans "1325-1327", and wala, pay dirt. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=fir … 015&btnG=Search

We now have Innovation, the maker of the SSI-2001 sound card, still alive, and still at the same location, now calling themselves "American Innovation."

http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Americ … WI.920-693-8494

From this: http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_6q21jx It's says started in 1991, but being they were producing hardware as far back as 1987, that would likely be when they reincorporated as American Innovation.

Anyway, there's two leads for getting more info on the card.

BTW. the review of the xt clone reaffirms the address, mentioning Cleveland, Wis.

Reply 35 of 43, by Cloudschatze

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Two years back, I did my own bit of research. I found a "Kristin" Backhaus, who is a professor at a New York university, and gave her a call. Not the right person...

I also found two Usenet posts from former owners of the card. I tracked-down and called one of them (you can imagine how awkward that might have been.). No dice...

The other lead was a bit more promising. This individual had posted an ASCII depiction of the card, back in 1991, and seemed to think that he might still have it. After several months of correspondence, he finally gave up searching through his old stuff.

Penya, on the other hand, actually does have the card...

Reply 36 of 43, by ih8registrations

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Innovation the company is found though. Penya, on the other hand, hasn't been heard from since posting his only post on vogons saying he has the card...

Reply 37 of 43, by Cloudschatze

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ih8registrations wrote:

Innovation the company is found though.

I'm not convinced that it is the same company, but even if so, I'm not sure how useful they might be. Unless, of course, they know the whereabouts of a secret stash of SSI-2001 cards. 😀

I corresponded with Penya for a week or two following his post. I was hoping that he might show up again to provide this himself, but here is the photograph he sent me.

Reply 38 of 43, by ih8registrations

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Yes, there is the remote chance that a company, also in the computer business, using the same root word for the company name, residing in the same location, is a different company. There's also a less remote chance someone will know of it and still have some related material.

If you're still in contact with him, should ask or a shot of the back of the card and anything else it came with. From what I can tell from the pinout, looks like only io, data, address, ground, voltage, irq(volt and irq not in view but would need to be there) are connected, no dma.

Reply 39 of 43, by Cloudschatze

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ih8registrations wrote:

Yes, there is the remote chance that a company, also in the computer business, using the same root word for the company name, residing in the same location, is a different company.

It's a more-likely scenario than you might think. Have you actually tried contacting anyone from this company? I ran into the same dead-end a few years back; perhaps you'll have better luck.