First post, by JazeFox
Hi there!
I made a DOS tool for my own use some months ago, but now I decided to release it, because I think it may be useful for someone else, so here it is:
It is called "Unisound", or Universal ISA PnP Sound Card Driverfor DOS.
Current version is: v0.75e (Download link at the end of this post).
UNISOUND is a Freeware DOS-only tool useful to configure and initialize ISA PnP sound cards from serveral brands and models, like ESS, Creative, ALS, CMI, ADI, Yamaha, Diamond tech, Aztech, OPTi, Crystal, community-made ones like Orpheus, AWE64 Legacy... (And also some non-PnP cards, like early SB16 software configurable models which required DIAGNOSE.EXE, are supported). Works on all x86 CPUs (8088/8086/286/386... and higher). Check the TXT included in the ZIP file for full details. To get command line help, use: UNISOUND /H
It is not only an ISA PnP sound card configuration tool, it's more like a driver. To initialize some cards properly, the PnP part is not enough, as a lot of them need further initialization sequences that in most cases are bad documented or no documented at all, or are obscure. This tool tries to be (almost) all-in-one solution, trying to do a full card initialization, and set some mixer values, in only 40Kb. (Some cards as AWE cards, GUS PnP, or Maxi sound 64+SAM, CS4232... require special inits or firmware uploading. That is covered in the tool).
This tool has taken a lot of time, researching over technical documentation of the card's/chip's manufacturers, reverse engeneering, and having some headaches, too.
I wrote a complete TXT (it is included in the ZIP file I attached at the end of the post) to explain it (background, usage, supported cards in this version, special notes, tested systems, version history...).
This tool is FREEWARE! You can use an distribute it freely. If you paid for it you have been scammed!
Here is a small extract of the important parts of the readme (read the TXT in the ZIP file for a more extense explanation):
Extract From 1- Background ========================== […]
Extract From 1- Background
==========================The main problem when you want to use your sound cards, is the
configuration and initialization, as it depends on a lot of stuff, like:
The type of CPU , if the machine has a PnP BIOS or not the PnP software to
use (CTCM/CTCU for Creative, Intel ICU, propietary software for others)
so finally you end up having a lot of files and a big mess of CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT lines.Tired of all that stuff, I wanted to do something to minimize everything
involved to my card's initialization. Only one file, very small size,
(in fact it could be used to be fitted even in a floppy disk together with
a game if you want), and no need for anything else to get a card working,
with mixer settings (Master vol, Wave/DAC vol, FM/Synth/WT vol, Line-in vol,
Mic vol, CD vol and some more for Creative cards like Trebble, Bass...).
Some "useless" stuff disabled by default (Modem, IDE...) Well, IDE is
disabled by default but it is user-configurable with a custom parameter in
BLASTER environment variable Cxxx. Check the Usage section (2) of the TXT
for more info on this.**IMPORTANT WARNING**:
This tool does *NOT* check for resource conflicts, so if you configure your
cards with already used ports, IRQs, DMAs... you may notice problems, like
hangs, corruptions, even damage to your data if you are not careful. You
have been warned!! I am not responsible for any damage.
In addition, this tool does not check if the settings you provide are right
or wrong (only very basic check like usual ranges of addresses and IRQs...,)
and will try to avoid some known issues with duplicated DMAs in some cards...
you are supposed to know what are you doing. *Use at your own risk!!*
Extract From 2- Usage ========================== […]
Extract From 2- Usage
==========================UNISOUND (without options): initializes 1st PnP card found in the system
with internal default resource settings and the following Mixer volume
defaults: ~85% Master vol, 80% Wave vol, 80% FM/Synth vol, 0% Line in vol,
0% Mic vol, 0% CD vol. And for compatible Creative cards, Treble and Bass
levels are 50% by default, and PC SPeaker-in 0%.
Check below for command line options (for more than 1 card present, use
/Cn option, to select the n card to initialize)The tool default values, if no environment variable is found, are (optional
args for some cards with special resources are between brackets):For SB or SB compatible cards:
ADDR: 220, IRQ: 5, DMA1: 1, DMA2: 1, MPU: 330, (AWE: 620), (WSS: 530), (JOY: 200),
(CD-IDE: 0), (OPL: 388), (MPUIRQ: 9)For GUS PnP:
ADDR: 240, CODEC: 34x, DMA1: 3, DMA2: 3, IRQ: 11If BLASTER (or ULTRASND for GUS PnP) environment var is found, UNISOUND will
use its values to configure the card. If not, Unisound default values will
be used.Usage: UNISOUND [options]
Options:
/Cn Select PnP card number 'n' to initialize/read (n = 2 to 5)
/CS Initialize non-PnP Creative card (SB16 & AWE32)
/CL List all PnP cards present in the system
/F Faster PnP detection process
/R Read PnP card current settings only (can be used with /Cn)
/D Disable PnP sound card (can be used with /Cn)
/Vnn Set Master Volume level to 'nn' % (00-99)
/VWnn Set Wave Volume level to 'nn' % (00-99)
/VFnn Set FM/Synth/WT Volume level to 'nn' % (00-99)
/VLnn Set Line-in Volume level to 'nn' % (00-99)
/VCnn Set CD Volume level to 'nn' (00-99)
/VMnn Set Mic Volume level to 'nn' (00-99)
/VPnn Set PC Speaker-in Volume level to 'nn' (00-99) (Creative)
/VTnn Set Treble level to 'nn' (00-99) (Compat. Creative cards)
/VTnn Set Bass level to 'nn' (00-99) (Compat. Creative cards)
/Xxxx eXtened cards settings (see section 5 for details)
/H /? Help screenThe /D Command line option is useful to disable a PnP sound card.
This option will free all card's resources (I/Os, IRQs, DMAs) and will
disable all logical devices. The card will return to uninitialized state.With /CL a numbered list of the cards is presented like this:
------------------------------------------
Card #1 [GRV0001] Ultrasound Plug & Play
Card #2 [ESS1868] ESS ES1868 Plug and Play AudiodriveSome BLASTER env special parameters (optional) can be used for extra config. P.e.:
A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 E620 W530 J200 C168 Rxxx M310 F388 U9 (explained in UNISOUND.TXT)If you only want to check the current settings of a PnP card, use:
UNISOUND /R (or UNISOUND /R /C2 in the ESS example we saw before).There are new eXtended command line options for special features or cards.
The format will be /Xxxx , xxx depends on the card and/or special setting. Check
section 5 in the TXT for more details (Special configs like Orpheus card...)
Extract From 3- Supported cards (check readme for the complete explanation) ============================== […]
Extract From 3- Supported cards (check readme for the complete explanation)
==============================Creative:
----------------------
- All SB16 PnP and non-PnP (but software-configurable) cards, including all
ViBRA16/S/C/XV/CL, Phone Blaster... (No need for DIAGNOSE.EXE for non-PnP)
- SB AWE32 PnP and non-PnP, AWE64, SB32PnP. EMU8K initialization included
- Creative AWE Upgrade card (CT1920) init.ESS AudioDrive:
----------------------
- ES1868F single chip cards
- Guillemot Maxi Sound 64 (ES1868 + SAM9407 versions only).
- ES1869F single chip cards (Compaq branded for now)
- ES968 + ES688 and ES968 + ES1688 dual chip cardsYamaha:
----------------------
- YMF71x single chip cards. OPL-SAX, OPL-SA3, AudioTrix XG-3D...
(Tested with YMF719-S, YMF718-S and YMF715 based cards)Avance Logic:
----------------------
- ALS007 chip based cards.
- ALS1xx chips (ALS100, ALS100+, ALS120)Diamond Technologies:
----------------------
- DT-0197H / DT-0196H chip cards (clone or re-branded ALS chips).Aztech:
----------------------
- AZT2320 chipRockwell:
----------------------
- RWA01x (WaveArtist) chip cardsOPTi:
----------------------
- OPTi 82C925 + AD1845 combo
- OPTi 82C931 and 82C933 chip based cards.Crystal (Cirrus Logic)
----------------------
- CS4232 / CS4235 / CS4236/B / CS4237/B chip based cards
- CX4236/B / CX4237/B chip based cards
- Special support for Orpheus and Turtle Beach Malibu cards (CS4237B)C-Media / AD-CHIPS:
----------------------
- CMI8330 chip based cards. (Audio Excel...)
- CMI8329A based cards (Zoltrix... )AD SoundPort (Analog Devices):
------------------------------
- AD181x chips based cards (AD1816/A, AD1815, AD18max10...).Advanced Gravis:
------------------------------
- Gravis Ultrasound PnP (AMD Interwave chip). With some limitations (see UNISOUND.TXT)Roland:
------------------------------
- Roland Super MPU II MIDI PnP card. Not strictly a sound card, it's a MPU card only, but it's supported for initialization.
Extract From 4- Special notes about some cards (readme for full explanation): ============================ […]
Extract From 4- Special notes about some cards (readme for full explanation):
============================*Notes about Gravis Ultrasound PnP
*Notes about cards with WSS (Windows Sound System) support
*Notes about using some of these cards on 8 bit ISA slots (or XT machines)
*Notes about Guillemot Maxi Sound 64 series (ES1868 + SAM9407 only!)
*Notes about ESS ES1869 cards in very slow systems (XT/8088/8086/286)
*Notes about Crystal CS4232 based cards
Extract From 5- EXtended settings. General or per-card ============================== […]
Extract From 5- EXtended settings. General or per-card
==============================5.2- EXtended settings for Orpheus card
5.3- EXtended settings for Turtle Beach Malibu
5.4- EXtended settings for Opti 925 cards
5.5- EXtended settings for GUS PnP
----------
If it has been useful for someone else than me, I will be pleased 😀
Sorry for the (multiple) bugs the tool could have.
The download (v0.75e): (Updated)
https://mega.nz/file/CEIQACDS#dN47YNyNSFGGYXM … YgtKs_4fdhzWEHU