VOGONS


First post, by dank0

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Hey Guys,
I got this card, it suppose to be SoundBlaster 2.0 Pro. Windows98 shows only SoundBlaster. The HW shows without any issues but it doesn't play (in the windows). Other cards play ok (SB16 or Yamaha card). There is no mixer activated, The volume wheel doesn't react at any position. When i set blaster in DOS to A220 I5 D1 T4 it plays only music in doom, not any effects. The music volume is over-amped, so i need to change the volume down in Doom for music and it plays OK. but not effects.
I tried few SBPRO drivers but without any luck. Do you guys know what SB is this? What confuse me is that on the card is not any Yamaha OPL chip.

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Last edited by dank0 on 2021-06-27, 13:47. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 1 of 10, by dionb

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What makes you think that this is an SBPro2? This does not look like a Creative card in the first place (no CTxxxx silkscreened) and the components are SB2.0, not SBPro 1 or 2.

Reply 2 of 10, by jesolo

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Quite an interesting specimen. Seems to be a later clone of a SB 2.0 with all the different headers for the various CD-ROM interfaces.
Didn't notice any Yamaha OPL chips on the card.

Reply 3 of 10, by dionb

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That "SM64" is the right size for a YM3812 OPL2.

Googling it comes up with a "Sound Zapper" SBPro1 clone where the same relabeled/cloned chip was used (twice). Clearly not this, but probably related.

Reply 4 of 10, by dank0

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@dionb well i tried to find this card and i found this link. This site have picture of the same card (on the bottom) and they call it as SBPRO. I was looking forward to use this card, but so far i have no luck to make it work

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Reply 5 of 10, by mkarcher

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dank0 wrote on 2021-06-27, 07:38:

When i set blaster in DOS to A200 I5 D1 T4 it plays only music in doom, not any effects.

A200 is wrong. The card is jumpered to its default setting A220.

Reply 6 of 10, by dank0

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@mkarcher - yes you are right - that is typo. I meant 220. you can see it on jumper settings - it is 220 5 1

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Reply 7 of 10, by dionb

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dank0 wrote on 2021-06-27, 11:25:

@dionb well i tried to find this card and i found this link. This site have picture of the same card (on the bottom) and they call it as SBPRO. I was looking forward to use this card, but so far i have no luck to make it work

They don't call is SBPRO, they call it "使用创新芯片的声卡", which according to Google Translate is "Sound card using innovative chip". Always take what third party sites say with a pinch of salt, particularly if it's only a single site documenting something.

If it were an SBPro it would either have two OPL2 (or clone) or one OPL3 (or clone). This has a single OPL2. This card is in the wrong category on that site.

Take a look at the SB (non-pro) pics on the same site. This card has the same large Intel 8051 (or clone) as the SB 1.0, paired up with an ancient ceramic EPROM, the same SB1336A as later rev SB 2.0 and a GAL instead of a PAL. It looks like a hybrid between an early and a late Sound Blaster (non-Pro) with a bunch of CDRom stuff added.

That should make it easy to get to work; the fact that AdLib works is good news. Just set base address correct and play around with the type (I think T3 for SB 2.0 would be the best match, but in case of isses try T1 or T2) and then tell games to find it at whatever resources you set it at.

Reply 8 of 10, by BloodyCactus

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strangest clone I've seen a while. chip dates all over the place. its weird to see the giant dip40 8051 next to the plcc 8051, and an giant ceramic eeprom as well.

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Reply 9 of 10, by Tiido

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That EPROM should get dumped, to expand the SB DSP firmware collections.

T-04YBSC, a new YMF71x based sound card & Official VOGONS thread about it
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Reply 10 of 10, by Jager

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BloodyCactus wrote on 2021-06-27, 12:13:

strangest clone I've seen a while. chip dates all over the place. its weird to see the giant dip40 8051 next to the plcc 8051, and an giant ceramic eeprom as well.

CT1336 contains glue logic, while CT1351 (8051 inside) was replaced with 8031 (8051 w/o ROM) + external EPROM.