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IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 Sound Card

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First post, by jbltecnicspro

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Greetings!

Long time lurker, but old computer lover here. After years of being a member of Queststudios (love me some Roland sound modules), I've decided to finally register here.

I got an IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 from someone at my wife's work. He didn't want it anymore and since he knew that I love computers, he thought it would be cool for me to have. It's in pretty decent shape I suppose. I also have an ESS 1688F ISA sound card, but without any disks or drivers. So I tried to install the card in the computer, and for some reason, the card just will not be recognized in any games that I try.

I managed to download some software for it on this site, but alas it doesn't seem to work. I run the ESS config utility on the computer, and it's detected properly. But no matter what I do, the system will just ignore it completely and just default to the PC speaker. Is there something that I'm doing wrong? Are ISA PS/2's generally incompatible? Or do I just happen to have a sound card that's generally incompatible with my setup? Which sound card should I be using with this thing? Thank you!

Reply 1 of 13, by PeterLI

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I had one of these. I recommend a CT1350/1600/1610/1620/1680/1690/2600 or SB16. Have fun!

Reply 2 of 13, by jbltecnicspro

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Thank you for your reply. I'm guessing my issue is because the ESS1688 looks a bit "newer" than the Sound Blaster. It may be plug and play.

Reply 3 of 13, by PeterLI

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I have no idea but @ the time I had a CT1350 & LAPC-I in my 8530 286. It worked great.

Reply 4 of 13, by jbltecnicspro

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Would a CT2230 work with this?

EDIT: You beat me to the punch. Scouring on ebay shows me that there's a CT-1350B for $100! 😲 But you say an LAPC-I worked well with this machine? I would love to throw an MPU card in here one day. 😀

Reply 5 of 13, by PeterLI

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CT2230 should work fine. I do not remember whether you need TSRs for it run to run natively. I have CT2230s but I cannot remember. I am working with a CT2290 in the IBM I am playing around with this month. Just tried Duke Nukem 3D but it is too slow. I guess a 486DX2 66, 8MB RAM, 128Kb cache and Tseng ET4000 integrated on ISA only MOBO does not cut it. 😀

Any MPU should be fine. MIF-IPC(-A) & MPU-401, MPU-IPC(-T), MPU-401AT, SCC-1(A), LAPC-I or any intelligent clone for that matter.

Reply 6 of 13, by jbltecnicspro

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Hmm... Guess the old type is the best since it doesn't require TSR's. My Model 30 only has 1MB of RAM. Thanks a ton, by the way. You've been very helpful. 😀

Reply 7 of 13, by AlessandroB

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I renew this old discussion because I recently got this computer and I was thinking if it was a convenient thing to equip it with a sound card. I exclude the sound blaster 2.0 because I had one and then sold it for not using it and I'm very angry about it so I don't want to see more. how about a clone of an original adlib? would it be usable with games for a slow 286 10Mhz? Thank you

Reply 8 of 13, by Horun

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An Adlib clone should work ok. An ESS 688 or 1688 based sound card should work also, they are jumper set and require little resources...not sure why the OP had a problem with his (maybe did not set the jumpers proper for SB compatibility)

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 9 of 13, by vstrakh

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PnP ESS 1868 has no issues with 286 either, you just include esscfg.exe in autoexec.bat to configure the board on each boot.

Reply 10 of 13, by AlessandroB

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and if i not "exclude" the sb 2.0? is too new for the 286 class hardware/software?

Reply 11 of 13, by vstrakh

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ESS 1868f is few years newer than SB 2.0 and runs totally ok, why do you expect the "too new" issues with SB 2.0?

Reply 12 of 13, by Jo22

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I've used the 688F in a 16 MHz 286, too. I needed the IDE interface back then..
It was jumpered to SB 2 mode, merely , though. Saw no need for SB Pro compatibility (otherwise, I had installed a SB16)..

Edit: The PAS16 works fine in a 286, too. However, it uses SCSI for CD-ROM drives, not IDE/ATAPI.

Edit: ISA Plug&Play software can work on a 286 through the use of EMU386.
Or by using that modern unisound utility.

Edit: I wouldn't worry too hard about period-correctness when it comes to soundcards/CD-ROM drives.

Back in the early-mid 90s, there was a CD-ROM hype and subsequent most PCs were upgraded, no matter their age.

Since soundcards were used as CD-ROM interface cards, too, both were bundled into so-called "multimedia upgrade kits".
That's how I got my PAS16 and my first CD-ROM drive.

Last edited by Jo22 on 2023-03-20, 12:53. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 13 of 13, by AlessandroB

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vstrakh wrote on 2023-03-20, 12:24:

ESS 1868f is few years newer than SB 2.0 and runs totally ok, why do you expect the "too new" issues with SB 2.0?

because i see that the card date was 1991 at the 486 beginning story...

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