GUS Daily Digest Sun, 16 Jan 94 0:07 Volume 10: Issue 16 Today's Topics: Doom & GUS query... EPAS cleanup proposal FAQ entry for DRAM question Gravis Address GUS Daily Digest V10 #15 MechWarrior II _will_ have GUS support!! New Windows Drivers? Mega EM? service Terminator 2029 Voice Recognition - Windows Sound System 2? Standard Info: - Meta-info about the GUS can be found at the end of the Digest. - Before you ask a question, please READ THE FAQ. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 17:02 GMT From: DAVE Subject: Doom & GUS query... Hi all. Yes, I know I'm a bit behind here, but I deleted the messages concerning Doom simply because I didn't have it. Could I ask some kind soul to send me a suitable GUS setup parameter list to get this great game to play music and/or sound FX. Thanks in advance... Jonathan Clark (CSU0001@v2.qub.ac.uk) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 07:57:29 +0100 (MET) From: BlackFunk Subject: EPAS cleanup proposal Since I remember seeing something about low HD space on Epas, I think we should have some "restrictions" on files that should be kept there. Since Epas is a GUS specific ftp archive maybe we could remove the doom zips and any other games that can also be gotten from other ftp sites (uml, uwp, wuarchive, ...), regular MODS & 669S, and non-GUS-specific MIDI files (since there must be other sites that cover MIDI-files, MODS and 669S too). This way there'll be more free space for GUS-specific games/game-patches, utils, etc. Just a proposal & Peace -+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+-+*+- Freedom is free of the need to be free - George Clinton '70 With love there is no death - Prince '86 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 09:59:09 -0800 From: edmonds@cs.ubc.ca (Brian Edmonds) Subject: FAQ entry for DRAM question Perhaps the following entry could be added to the GUS faq. Sure, it's not exactly GUS related, but it seems to be a common question. WHY DO I NEED TWICE AS MANY 256k RAM CHIPS AS I THINK I SHOULD? The DRAMs that you use to upgrade the GUS are 256x4 [1] chips. This means that each chip has (roughly [2]) 256-thousand, four bit memory locations. Since a byte is eight bits, you need two chips to make up the full 256k [3] of memory. You can usually identify these chips by the sequence "4256" somewhere in the identification number printed on top of them. Footnotes: [1] This is spoken as "two-fifty-six by four" [2] The pseudo-unit "k" is taken from the metric system modifier "kilo", which means 1000. In computer usage, however, it actually means 1024 (two to the power of ten, 2^10), so 256kB is actually 256x1024 bytes. [3] Note that "k" is lowercase -- it is technically incorrect to use "K". Also, when referring to bits, "b" is used, and when referring to bytes, "B". For example, each 256x4 chip is 4b wide, and two of them make up 256kB of memory. ----Akira---BGC---KOC---KOR---Riding-Bean---UF---UY----/================ Brian Edmonds (MSc CompSci) aka Jubal@tmi-2 / SCA: Bardas GCS d? -p+ c++ l++ e++(*) m++/- s h- g+ w+ t+ r !y / Lions Gate, AnTir ---Matthew-Sweet--The-The--REM--Leslie-Spit-Treeo---/___inux spoken here ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 11:11:23 -0500 (EST) From: Peter Joseph Guillaume Subject: Gravis Address This to any Gravis rep OR anyone who's had a problem (and more hopefully a solution) with Gravis's address. I'm about to send in my registration card and remembered reading something about the address changing. Does anyone know where I should send it so I don't have all the problems I've read with others? Thanks, -Peter J. Guillaume guillau1@studentg.msu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 17:27:57 -0500 (EST) From: Phat H Tran Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V10 #15 > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 12:29:16 -0500 (EST) > From: Doug Nashold > Subject: 2.06a disks > > My brother got an Ultrasound for Christmas and the MOD player from > the 2.06a disks rots! It only came with 2 mods and the only thing I could > see on the screen was the 4 channel volumes. Any answers? The 2.06a has two MOD players, as I recall. Ultramod, and GUSMOD. Anyway, neither one of these are very good compared to the new players that have come out since they were programmed. My favourites so far are Wildcat's Metal, Future Crew's MDP, and Inertia Player (I forget by whom). Metal and MDP are about tied in my books for sound quality (but Metal does surround sound whereas MDP does not), while Inertia Player has the prettiest front-end (although it requires you to run a player like Metal or MDP first or else it will just lock up). > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 08:55:12 EST > From: eths1306@ele.etsmtl.ca > Subject: DOS4GW > > The problem is that we are seing more and more programs that use the > DOS4GW extender, are these programs unusable if they don't support natively > our Ultrasound ? Since not many company have release softwares that use > directly our card, some of us are getting afraid not to be able to emulate > SoundBlaster any more because of the DOS4GW. The GUS' 32 bit drivers for games that use DOS4GW are very close to completion (the AIL drivers first, followed, hopefully soon, by the Sierra drivers). GUS owners need not feel left behind by games that have moved to protected mode. BTW, most games that use DOS4GW should still work with SBOS if your motherboard's NMI is working. > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 10:15:04 CST > From: Jon Holt > Subject: New drivers && Megaem? > > I've installed the new drivers bundled with Patch Maker Lite, and all is > well in the Windows world. I'm a bit confused about the new ULTRASND.INI > file, and some side effects of it (I think.) > > 1. I have been using Megaem for GMIDI support. I replaced patch #127, > ringwhsl with pistol2 in my old ULTRASND.INI, and Megaem would use > the pistol2 patch. (You guessed it, I haven't finished Xwing yet) > > I attempted to replace this patch in the new ULTRASND.INI file (both > occurances), but Megaem didn't use it. Do I have to switch back to > my old ULTRASND.INI every time I use Megaem? Remember that the new ultrasnd.ini file has many banks, and you have to edit the bank that Mega-Em looks at for its patches. You can cover your bases by editing all the banks so that patch 127 becomes pistol2 (you appear to have done this). However, also make sure that you're editing the copy in \audio\ultrasnd, not \audio\ultrasnd\windows. > 2. What's the deal with the multiple patch sets in the new ULTRASND.INI > file? I get the idea, but how do you actually switch to a different > set of patches from inside a Windows application? Anybody have sample > code to accomplish this? The foundations for multiple banks are just being laid. There isn't a convenient method of using the multiple banks just yet. > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 13:42:57 -0500 > From: Dale Luther Bewley > Subject: What does it all mean?! > > OK, I understand SBOS and I've read a little about miles drivers (havent > had to use them, but I think I get it. BTW are they the same as AILs?), but I > don't know anything about Mega EM. Can someone explain all these different > drivers and ways to get this card to work with games that just don't like it?! > > i.e. When to use which driver? Which driver is better? etc. Miles (aka AIL) drivers are used by many games to produce music and sound effects without worrying about the actual soundcard hardware. They're sort of like Windows drivers -- once you have Windows drivers for your soundcard, any app that uses the Windows MCI interface will work on it. Similarly, once you install the GUS AIL drivers into a game that uses the AIL system, that game will then support the GUS. Sierra drivers are like Miles drivers, but are used by Sierra games only. Same concepts and all. Mega-Em is an _emulator_. It fools software into thinking that you have a Roland MT-32 or SCC-1 and an SB in your machine. Then, when the game tries to use these devices that it sees, Mega-Em intercepts the port accesses and controls the GUS accordingly. What this means is that you don't need to modify a game to add GUS support (AIL and Sierra drivers require that you install them into the games that you want to add GUS support to). However, because Mega-Em requires that it be in control of protected mode (to have a vantage point from which it can trap the port accesses to the virtual Roland and SB), games that themselves enter protected mode render Mega-Em inactive. SBOS is also an emulator, but it uses hardware on the GUS to trap port accesses without relying on protected mode. However, this hardware assistance requires a working NMI (to be 100% compliant with the ISA specs, a motherboard must have the NMI enabled), which some MB manufacturers have decided not to implement. In terms of sound quality, AIL/Sierra drivers have the best, followed by Mega-Em, and then SBOS. Soon, we'll also have AIL32 drivers to play with. :) Phat. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 08:08:38 EDT From: Tad Simmons Subject: MechWarrior II _will_ have GUS support!! I just pulled down the demo for MechWarrior II and, while I haven't gotten to play it yet (I'm at work :( the demo at least includes GUS support through UltraMid. (You shoulda heard me cheer when I saw teh GF1MIDI file :) The demo is mw2demo.zip on ftp.uwp.edu in the /pub/incoming/games directory as of Sat morning. I don't know when the file will get moved to a regular directory, but I thought y'all would like to know. -Tad Tad Simmons, Computer Operator (I feed printers and clean their cages.) University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida (a suburb of Disney World) "I cancelled my subscription to reality. I never used the damn thing anyway." SIMMONS@UCF1VM.BITNET |Owner and general trouble-maker, err... -shooter for SIMMONS@UCF1VM.CC.UCF.EDU| the SUPERGUY mailing list. Mail me for more info. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 23:59:12 CST From: Jim English Subject: New Windows Drivers? Mega EM? hello all, I just discovered the daily digest and want to know about the new windows drivers everyone's talking about and Mega EM. I got the 2.06 install disks off of a CD-ROM. I looked in reference to some msg about the ultrasnd.ini file and i guess it seems i dont have these new drivers. what site can i get them from? and what are the filenames? Also do I get mega EM from a seperate file? Are there new versions of the Patch Manager or the Mixer or new windows stuff? Please E-Mail any answers. Thanks for all help!!! -jim -- ______________________________________________________________________________ Jim English - jenglish@hpc2.keh.utulsa.edu / EJP51823@vax1.utulsa.edu I do not represent the University of Tulsa in any way, but I'm sure if they wanted me too they could easily create another Vice President position and raise tuition. "Oh good heavens baby where's my medicine? Well I must have left it outside with my ettiquette." - Hotel Illness (Black Crowes) ______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 14:08:59 -0500 From: davej@ferry.polymer.uakron.edu (Dave Jiang) Subject: service How long does Gravis people take to fix something and send it back? I sent in my GUS about a month ago and haven't heard anything since then. and the GUS people still haven't contact me or reply my email. Is it just me or do they have terrible customer service? David Jiang ------------------------------------------------------------------ email : davej@eby.polymer.uakron.edu phone: (513) 435-6227 usmail: 207 Carters Grove Rd. FAX : (513) 435-6227 Centerville, OH 45459 U.S.A. ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Jan 94 16:51:46 AST From: Craig Galbraith Subject: Terminator 2029 Hello there! I am having trouble configuring the GUS sound for T2029. The Roland music and SB sound effects last for a little while but they soon cut out once you're into the game...any suggestions as to how I can rectify this problem? I am currently using the new version of MegaEm and choosing Roland Sound Canvas and SoundBlaster as my sound cards when I setup T2029. Any help would be appreciated! Send e-mail to: j5oa@unbsj.ca OR j5oa@unb.ca _ Craig Galbraith ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 19:09:47 +0800 (SST) From: Tan Ken Hwee Subject: Voice Recognition - Windows Sound System 2? Hi everyone, I'm interested in getting a Voice Recognition package for my GUS as well. Yesterday saw a discussion of Voice Assist which works fine with the GUS. How about the new Microsoft Sound System 2.0? For those who don't know, MSS 2.0 is software with separate hardware option. Microphone designed for noisy environments is included. Can anyone comment on this product? Is the Voice Recognition software good? Also, is the provided microphone the type that works with the GUS? Thanks! Rgds, KenHwee TAN National University of Singapore ------------------------------ End of GUS Daily Digest V10 #16 *******************************