GUS Daily Digest Fri, 21 Jan 94 0:07 Volume 10: Issue 21 Today's Topics: [RFI] OPTI 495SLC Chipset CDROM pass-thru connector GUS and windows GUS Daily Digest V10 #20 GUS in Austria GUS Midi adapter by mail-order GUS ModPlayers LMSI CROM & Gus Daughterboard Under OS/2 MegaEm and the MT-32. MIDI ftp sites OS2: Gravis SPEAKS! Patches PC-Mag article phone # Rebel Assault + Gravis Joystick Pro Reply to Faster Memory and Memory Prices 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: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 00:18:35 -40962758 (EET) From: Janne Korkkula Subject: [RFI] OPTI 495SLC Chipset I'm "Really-Soon-Now(TM)" going to upgrade my 386/40 motherboard to a 486DX2/66 one. One of the boards I've been offered has the OPTI 495SLC chipset. (I don't know whether or not the 82C206 chip is on it and the boards haven't arrived to the retailer yet so I can't check.) If there's anyone out there with this chipset, could he/she mail me or the list with any comments? I definitely won't take the risk if someone won't tell me it has a fully functional DMA-controller, NMI etc.. Thanks in advance.. -- Janne Korkkula # Krogiuksentie 8B # E-mail: jk@muncca.fi Tel. +358-0-458-2260 # 00340 Helsinki # IRC Nick: JK Fax. +358-0-458-2559 # F I N L A N D # Finger/mail 4 PGP2.2 key ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 11:17:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Kids run for the nutritious taste of Sampo Subject: CDROM pass-thru connector I know this has been asked about a thousand times, but I don't have the urge to sort thru 5M of old digests... Concerning an audio pass thru cable on the GUS, what pins are what? I picked up a texel CDROM- it came with two cables, but one didn't fit and the other didn't get any sound out of the gus. Please e-mail, this one's already been beaten into the ground. Thanks!! Jeff ************************************************************** * "A strong and simple beat * Jeffrey K. Salzmann, * * That you can dance to..." * Rochester Institute of * * * Technology, College of * * -N. Peart * Science, MS & Eng. * * * JKS4675@RITVAX.ISC.RIT.EDU * ************************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 12:23:12 GMT From: C.S.Wood@newcastle.ac.uk Subject: GUS and windows Has anyone out there had trouble with the windows software, in particular, the graphics being corrupted? On patchman, they keyboard down the bottom is all corrupted, and sound converter is virually impossible to use - but still does work if you can work out where the buttons are. I could just about live with the above, but things have just got worse. Now some programs refuse to run - but not all the time. Even more worrying is the fact that it seems to be affecting Borland TC++ 3.1 that I also have installed. It will now only load if you have also got some ultrasound software running (eg mixer). Otherwise, I get the hourglass for 2 seconds, then the pointer comes back, and no windows open. The only thing that I can think of is that all the above software use Borland's library BWCC.DLL. There seem to be different versions of this for different bits of software - does anyone know if it is likely that it is these files that are the problem? Infact, does anyone have any ideas AT ALL about what I can do to fix things? The only solution I can see at the moment is to strip everything down and reinstall - not much fun. Thanks in advance, Chris -- +---------------------------------------+---------------------------+ | Smoke me a kipper, Skipper, | Chris Wood | | I'll be back for breakfast... | C.S.Wood@Newcastle.ac.uk | | ;-) | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 17:01:36 -0500 (EST) From: Phat H Tran Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V10 #20 > Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 12:22:29 +0800 (PST) > From: Francis Li > Subject: !!Attention: GUS & Rebel Assault!! > > If you haven't heard already, if you're having slowdowns and pauses with > Rebel Assaut with the GUS, its because of their sound driver. For some > reason, their sound driver for the GUS slows down the game on some > machines (like mine). The solution is to run the game with NO MEMORY > MANAGER, just the CD-ROM drivers, the GUS's SET parameters, and use SBOS > with Rebel Assault on Sound Blaster. Works for me! Something else that might work is placing your GUS on an 8-bit DMA channel if it's currently on a 16-bit one for Rebel Assault. > Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 16:32:14 GMT > From: Hauxwell James S BSc 1 Mod Comp 93-94 > Subject: .MID files > > I puchased my GUS about 2 weeks ago and I am looking for ftp sites > with .MID files on them, I only have the ones given away with the card > and would like to see what else it can do. > > I have been into the MIDI directory on archive.epas.utoronto.ca > but it was completely empty Look on the wuarchive.wustl.edu mirror of Epas (/systems/msdos/ultrasound, I think) for MIDI/MOD/etc. files which have been deleted off Epas due to dwindling drive space. Note that several of the MIDI files you'll find are not arranged for GM, and thus will not play correctly on the GUS without reworking. Most, however, are sequenced for GM synths. The best way to play MIDI files on the GUS is through the new Windows driver with Linear Volume enabled, and around 24 - 28 active voices. > Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 23:12:50 -0600 (CST) > From: Fitzgerald Jr Steele > Subject: DRAM chips > > 1) Is it ok to get a faster chip? They sold 70ns chips for the same > price. Would the faster chip give better performance? Yes, it's okay. No, they won't improve performance. > Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 11:48:31 -0500 > From: "Michael Grant Wilson" > Subject: MegaEm and the MT-32. > > Is the MT-32 support from MegaEm supposed to include downloaded sounds? > If so: any guesses why I can't get it to happen for me? > If not: is there some reason why this wasn't included? Mega-Em doesn't support MT-32 sound effects generated by custom manipulation of its LA synth. Why not? Because the GUS doesn't have an LA synth chip. Sound effects on the MT-32 aren't just samples, but are built from combining waveforms and samples, so the straight sample playback on the GUS won't be able to reproduce them. In fact, no other card that's "MT-32 compatible" can. Even Roland's own cards, such as the SCC-1, do not support MT-32 custom sounds. > Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 07:13:50 -0800 (PST) > From: mikebat@netcom.com (Mike Batchelor) > Subject: Re: MOD Sample sizes > > Not the GUS Server once wrote... > $ > $ ------------------------------ > $ > $ Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 16:39:45 -0500 (EST) > $ From: Phat H Tran > $ Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V10 #18 > $ > $ Some GUS MOD players are, unfortunately, braindead and do not use > $ memory very wisely and cannot play MODs that exceed available > $ conventional memory. > > They are ALL braindead, in my mind, since none of the GUS players can play > a MOD whose samples exceed available GUS memory. You're stuck with MODs I don't think that this is much to gripe about as there are not too many MODs that are over or near 1 MB in size. > So on-board RAM is not all a bed of roses. I've yet to hear if it is even > POSSIBLE to play samples in "CPU-intensive" mode straight out of main > system memory, let alone seen an app that could do it. Play a MOD in Windows using WinMod Pro or the like. The MOD will be stored in main memory, and be mixed in software. Watch your system come to a crawl as this occurs, though. So, it's certainly possible to play MODs the CPU intensive way on the GUS, but I would rather not play a MOD at all than play it this way. > Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 10:41:03 GMT > From: "D.Morris" (SST Student) > Subject: PRO 2000 > > Hello, > > This may not be the right place to ask this, so if not please redirect me. > > I am planning to buy a Gravis Ultrasound and I have seen an advert for a Gravis > PRO 2000 board. What's the difference/is there a Spec Sheet available for it > somewhere. This board retails at #210 compared to #140 for GUS {pounds sterling} > here in UK. Someone mentioned on the newsgroup that the Pro 2000 is merely a GUS packaged with some games. > Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 11:43:56 +0000 (GMT) > From: Mark Charsley > Subject: What's GUS MAX > > The subject line says it all, what is this GUS MAX thing that gets > mentioned here, and will it be possible to upgrade a normal GUS to it? The Max is basically a GUS with a SCSI interface and 16-bit recording built onboard. You can't upgrade a GUS to a MAX since you can physically only install either a SCSI daughtercard or a 16-bit recording daughtercard onto a base GUS but not both. Phat. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 16:29:30 +0100 (MET) From: Stefan Divijak Subject: GUS in Austria Hi out there ! In GUS Daily Digest #19 someone wrote about the GUS' availability in Germany for about DM 330.- which is about ATS 2310.- . But there's in fact a source for getting it at the much lower price, of ATS 1990.- - you may purchase it at No Internal Everlasting Daily Elderly Recipients May be All You'll Ever Read. Got it ? (I just don't want to write down the store's name here...). Stefan Divjak ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 14:21:23 IST From: Michael Cohen Subject: GUS Midi adapter by mail-order Hi Can someone please email me some names, addresses and telephone numbers of mail-order places in the US which sell the GUS MIDI adapter. (Please include the prices.) Thanks Michael Cohen Bitnet: P85016@BARILVM Computers center Internet: P85016@VM.BIU.AC.IL Bar Ilan University Ramat Gan Israel ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 20:47:55 -0800 (PST) From: Sam Mannaberg Subject: GUS ModPlayers I have DMP and Metal. I'm looking for the any GUS mod player other than these and the ftp site they are on. Many thanks. .Samuel.. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 21:21:28 -0600 (CST) From: Josh Hildebrand Subject: LMSI CROM & Gus Daughterboard Under OS/2 I need your help.. I just got a LMSI CM205 CDRom drive. I got the LMSI cdrom GUS daughtercard. It works just wonderful under DOS. However, I like good OS's, so could someone tell me how to get the drive working under OS/2? I'm not familiar with the CD-ROM drivers for OS/2.. and I have absolutely no idea if one exists for the GUS daughtercard. Please help.. email, digest, whatever it takes.. I read the digest! -- ren@bga.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 15:01:39 +1030 (CST) From: Gavin Subject: Re: MegaEm and the MT-32. >Is the MT-32 support from MegaEm supposed to include downloaded sounds? No. Megaem is a great program but it cannot emulate the Linear Arithmetic Synthesis that the MT32 uses. What you can do is to replace the offending patches in your ultramid.ini with explosions/whatever. These sfx can usually be ripped from the SB sfx file that the particular game uses, and then converted to patches. >I realize that ram is limited, but on a 1Meg gus I'd probably be happy >to have the 768K patch set loaded and have 256K of ram for downloading. It's not a question of size. The new sounds are loaded into the MT32 with sysexs with info like envelope/filter/waveform/pcm parameters, not raw sounds. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 07:33:52 -0800 (PST) From: mikebat@netcom.com (Mike Batchelor) Subject: Re: MIDI ftp sites Not the GUS Server once wrote... $ $ ------------------------------ $ $ Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 16:32:14 GMT $ From: Hauxwell James S BSc 1 Mod Comp 93-94 $ Subject: .MID files $ $ I puchased my GUS about 2 weeks ago and I am looking for ftp sites $ with .MID files on them, I only have the ones given away with the card $ and would like to see what else it can do. $ $ I have been into the MIDI directory on archive.epas.utoronto.ca $ but it was completely empty Try wuarchive.wustl.edu (I forget the dir they are kept in), and ftp.cs.ruu.nl in /pub/MIDI -- Mike Batchelor | mikebat@netcom.com | This space for rent mikebat@qdeck.com | ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 07:30:00 BST From: f.graham@genie.geis.com Subject: OS2: Gravis SPEAKS! ----* Pause for Refreshment *---- We interrupt this idle chat to bring you Yet Another Refreshing Post from the Gravis rep on Genie. Ah, but what comes first? Yep, _my_ ramblings...(hey, come back here!). It's weird how we get such great feedback on Genie and _none_ here lately. There's obviously a lot more people here than on Genie, though we're also picking up a lot of converts on Genie. I guess, a lot of GUS has happenned since no one's stuck with answering the plethora of similar queries this digest (unavoidably) gets, and except for news, we're doing fine ourselves... OK, I posted that you guys were grumbling over the lack of news on the OS2 drivers, this is his response (dim lights, raise curtains; drum roll, and...Action!); --------- (snip, snip) ------------- Category 1, Topic 6 Message 230 Wed Jan 19, 1994 GRAVIS [Adv Gravis] at 00:48 EST A couple of posts today.... First off, with all of you disgruntled OS/2 owners out there... I am not sure what you would like me to reply back to your posts with. I wish too, the OS/2 drivers were completed by now as well. They are under development however. I know this is not the answer you are looking for, but thats the honest truth. We have had a couple of people working on them for some time. We have only in the last couple of months however, been able to find someone whose only task was to work on the OS/2 drivers. Before, the persons working on them were sidelined with other projects. Now it is not for me to say what projects take priority over other ones, but I do know, and can guarantee there is someone on staff who is working on OS/2 drivers with no other sidelines. They will be done, but I cannot guarantee a time right at this point. We are a small company, and do have limited resources, and although that is not much of an excuse, that is the reason why. We have done as much as possible in the last 12 months, including UltraMid, Windows drivers, new install disks, MegaEm, Developer Support, SDK, Patch Maker Lite, SBOS just to name a few. We have not been sitting around doing nothing. We are committed on providing the tools for everyone, including OS/2 users, but sometimes other things take priority. If this seems unfair, then I apologize on behalf of Gravis, but the drivers are coming. Now, with regards to 32 bit drivers, the good news is that Jayeson finished them up last week. We are making them available to all of the software developers including SSI, MAXIS, NEW WORLD COMPUTING (just to name a few) so they can incorporate them into games getting released. We are also hard at work patching recent releases. Jayeson finished patching today the game ShadowCaster from Origin. We will release this patch tomorrow. Jayeson will also speak to Sierra, and help them modify their driver sets for their latest games including QG4. I'll keep ya posted. Bryan --------- (snip, snip) ------------- Savor that news for a moment.......OK, now my questions; 1) what is the full path to epas submit directory? I only have email access and need to put in a ftp request to Genie sysop for the Master of Orion AIL drivers that Jerry Gamache kindly coaxed out. 2) When was the faq last updated? Got mine in August '93... 3) Could someone point me to a good games digest, and how to get a topic list or otherwise subscribe to it? Email's fine, thanx. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 17:52:03 -0600 (CST) From: pjohnso2@ua.d.umn.edu Subject: Patches I had a thought... is there any way that perhaps a patch compression utility could be written so that when a patch is uploaded to the GUS DRAM, it gets squooshed and therefore we could store more patches? I realize patch files don't compress well to begin with... but what if some compress/decompress routine was embedded in say, MegaEm, Ultramid, and other files with a small TSR (if written in assembly, the TSR could easily be under 10K, right?).. well, how to play the compressed patches.. well, how about the TSR be a SMALL TSR (<1K) that points to a file on the hard drive that has extended information about each patch ("extended information" = important patch info lost during compression)... and the TSR fills in any gaps in the compressed patch.. Sounds like a lot of work, but I'm tired of only having one meg of DRAM. What was the final word on a more memory-capable GUS? Does it exist? *Phil ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 12:16:24 +0100 From: f93-maj@nada.kth.se Subject: PC-Mag article Hi there! I was just briefing thru this weeks PC-magazine (Dec 21 issue) and saw that this issues J.C.Dvorak (sp?) feature article/page was on the death of FM-based soundboards and the upcoming of Wave table based synthesis; and guess what! He actually picked the GUS as hid soundcard of choice, giving it a vary positive and quite accurate judgement/short review, not failing to pinpoint the strength of RAM versus the ROM of Roland RAP-10 and Turtlebach cards... Like many manufacturer that get's good reviews from him, Gravis could very well pick _several_ cuts from that article and use in advertising! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 15:42:11 -0500 From: davej@ferry.polymer.uakron.edu (Dave Jiang) Subject: phone # Does anyone know the phone # for GUS in U.S.? The one listed in the manual is in Canada, and for me calling there won't solve much problem... 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: Thu, 20 Jan 94 09:47:32 +0000 From: "|\/|artin" Subject: Rebel Assault + Gravis Joystick Pro First, many thanks to all who replied to my earlier posting about GUS memory. I now have a 1Mb GUS! Now, having got my hands on a SCSI CD-ROM drive, I went out and purchased Rebel Assault. After playing it with the mouse I then went out and bought the Gravis Joystick Pro (I can NOT play RA with the mouse!). However, no matter how I set up the Pro, using gravutil, joycomp or whatever, RA seems to "lose" the joystick after about 5 seconds of playing. When you first get to move the A-Wing, I can get it to move in any direction using the joystick, but after about 5 seconds, it just crashes into the wall, I have no control whatever! The Pro is plugged into my GUS. Any ideas? Cheers, |\/| -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | |\/|artin |/\|ard | email: martin@spira.bri.hp.com Tel: +44 272 228 142 | | | HPDesk: Martin WARD/HPC655 Fax: +44 272 236 169 | +--------martin%wyvern.bri.hp.com%hplb.hpl.hp.com%uucp-gw-1.pa.dec.com-------+ |Support Systems Europe, Filton Road, Stoke Gifford, Bristol, AVON, BS12 6QZ.| +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 10:12:41 MST From: shannon@physics.Arizona.EDU (Shannon Miller) Subject: Reply to Faster Memory and Memory Prices I upgraded by GUS to 1MB as soon as I got it. I went with a local retailer for memory, and it ran me around $45 to go from 256K to 1MB. The faster memory, the better! Just make sure it's at least as fast as the memory the card came with, and make sure that each bank has the same speed of memory (i.e. each row of two chips must be filled with two identicle chips). Otherwise, the faster the chip, the better the performance! ------------------------------ End of GUS Daily Digest V10 #21 *******************************