GUS Daily Digest Fri, 18 Feb 94 0:07 Volume 11: Issue 16 Today's Topics: .ini files, and 70ns RAM Carmen Sandiego - CDROM converting sound bits Cool Mods, where? Crashing problem... Enigma MIDI or MODs plus JUMP in MIDI FS5/SBOS lockups (again) GUS-MIDI: Windows gusbos GUS Daily Digest V11 #10 GUS Daily Digest V11 #15 Hey! Where's my awesome Civ sound? Megaem,Ultramid problems RAM chips at Radio Shack?? SBOS -O3 SSI demos with Ultrasound support 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: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 11:35:02 GMT From: Clarke Brunt Subject: .ini files, and 70ns RAM >I really can't understand, why there must be so #%&#@$ many configuration >files with the GUS!! If someone has some sensible information about these >files, please let me know also...! >The problem is, that I'd like to use also other patches than the original >GM -patches with CakeWalk Pro 2.0 for Win, and I haven't yet succeeded in >it other way than moving new patches in PatchDir and editing DEFAULT.CFG >and ULTRAMID.INI.. But then Windows complains something that "Wrong PATCH >version" or smthg when starting... and it's also quite annoying to do this >every time I want to use different patches...! It's not that bad really. Surely for all Windows MIDI programs, its ultrasnd.ini (in the directory where the ULTRASND variable points) that should be being edited? DEFAULT.CFG is for PLAYMIDI which I have hardly ever used, and ULTRAMID.INI is for ... well I don't really know because I've not used ultramid. Admittedly, different versions of everything coming in faster than we can download them is a bit of a nuisance. People are trying to mix different bits from different version and getting problems. What we need is a clear statement of what someone needs to install, preferably starting from a disk with no UltraSound software on it at all, in order to have an up to date working system. My (probably incorrect) version of events... You should have received (by mail, or with the UltraSound) a 2.06 disk set including MidiSoft and PowerChords. gus0025 through 30 (2.06L) are the same as this but without MidiSoft and PowerChords. gus0034.zip updates to 2.06a, just minor changes gus0035.zip is new windows drivers pmak110.zip is PatchMaker Lite and has even newer Windows drivers gus0038.zip is a completely new disk set but without MIDI patches and bonus programs. You need 2.06 MIDI patches with this. PatchMaker Lite is included, so you don't need to bother with pmak110. And finally, we hear today from John Smith gus0040.zip includes some updates to gus0038, and gus0041.zip is a complete replacement for gus0038, including the updates. So what it seems to me that you should do is install 2.06 (or 2.06a) from somewhere. Then layer gus0041 on top of it. This may ignore some intermediate versions of SBOS, in which I am not interested. I'm glad I hadn't yet bothered downloading gus0038! I'll just be patient for a little longer yet, and then maybe get gus0041, unless by then we are up to gus9999! >Using Recording Session I moused-in some music. It has four tracks, >two with drums and two with the Hammond organ patch. It sounded very >good. I saved it as a .mid file. Next day when I tried to play it, >the drums were extremely loud and the organ hardly audible. When I >try the patches in Patch Manager, their volume is alright. >What's wrong? Could be a log/linear volume problem. What program did you try to play your MID back with? Have you got log or linear volume checked in the Windows driver setup box? >Is it okay to upgrade my GUS with 70ns RAMs, when the two I've got >there from Gravis are 60ns ones? Will it have any effect on GUS's >performance? Yes, anything faster than 100ns should be OK, and no it won't affect performance. This is getting a VERY FAQ, but the GUS allows a fixed time (presumably a bit more than 100ns) for the chips to have their data ready. If it is ready after 60ns, then great, but the GUS will still wait for 100ns, so no performance gain. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 09:02:36 -0800 (PST) From: Mark Harrison Subject: Re: Carmen Sandiego - CDROM > From: "Robert G." > Subject: Carmen Sandiego - CDROM > > I am a novice sound board and computer user. I current;y am using as IBM > clone 486 33 with 8mg Ram and a Brand X VLB video card. I have attempted > to run Carmen with SBOS 2.8 and the -o1 parameter. I get the music but > not the other sounds. Can anyone assit with how to get all of the sounds. Use Megaem with the MT32 switch. A few noises will sound a little strange, but at least you'll hear them and not have the game crash. Mark Harrison ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 08:54:57 -0600 (CST) From: Antonio Guia Subject: converting sound bits can anyone tell me of any programs which may be available which can convert sound from 2-bit, 3-bit, 4-bit, etc to different bit formats? I have some 2-bit, 3-bit, and 4-bit sound and would like to convert it to 8-bit at least, and i would like to take some of the 8-bit sound and convert it to 2, 3, and 4-bit. i'm not sure if it's signed or unsigned. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 94 20:14:09 CST From: Jim English Subject: Cool Mods, where? I'm looking for some cool MODS and the like (ultratracker stuff etc) email me if you know of/have something espically unique. -jim -- ______________________________________________________________________________ Jim English - jenglish@hpserv.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: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 13:04:53 -0800 (PST) From: Art Lowery Subject: Crashing problem... Does anyone have any ideas why I cannot run ANY dos based games with Any type of gus support? I have tried all the sbos's , megaem, ultramid, and it always relts in a complete crash less than a minute into any dos based game. I have never had a problem in windows, however? Any suggestions? I have just about eliminated a software problem, and am suspecting some kind of memory conflict. Going to try removing the modem and anything else I can tonight. UGH!!! 486dlc40,gus, boca modem, dexxa hand scanner, mitsumi 2x cd, cirrus svga, idei/o. I have crashes in all dos based games, including Hardball III, seventh guest, and many more. Have 4 megs, with 629k conventional under dos 6.2. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Art ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 94 22:06:00 CST From: Jim English Subject: Enigma MIDI or MODs plus JUMP in MIDI Im looking for any MODs or MIDI files of Enigma stuff, also im looking for a MIDI version of Van Halen's Jump. thanks for any help -jim -- ______________________________________________________________________________ Jim English - jenglish@hpserv.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: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 22:47:19 -0500 From: Martin H Rogers Subject: FS5/SBOS lockups (again) Probably my last cry for help on this, since I've seen absolutely no response to my previous posts... I've tried the new SBOS 3.81 (from GUS0039.ZIP) with the same lack of success as any other version of SBOS later than 2.08. I consistently get a hard lockup requiring a machine reset (or power off in some cases when it seems like things got too screwed up hardware wise) at the opening graphic, about the time the engine sounds would normally start under SBOS 2.08. This happens with and without the FS5PATCH file. I'd appreciate hearing (e-mail) from any other 386 owners that have this working. I know of one other who has the same type problem, but have heard of no others (he has a 386dx/40). My machine specifics: Intel 386dx/33, 64Kcache, Cyrix 387, Chips 80c206, SIS other chips, 1MB GUS on 220,7,7,11,7; WD2250, modem, cheap hand scanner, MS DOS 6.2, no double space, EMM386 for memory manager...nothing that has caused any trouble before... On a side note, I finally got the GUSTRIT (and got it working after I got the new ultrinit (v2.18)). It's OK, but not great -- fuzzy sound IMO. Also, I really hate it when demo programs won't let you make a graceful exit -- either suffer through it all or reboot. Ciao. -Martin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 94 23:43:18 -0500 From: ap641@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Hank Leukart) Subject: GUS-MIDI: Windows I'm having a problem with using GUS in Windows. Some songs will play, and some will not, for no apparent reason. Does anyone have any idea? When I use the Media Player, the scroll bar scrolls as if it is playing the song even though there is no sound. I have a hunch that it *might* have something to do with the size of the song. My GUS has 1024k of RAM. A similar problem occurs when I use the WMP MOD player for Windows. MODs play correctly in mono, but when I set the configuration to stereo, no sound is played. Thanks... -- **** ** *** *** ** **** : CALL OF THE | Hank Leukart * * * * * * * * * * * : SHADOWS | (ap641@cleveland.freenet.edu) **** **** *** * * * **** :Apogee//Cygnus| "Official" DOOM FAQ Writer * * * * * * ** * * : Mid-February | DOOM v1.2 to be released SOON! ------------------------------ Date: 17 Feb 94 08:45:09 PST From: pil!zapo@PacBell.COM (Zapo Zapper) Subject: Re: gusbos Regarding: GUS Daily Digest V11 #15 > Subject: gusbos2b.zip > Howdy! > I recently ftp'ed gusbos2b.zip from epas and I was wondering if anyone else > had tried toying with this program. The lack of documentation and the fact > that the copyright information listed "Sphincter Software" would seem to > indicate that the file in question is bogus. Since I ran the 7k executable, > I'm curious to know whether or not this is the case. I've run three different > virus scanners on the files contained in the zip, but so far I've been > unable to locate any viruses, trojans, etc. A quick scan of my HD using > Diskfix and Norton Disk Doctor failed to indicate anything out of the ordinar > Any help (and thus piece of mind) that could be provided would be greatly > appreciated... > jpq0042@tamsun.tamu.edu Don't worry about it. I've scanned it w/every scanner I have, and it's clean. Send it to your SB owning friends, it's hillarious. -Scott ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Public Image Limited VBBS (510) 831-3634 [ASV] Guest Account open Home of VUUCP/2 USENet Interface! [VSP] VBBS 6.10 [Primary Dist. Site] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 07:12:47 -0800 (PST) From: mikebat@netcom.com (Mike Batchelor) Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V11 #10 Not the GUS Server once wrote... $ $ ------------------------------ $ $ Date: Fri, 11 Feb 94 18:01:15 -0500 $ From: liaor@churchst.ccs.itd.umich.edu $ Subject: DPMI/VCPI/XMS/EXTENDED etc. $ $ Thank you, whoever, for giving a good, brief explanation on what all these $ DOS extenders are about. Just curious, someone told me that XMS and $ extended memory aren't the same thing. Extended memory is sometimes used $ synonymously (but incorrectly) with XMS RAM, but actually XMS is the $ specification for addressing extended memory. Extended memory is something $ like linear-mapped RAM, unlike expanded memory (which is accessed through $ "bank") ? That was me, and I'll be brief again. You are correct. Extended memory is "linear" memory, in other words, absolute physical memory addresses are used to address it, as opposed to "logical" addresses, which the 386 mapping registers allow you to set up. This is how "high RAM" is created - extended memory is "mapped" into new logical addresses between 640 and 1M. XMS is a way to address this extended memory in a standard manner. Expanded memory is another horse entirely. It is bank switched memory, and on a real EMS board, the expanded memory has no association at all with any extended memory installed. The CPU cannot address expanded memory on a board at all. Instead, it is "bank switched" 64K at a time into the "page frame", a 64K window that IS in the CPU's address space. A 386 or better CPU can emulate this bank switching behavior with the proper software, using the extended memory installed on the motherboard. Naturally, an XT cannot address anything above 1Mb, and expanded memory was the way to get around this limitation in the old days. $ Anyway, why is DPMI better than VCPI? And why do fewer memory-managers $ support DPMI as opposed to VCPI? DPMI is newer, VCPI is older, and more widely utilized. About a half-dozen programs on the market today actually *require* DPMI services to be available, in order to run in protected mode. All others fall back to using VCPI if DPMI is unavailable. DPMI is thought to be superior to VCPI by many, because it keeps applications (clients) from gaining total control of the PC, and so it is supposed to offer better crash protection. VCPI allows a client program to completely usurp control of the PC (runs at "ring zero" as the lingo calls it), so a VCPI client could trash the machine if it wanted to (intentionally or not). DPMI clients are not supposed to be able to crash the machine. Ask a Windows user how successful this approach is. :) -- Mike Batchelor | UseLinuxUseLinuxUseLinuxUseLinuxUseLinuxUseLinuxUseLinux mikebat@netcom.com | xuniLesUxuniLesUxuniLesUxuniLesUxuniLesUxuniLesUxuniLesU ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 08:56:38 -0500 (EST) From: Phat H Tran Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V11 #15 > Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 23:53:13 +1100 (EST) > From: Shan Yap > Subject: [Help] "Gustrit" & "Nothinon" not working ! > > Greetings, > I had just D/L both "Gustrit" and "Nothinon" from Epas recently, > and they both "unzip" fine on my machine. However when I tried to run > Triton's demo, the demo ran well but it did not produce any sound ! As > for the "Nothinon", when I tried to run it, it will just return me to the > Dos prompt without showing any error messages! OTHO all other GUS > applications/demos run just fine. > Anyone knows what's happening here? Thanks in advance. If your ultrinit.exe is version 2.13 - 2.16, and your GUS is revision 2.x, then the problem may lie in the fact that those versions of ultrinit do not correctly initialize your GUS. The latest GUS software (gus0040/gus0041.zip) has this problem fixed. > Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 22:55:24 -0800 (PST) > From: Chicken In a Biscuit > Subject: Autoexec.bat and Config.sys > > Hello! The other day when I got a new HD, I had a few problems getting > it to work. During my travails with said HD, my autoexec.bat and > config.sys files got ...um...erased. Ooops. Silly me. > > Anyway, I can't remember all of the lines that were in it from before, > so could anyone _please_ send me their copies? > > I tried doing setgus, but it said I need the install disks to do that. > However, I don't feel like fishing around for my old 2.06 disks or > downloading gus00038 for another 1/2 hour, so I turn to you. Please! My You might not want to DL gus0038, but you probably should get gus0040 or gus0041 to fix the bugs in gus0038, and also to properly configure your config.sys and autoexec.bat. > Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 14:13:19 -0600 (CST) > From: Jonathan Paul Quick > Subject: gusbos2b.zip > > Howdy! > > I recently ftp'ed gusbos2b.zip from epas and I was wondering if anyone else > had tried toying with this program. The lack of documentation and the fact > that the copyright information listed "Sphincter Software" would seem to > indicate that the file in question is bogus. Since I ran the 7k executable, > I'm curious to know whether or not this is the case. I've run three different > virus scanners on the files contained in the zip, but so far I've been > unable to locate any viruses, trojans, etc. A quick scan of my HD using > Diskfix and Norton Disk Doctor failed to indicate anything out of the ordinary. The *.txt file for gusbos2b says that it's a GUS emulator for the SB. I somehow doubt it. Let's hope it's a harmless prank and not something more vicious. > Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 22:38:12 -0400 (EDT) > From: Kids run for the nutritious taste of Sampo > Subject: King's Quest on CDROM > > Has anybody figured out a way to get either Mega-em or AIL to run with King's > Quest IV? AIL drivers aren't used by Sierra games. > Mega-em's MIDI works brilliantly, but the SB emulation is clipped off after > about 1/2 second or so. A couple of things to try: Change your GUS IRQ(s) to something else if either one of them is on 7. Configure the GUS for various DMA channels (try channels 1 to 7). > Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 20:58:35 -0500 (EST) > From: Gary L Thompson > Subject: Police Quest 4, GUS, and Windows > > Has anyone been able to install PQ4 (disk version) through windows and get > the GUS drivers to load the correct patches when starting the game? > > I have tried loading various midi files and then starting the game, and > though I get music, I am certain I am not getting everything. The music > sounds different (different mix of instuments) depending which midi file I > load. You need to preload the patches. Read Ultra Help Patch Caching for more information on how to do this (it's not as simple as playing load1024.mid as some seem to believe). Be sure to change MIDI Mapper and your GUS driver's mode (hi-fi or conserve memory) back to normal after playing the game to get the best sound from apps that do support patch caching. Phat. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 94 22:03:42 +0200 From: Yossi Oren Subject: Hey! Where's my awesome Civ sound? Hello brethren. I dug up a copy of Civilazation (that ancient simulation from MPS) since I remembered it sounded great on my old SB and had Roland support. I type MEGAEM -NOEMS, then EMUSET -MT -SS, then run the game as Roland. The instruments seemed a bit strange but they were generally what I wanted. Now what's really strange is that IT DOESN'T SEEM ANY BETTER THAN MY SB! This is really wierd since the MT32 should be much better. I'm peeved that there's no timpani in the intro, and the strings come out as guitars, etc... Has anybody done any strange ritual and achieved at least SB-class sound on this game? How about that "custom sound driver" option? Do I need to get a Rebel Assault .IMS file? A Miles driver? A custom exec? Please help. Thanks, Yossi. +---+---+---+---------------------------------------------------+---+---+ | = | E |_|/| Signature 1.2 | V | ^ | +---+---+---+---------------------------------------------------+---+---+ |Yossi Oren, Al-Daf Engineering Ltd., Rishon Le-Zion, Israel. Help | ++-----------------------------------------------++--------------------++ ||Internet EMail:LIOREN1@WEIZMANN.WEIZMANN.AC.IL || The people are with|| ||Bitnet EMail:LIOREN1@WEIZMANN ++ the Golan Heights! || || "Even if you do live in this country, it doesn't mean ++ DOOM!! || || you have to behave like an animal." --Nati || GUS!! || +=========================================================++============+ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 94 9:24:29 CST From: rrb@iex.com (Dick Barbour) Subject: Megaem,Ultramid problems I have problems with both Megaem and Ultramid. Everything else works with my GUS, even with a co-resident SBPro (retained mainly for the CDROM interface; all their DMAs and IRQs are separate; GUS uses 240,7,7,11,5) However, Megaem locks the system completely (won't even respond to CTL-ALT-DEL) right after printing the line about emulations available (yes, I have tried it with -SBOFF). Ultramid doesn't get anywhere, but blanks the screen and then reboots by itself. By the way, I can't use SBOS because of the notorious NMI problem; could this be the cause of the other problems also? I have the latest gus0038 files, and as I say, all else works fine. Thanks for any suggestions. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 09:46:31 -0600 From: Mike Surgeon Subject: Re: RAM chips at Radio Shack?? >I was in Radio Shack and I saw their 256x4 RAM chips on sale: 9 for >$24.95 (Cdn) regularly $49.95. >The only thing is that they are 120ns. The chip number is TMS4256-12NL >first line, then HH948 001 S on the next line... I don't know the >manufacturer, but the "watermark" on the chip is I think an outline of a >province or state with an italic "i" inside... maybe Intel? >Anyone know if these are OK? Can one mix the 120ns chips with the 70ns >chips that were supplied with the GUS? Will there be any noticable >performance deficiency (with a 386-33, 8-bit DMA since 16 doesn't work on >mine...)? A check of the TI data book shows that these are 256K x 1 and not 256K x 4. The TMS44256 are x 4 devices. They are apparently sold in sets of 9 for PC memory use (remember when PCs used 36 of these chips to get 1 Meg?). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mike Surgeon _, FlightSafety International, )\/\ . / _ (_ _ _ _ _ __ Visual Simulation Systems / )_(_/<_(-___,_)_)_)_/(_(_)_(-_(_)_) ) 2590 North Highway 94 ) Saint Charles, MO 63301-0037 Email: surgeon@vss.fsi.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ How do I spell Clinton agenda? - S O C I A L I S M ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 94 21:20:44 +1030 From: jordan.noblet@adam.com.au Subject: SBOS -O3 > Date: Mon, 14 Feb 1994 21:29:54 +0100 (MET) > From: Rickard Falk > Subject: The sbos -o3 option > > Do anybody know why sbos can install it self when I use the > -o3 option, but if I don't use the -o3 option it only gives > me "nmi disabled"? Don't sbos use the nmi if I use the -o3 > option, or? It's strange, isn't it? The NMI error doesn't actually pose that much of a problem, all you have to do is load sbos -o3 first, and THEN you can load it with any configuration you like. (ie, just sbos for normal configuration, or sbos -x2, etc...) The only real problem with this (that i can see) is you have to load sbos twice. just use the -p switch when you're really sick of the 'sbos installed' voice :) But of course, my opinion is to not use SBOS at all, but to use mega-em instead :-) ---jn ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Feb 94 14:22:53 EST From: brian@ee.cornell.edu (Brian Kelley) Subject: SSI demos with Ultrasound support To anyone who is interested, 5+ megs of SSI demos with Ultrasound support can be found via anonymous ftp at wuarchive.wustl.edu in the pub/msdos_uploads/demos directory. Here is the text file: Welcome to the SSI Spring 1994 Software demo. This CES demo was put together by SSI and The Future Crew, and includes demos for Great Naval Battles II, The Genie's Curse, Dark Legions, and Ravenloft! Just run the Install program and enjoy! The demo supports the Gravis Ultrasound, SoundBlaster, and the SoundBlaster Pro, and requires 600k of free memory to run. brian brian@marvin.ee.cornell.edu ------------------------------ End of GUS Daily Digest V11 #16 *******************************