GUS Daily Digest Wed, 6 Apr 94 9:37 PST Volume 12: Issue 6 Today's Topics: "Goodnight Soundblaster." 3.1 disks? bouncing with SB, joystick, FS4 & FS5 CD-ROM interfacing. Do MegaRace and GUS get along nicely? Future of GUS, OS wars gus and OS/2 GUS Daily Digest V12 #2 GUS Daily Digest V12 #4 GUS Daily Digest V12 #5 (2 msgs) I listened to Orchid SW32 New OS/2 Drivers Novell DOS 7 & the GUS Phat H Tran fan club!! RAM for Gus? UFO: First MPS-game with GUS-support! various replies Whine in Windows Win32s XWING from Lukas Art 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: 05 Apr 94 14:26:13 EDT From: "Joakim Erdfelt" Subject: "Goodnight Soundblaster." Are there any plans in the future of Gravis to have VBE/AI drivers? Just read a article mentioning it and thought this was a *EXCELLENT* idea. I'd like to pardon you all for the bandwidth waste but i thought this might prove interesting and provide more Insight into the minds of computer Software developers. The original article is from "New Media" magazine April 1994. pg 18 - Copied without permission. =-=-=-=-=-=-= "Say Goodnight, Soundblaster" by Thomas Tansy At the 1993 Game Developer's Conference, a group of prominent developers met to discuss the problem of supporting audio in the PC environment. Although game developers have begun creating Windows titles DOS's mean, lean trappings make it the only PC operating system that can provide the arcade-style performance that customers want. And it offers a huge installed base of audio-equipped playback systems. Until now, MS-DOS audio development has centered on Creative Labs' Sound Blaster API, which is based on old, 8-bit audio technology and has become loosely interpreted over time. Responding to pressure from consumers, most title developers now support 16-bit, CD-quality audio in addition to arcane Sound Blaster capabilities. Forced to support at least two audio interfaces, audio software development budgets have grown dramatically. And each time a hardware vendor releases an improved Sound Blaster-compatible board, developers scurry to develop custom audio drivers, and budgets expand even further. But enough is enough. Entertainment software vendors finally declared that they needed and open, standard software-based API. By freeing programmers from tedious, never-ending job of writing drivers, a standard API could increase prodcutivity, accelerate innovation and spawn more titles. Based on input from these vendors, the Video Electronic Standards Association (VESA) developed the VESA BIOS extension/Audio Interface (VBE/AI). VESA, once known for its PC graphics and local-bus standards, has recently expanded its charter to cover all aspects of PC standardization. The VBE/AI API is currently up for VESA membership approval. The initial proposal calls for basic audio services, such as digital audio services, such as digital audio, MIDI, volume control and 3-D sound effects, targeted at both standard DOS and DOS-compatible environments under Windows and OS/2. For audio services, application programs make VBE/AI calls to the VESA driver provided by the board vendor in the same way that PC LAN interface card vendors support multiple LAN operating systems without providing custom drivers. The only flaw in the VBE/AI proposal is that it does not include native 386 protected mode support, which would open up fast access to megabytes of memory for entertainment titles. The standard can be used under protected mode, but at a cost to performance. Developers who choose VBE/AI will have to select carefully among performance, compatibility and technical support requirements. Until the VBE/AI group addresses this shortcoming, large, complex programs that require maximum performance will need an alternative solution. At least one vendor is working on extening the VBE/AI to support protected mode. For several years, independent vendors have offered sound libraries and tools to help entertainment title developers support the dizzying array of PC audio boards. The top three sound library products include John Miles' AIL (Audio Interface Library), The Audio solutions' Digipak and Midpak, and Human Machine Interface's Sound Operating System (SOS). In most cases, these products are more advanced than VBE/AI: Some have robust APIs, allowing developers to perform digital waveforem mixing; others have top-rated MIDI support; and all provide reasonable support for the installed base of audio boards. It is intriguing that in addition to providing native protected-mode support, sound library vendors have stated their intention to support VBE/AI. It appears they are as frustrated as title developers with having to support multiple interfaces to common functions. Should these vendors make good on their promises, it could be a boon to title vendors with established market presences, enabling them to supports the VBE/AI standard without altering their products' audio support. If VBE/AI is embraced, entertainment software vendors and Creative Labs' competitors will benefit greatly: Software vendors will no longer be forced to support multiple device drivers; audio card companies will not have to mention Sound Blaster in their ads or pay significant royalties; and users will no longer run into glitches caused by imperfect Sound Blaster compatibility. It seems clear that Creative Labs's grip on an important standard is slipping, bu therein lies opportunity. The company defined the old problem and created a solution; now it needs to direct the market's attention to a new problem and a new solution. =-=-=-=-=(cut here)=-=-=-=-=-= So, this seems like a GREAT opportunity to show the community that Advanced Gravis is on the cutting edge. As soon as the specifications are released make a VBE/AI driver!. my $0.02 worth. -Joakim no sig ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Apr 1994 02:35:54 -0700 (PDT) From: "Peter C. Chien Jr." Subject: 3.1 disks? Wait, what's this I hear about 3.1 install disks? For those of us GUS old-timers with earlier versions, how do we get these disks? Notice how Gravis tells you to fill out your registration card so that they can notify you of any signficant upgrades (and if they're really nice, mail them to us)? Well, I'm waiting. . . ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 94 13:37 PDT From: Michael_Rodgers@mindlink.bc.ca (Michael Rodgers) Subject: bouncing with SB, joystick, FS4 & FS5 Did anyone ever solve the bouncing problem in FS4 and FS5? I have my GUS configured 220,7.7,1,11,5. Mouse is COM1 (IRQ 4), Modem COM2 (IRQ 3). On both Flight Simulator 4.0b and 5.0a, the elevator, ailerons, and throttle bounce around quite disconcertingly. Actually, on the Flight Stick Pro test program, these settings are bouncing around, too, if I have already run SBOS or Megaem. BTW, despite what it says in the G-List, I am not finding Megaem 2.03b very stabile for FS4. No flap noises, and the gear noise just cycles over and over again. All help would be appreciated. Michael ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Apr 1994 08:47:00 From: T.Bolhuis@el.utwente.nl (Thijs Bolhuis) Subject: CD-ROM interfacing. ---------- X-Sun-Data-Type: text X-Sun-Data-Description: text X-Sun-Data-Name: text X-Sun-Content-Lines: 13 X-Sun-Content-Length: 483 Hi, Does anyone know what the advantage would be to use the cd-rom gravis add-on board instead of the supplied boards of Sony, Panasonic or Mitsumi, apart from saving an ISA-slot? Does it provide extra functionality? It seems to me that its just a waste of money and that one big diadvantage is that you cannot install the 16-bits sample add-on any more Any comments?? I'm planning to purchase a Double-speed CD-ROM , any advice would be welcome Thijs Bolhuis The Netherlands ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 94 15:06:57 CDT From: johnz@saintjoe.edu (John Zmaczynski) Subject: Do MegaRace and GUS get along nicely? What kind of support does Megarace have for the GUS. The box didn't say GUS support (I don't think....). Does Megaem work with this, or god forbid, SBOS. It looks like a nifty game, but the GUS has kinda spoiled me musicwise. Thanks much... +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | John J. Zmaczynski | "Oboy! It's the colorized version of Citizen | | | Kane... Oh, my mistake--It's just the | | johnz@saintjoe.edu | Flintstones." -- Max, of Sam and Max | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Apr 94 10:00:19 EDT From: Mark Pfeifer Subject: Future of GUS, OS wars Re: OS wars Could we please move the Windows 4.0 vs. OS/2 vs. whatever somewhere else? (for example, any comp.os...advocacy newsgroup) It's really not appropriate here anymore. Re: The Future of the GUS Some of my friends have been considering getting sound cards recently, and they have asked for my advice. I've had a GUS for over a year now, and really like the sound quality - but the compatibility with "legacy applications" is less than spectacular (Last night I put an SB Pro into my system with the GUS. Suddenly I got all the sounds I was supposed to in IndyCar Racing, and I could increase the frame rate in World Circuit). This got me to thinking about the past and future of the GUS. It seems that Gravis made a calculated gamble with the GUS - ship it for low cost, don't have SB compatibility (full compatibility, with an FM chip), and hope that you get enough out there that you become the wavetable-synthesis standard. If they had a SoundBlaster on board, their costs would have been higher, and there would have been less of a reason to support the wavetable part of the board. This does not seem to have happened. Game support is improving, the Windows support is pretty good, and it seems clear to me that wavetable is the synthesis method of choice for the soundcard industry. The Gravis is not an industry standard (there are no Gravis compatibles), and everybody and their brother is producing a wavetable board. I'm wondering about the future - who will be the wavetable standard. I think it might be CL (shudder) - the specs on the AWE 32 look very interesting. I'm not sure who else has the bucks, name recognition, and industry support to become the next standard. As for what I've been recommending - if the sound of the music is important to you, I still recommend a GUS. If music + games are required, I'd go for a GUS + an SB (which I just did). For people I don't want to have to support once they've bought a soundcard, the PAS 16. Comments? Mark -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Mark Pfeifer (302) 633-8260 Internet: pfeifer@lf.hp.com Hewlett-Packard Little Falls Site #include Wilmington, DE 19808 #define OPINIONS mine ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 05 Apr 94 20:21:02 -0400 From: "Momentary language, sexual situations" Subject: Re: gus and OS/2 > I know this seems to be a sore subject here, and Ive havent been reading the > digest for quite some time, but maybe someone could directly me to where I can > find information on what, if anything the GUS and OS/2 can do today. > Ive heard of homemade drivers, and real drivers, but are they around? > Is there still a FAQ? (Or even was there?) There are 2 drivers available (both "homemade") and rumours of a Gravis driver on their BBS, but no one has uploaded it to epas. I use the Manley drivers and they (mostly) work fine. I've got a couple "problems" but I'm not sure if they are the driver, my system, or "Operator error." :-) Check epas for ultra03a.zip and gusos202.zip). Get the GUSMIXER program from either Epas or ftp.cdrom.com to set the GUS line in/out and mixer settings. There is a PM MOD player (DMPLYR101.ZIP) out on ftp.cdrom.com that works with any MMPM/2 drivers and so now works with the GUS. It sounds like it's playing in a tin can to me, but it's better than silence. I don't use OS/2 for Windows so I don't know how to have 2 separate system.ini files. The GUS drivers are .386 drivers and so won't work under OS/2's Windows emulation, not even in the 3.1 Enhanced Compatibility Mode. Rumour has it that OS/2 2.2 will support these, however. I have had good luck with runing games that use the AIL drivers under OS/2 (since that 56K TSR is a bear). But I have to move the GUS to DMA 1 to get things to work (at least with UW I). The 7th Guest sounds Wonderful. :-) But I do get some speech doubling in UW I, this might be due to the fact that I also have a real SB in the machine. Hope this helps, DDA ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 1994 20:22:53 -700 (PDT) From: Colin Ritchie Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V12 #2 Bart Aaron Larrangana Spat: > On another subject, in my efforts to get the sound to work right, I learned > that my SETGUS won't run. It says it needs to be run from the INSTALL > program. This is something new; it never said that before. What happened > to it? The only thing that I can think of is that I upgraded the software > with gus0041 or whatever it was. Did this happen to anyone else? Well, Ultima 8 finally broke me, and I went out and bought a Soundblaster for the digital(the GUS gets my stereo, the Soundblaster gets my labtecs). I tried to use setgus in my attempts to set them up together, and I got the same thing somewhere along the line, SETGUS has been engineered to be run only from the INSTALL program(to head off stupid people, I presume) and in the flurry of update files, the INSTALL program was taken out of(or, not put into) the GUS directory. There IS an install program in the GUS files I have, though, but it is for one of the applets, not for the GUS installation itself. For me, this meant that I had to peck and proddle until I figured out which switch was which in the ULTRASOUND environment variable string. I finally got it working with 240,11,11,7,7 - IRQ's 11 and 11, and DMA's 7 and 7. Of coarse, I have not tried reinstalling DOOM yet... that should make everything REALLY fun(I installed OS/2 with the release of the Manly 2.x drivers, and took off all of the games when I formatted the former game drive as HFPS). \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ >>>---Strongbow Wolfrider---> ///////////////////////////// strongbw@crash.cts.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 1994 12:01:45 -0500 From: Mike Surgeon Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V12 #4 > Date: Sun, 03 Apr 94 14:02:12 EDT > From: Akintunde Omitowoju > Subject: General MIDI crystal? > > Hi all, > I've another question. Since the GUS has a General MIDI crystal with 192 > general MIDI samples on board, does that mean I can delete the samples (.PAT) > files off of my harddrive? I mean if the instruments ARE on board the card, > then why leave them on my hard disk?? > > I'm not too sure...any help and/or explanation would be greatly appreciated. > Thanks!!!! =) > > Akintunde Omitowoju > zao1@etsu.bitnet (BitNet) > zao1@etsu.east-tenn-st.edu (InterNet) > Where did you get the term General MIDI crystal? The 192 general MIDI samples are loaded into the GUS ram from the .pat files and are not stored on board. Mike Surgeon ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Apr 94 08:51:13 +0300 From: Yossi Oren Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V12 #5 >Date: Tue, 5 Apr 1994 11:13:03 +1000 (GMT+1000) >From: Michael Daniel >Subject: fury of the furries > >Has anyone got "fury of the furries" to work with the gus? Yup. No problem, I just run SBOS and then the game. Maybe your problem is that you type FURY. You need to type GO. HTH, Yossi. PS This game has sprites in .LBM format - we can use them too! :) +---+---+---+---------------------------------------------------+---+---+ | = | E |_|/| Signature 1.31 | V | ^ | +---+---+---+---------------------------------------------------+---+---+ |Yossi Oren, Al-Daf Techno-Mercenaries, Rishon Le-Zion, Israel. Help | |TInternet EMail:LIOREN1@WEIZMANN.WEIZMANN.AC.IL TT The people are T| ||Bitnet EMail:LIOREN1@WEIZMANN || with the Golan || ||Drag yer damn objects around. I've got work to do.|| Heights! || +====================================================++================++ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Apr 94 08:56:00 +0300 From: Yossi Oren Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V12 #5 >Date: Mon, 4 Apr 1994 22:53:36 +0800 (PST) >From: Francis Li >Subject: GUS emulators... > >Are these GUS emulators we're seeing on epas real? In case you haven't noticed, it was April 1st a short while ago. GUSBOS (or whatever name it had) prints "Unable to initialize interrupts", plays a sound clip and quits. I hear patches.dat is a very nice .MOD, though. Yossi. +---+---+---+---------------------------------------------------+---+---+ | = | E |_|/| Signature 1.31 | V | ^ | +---+---+---+---------------------------------------------------+---+---+ |Yossi Oren, Al-Daf Techno-Mercenaries, Rishon Le-Zion, Israel. Help | |TInternet EMail:LIOREN1@WEIZMANN.WEIZMANN.AC.IL TT The people are T| ||Bitnet EMail:LIOREN1@WEIZMANN || with the Golan || ||Drag yer damn objects around. I've got work to do.|| Heights! || +====================================================++================++ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 94 11:16:32 pdt From: Thomas Wang Subject: I listened to Orchid SW32 Last weekend, I helped to install Orchid Sound Wave 32 in my brother's computer (I own a GUS). Afterwards, I played Warlords II on his machine. Remembering how it sounded on my machine, I would have to say the MIDI music on Sound Wave 32 is not as good as the GUS. SW32 MIDI music sounds more 'computer' like, where as the GUS sounds more 'life' like. I read on the packing material SW32 has 8 mega-bits of MIDI ROM, which equals to 1 MB ROM. Also I noticed it's not completely SB compatible either. Reader Rabbit hung when I ran it after SW32 is installed. -Thomas Wang (Computing work increases system entropy.) wang@cup.hp.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Apr 1994 12:34:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Drivers run for the nutrious taste of Renault Subject: New OS/2 Drivers I noticed that Robert Manley posted new drivers, albeit dangerous since there's numerous warnings about them trapping the system. Question- when will the dos setting, AUDIO ADAPTER ACCESS, be 'put' into the driver?? Jeff ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 05 Apr 94 17:46:01 MDT From: SGreenwo@MHS.Novell.COM (Scott Greenwood) Subject: Novell DOS 7 & the GUS In reply to the question about Novell Dos 7 and the GUS. I have been running NDOS 7 with my GUS as long as I have had my GUS through Alpha and Beta testing! The only problem that I have encountered is that of MegaEm. MegaEm relocates part of the memory manager in order to do what it does (GDI I think) in order to do this it has to know some VERY specific things about the Memory Managers internal structure. Because NWDOS 7 is a major overhall of DR-DOS 6 the internals have changed ( basically to allow pre-emptive multitasking), Jayson or whoever is doing MegaEm needs to add the new structure to MegaEm, I hope very soon !! What is happening with AMD licencing the 3D sound from Gravis then ??? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Apr 1994 14:38:40 GMT From: Clarke Brunt Subject: Phat H Tran fan club!! I just read my last 5 days of general Digest after the Easter break, and whenever I found a query which I though I might reply to, I found that Phat had already replied in a subsequent Digest. How does this guy put up with repeating time after time after... that you need the new ultrasnd.ini or whatever, when the rest of us just groan "Oh no! Not again"? Well done! And a real contribution: someone said that the Mitsumi CD drive did not have software volume control on its audio-out, so if you don't have the latest GUS with mixer control over CD-audio-in, then you can't change the volume. Do ANY CD drives have software control over volume, or even hardware control (i.e. little thumb wheel) for anything other than the headphone jack on the front? I suppose maybe you could take the output from the headphone jack to the GUS, then the thumbwheel would have some effect. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 1994 13:27:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Bill Park Subject: RAM for Gus? I just tested two ram chips that I had installed in my GUS which failed the diagnostic test. They are Sanyo LC324256BP-70. Are these appropriate chips? I had a friend who is a bench tech test them and he says they are both hosed. I'm entirely willing to believe that Fry's sold me quesstionable chips but I'd like to have some confidence before I whine about $10 worth of fried silicon. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Apr 1994 15:22:05 +0100 From: Jo Haavar Slangsvold Subject: UFO: First MPS-game with GUS-support! Our lovely GUS has finally got support from MicroProse. UFO has Gravis Ultrasound support in the sound-FX, with stereo- panning and everything else, but no music-support yet. My version of the game is 1.0, with some bugs in the graphics, but heck, it's a great game, and it supports the GUS! It's a typically 16-hours-a-day- game. Just one more mission and so on... :) MicroProse has finally done it, now we need some nice midi-music... Happy GUS-gaming! Jo Haavar Slangsvold ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 94 21:38:54 EDT From: dmcintyr@muselab.ac.runet.edu Subject: various replies > Somehow, I think Origin's pledge of support came at a time when Origin > believed the GUS would achieve mainstraim popularity. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Apr 1994 16:13:52 +22301035 (CDT) From: bhicks@dx.psych.uiuc.edu (Blair D. Hicks) Subject: Whine in Windows I am having a problem with a high pitched whine coming from my GUS soundcard while I run MS Windows. I have a new GUS (3.7) and my system is a Gateway DX2-50V with a 1572 CrystalScan monitor with an ATI Ultra video card. The whine is very noticable when there is a lot of screen activity, or when I am using my modem w/ Crosstalk 2.1. I have tried relocating my card to a slot away from (a) the video card, (b) the modem card, and (c) both. This did not reduce the whine to a noticable extent. I tried adding a ground loop isolator to my connection between the GUS line out and my stereo, and this also had no effect. Additional trivia. My physical layout has the desktop case located to the left of the monitor, not directly underneath it. I have a Fisher Portable stereo to which I have the GUS connected to via a stereo mini plug to 2 RCA plug cable. The stereo is located directly above the monitor on a separate shelf. The stereo also has a cheapo graphic equalizer, and I notice that reducing the 10Khz and 3Khz channels reduces much of the whine. I believe that the whine comes from inadequate shielding, either between the cards in the case, or via the cables. If so, is there something that I can do to shield the card and/or cables? Does anyone have any other suggestions? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 05 Apr 1994 18:48:38 -0400 From: davidm@marcam.com (David MacMahon) Subject: Win32s >Date: Wed, 30 Mar 94 21:32:00 PST >From: n4zfd!frodo@rylos.n2idf.ampr.org ("James M. Blakely") >Subject: Win32s support I know this doesn't really belong here, but I can't bear to let the thread die without some balance to it. I don't consider myself to be religious about operating systems, but if people are going to blab about vaporware I want to make sure that everyone knows the not-so-good points as well as the good ones! >>Booo (2), OS/2 2.2 (release in July) will have Win32s support. > >Windows 3.1 has Win32s support >NOW<, as does Windows NT. > >For what it's worth, Microsoft demo'd Win32 versions of Word & Excel today. Since you mention it, what exactly is that worth today? When will these Win32 versions see shrink wrap and store shelves? How many Win32(s) apps are there on the shelves of software stores today? Why does Joe Blow suddenly need Win32s apps when he has been doing fine without them? I know that not all users have been getting along fine without them, but many, many users have been. This is the same dilemma that OS/2 faced (is facing) - "Why do I need 32-bit OS/2 native apps when I have 16-bit Windows versions that already suit my needs?" >>Booo (3). If this is true, the Win 4.0 system will still be 16 bits, not >>32 as the hype says. MS has to choose. (NT can not use Win 3.1 drivers >>because of this (and some more.) > > >Not at all true. Win 4.0 will have the ability to hook back to 16 bit >drivers, until 32bit drivers become available. It can do this because it is >designed only for the Intel platform. > >Windows NT does not use Windows 3.1 drivers because it has a completely >differnt, portable architecture. By "hook back" I assume you mean down-thunk and up-thunk. That should add a real performance boost to display drivers - NOT! Thunking is simply not desireable. It will be interesting to see just how much a performance hit the display (and other non-VxD) drivers will take by relying on it. This native driver problem is an issue that OS/2 faced (is facing). Until recently, many peripheral manufacturers have been making only 16-bit drivers for Windows. Things are getting better now, but will Win 4.0 mean that peripheral manufacturers will need to support another set of driver APIs? You seem to imply that device drivers will not be interchangeable between Win 4.0 and NT. Will they be "a recompile away"? I doubt it because NT, as you say, "has a completely differnt, portable architecture". As for VxD drivers, how well will they interact with a pre-emptive multitasking (PMT) OS? It seems like there would be a tremendous potential for system crashes and lock-ups. Having different threads running at ring 0 protection in a PMT system when they were designed for a cooperative MT system is just asking for trouble. IMHO, Microsoft is going to have to do some pretty fancy marketing in order to "convince" people that they need a 32-bit, pre-emptive multitasking operating system since they (MS) have been telling people for the past several years that they *don't* need these very same features (i.e. "Don't buy OS/2. You, the average user, don't need 32-bit, pre-emptive multitasking.") Now that they are planning on such a product of their own they have to turn around and say the opposite. (Well, I don't think they will say the opposite of "Don't buy OS/2.") Furthermore, when it (finally) comes out, I believe that Windows 4.0 will suffer growing pains similar to (but probably not so bad as) the growing pains that OS/2 went through when it first came out. Dave David MacMahon Software Engineer davidm@marcam.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Apr 1994 16:03:57 +0200 From: Nils Pedersen Subject: XWING from Lukas Art I have problems with XWing. I just can't get the speech to work. I'm using SBOS ver. 3.7B2 with no options, and my GUS is set up on port 240 (DMA = 1, IRQ = 7, the rest is standard). I have spoken with some friends and they have no problem, but they have 220 as base adress. I hope some one can help me with this problem, I'm getting sick of the AdLib-sound(s). Nils Pedersen (nilspe@ifi.uio.no) Thanks..!! ------------------------------ From: (null) > If that were the case, then maybe every game should have SVGA 640x480x256 > support, dual joystoick suport and FCS support, etc. After all SVGA cards > are common these days. Well, supporting SVGA or not depends on entirely different circumstances. The problem with supporting SVGA in a mainstream sort of way is that 1) the vast majority of SVGA boards out there (including mine) are just too bloody slow in anything greater than 320x200x256 resolution to be able to provide any kind of a decent re-draw speed, and 2) there are too many different SVGA manufacturers to support all of them, and the VESA compatibility standard is even slower than accessing the already slow SVGAs directly. 3) SVGA graphics take up tremendously more disk space, even with compression. In a couple of years when everyone has VLB or PCI or whatever video cards that are mega-fast then support of SVGA in games might be practical. Of course by then it won't matter anyway because the entire bloody world will have moved into the wonderful and exciting world of Windoze for good, where EVERYTHING gets handled through a lowest-common-denominator inefficient keep-the-programmer-away-from-all-the-dirty-hardware driver. *yawn* ------------------ > What is the best way of getting sound using the Gravis Ultrasound > for Police Quest IV from Sierra ? SBOS ? MEGAEM ? ? 1) Play it in Windows if you have a lot of patience. 2) Buy a Sound Blaster or any other card that gets mainstream support. 3) Burn the game and tell Sierra to go to hell. That's what I did, because I couldn't get 1 or 2 to work. Their new game engine is just all screwed up, regardless of supporting the GUS or not, their digitized sound routines cause major screwups (even after getting all the latest patches) with my Sound Blaster as well. Screw Sierra. They haven't had an original idea since 1989 anyway. --------------------------- > hard-drive every time the configuration changes or the card is powered down. > Other GM cards have the patches on permanent ROM, and obviously this is not as > flexible as the GUS approach. Bah, flexibile schmexible. It's a pain in the butt not to be able to get all the samples loaded at once. And if the GUS were truly GM compatible then it would have a future. Notice the use of the past contrary to fact conditional statement. I'm tolerating the annoyance of my GUS until I can afford to move on to something that actually works without a lot of hassle. The tinkering was a challenge at first, but now the top 10 games I want to play can't even be made to work with the GUS in a satisfactory manner under ANY circumstances, which is a step below even SBOS. As things stand now the GUS will go down in the annals if history right along side the IBM Music Feature Card and the Creative Labs Game Blaster, the difference being that the GUS was a great idea that people were too stupid to catch onto while the other two just sounded crappy. Regardless, a soundcard with no support is about as useful as anything else with no support. Do I hear any CP/M users out there speaking up? Or maybe owners of 8" floppy drives? --Michael-- << dmcintyr@muselab.ac.runet.edu >> <> ------------------------------ End of GUS Daily Digest V12 #6 ******************************