GUS Daily Digest Fri, 3 Mar 95 9:37 PST Volume 20: Issue 3 Today's Topics: >GUS standard mem... about qemm and dos4gw and gus... ACE ADPCM and DDSP Closed Account Descent Digest Back Issues? Game patches? GUS and Aces of the deep GUS Daily Digest V20 #2 (2 msgs) GUS MAX freezes my computer GUS memory poll. GUS on NT reply gus tech questions HELL (the game) Hello? Microprose e-mail address Microprose wimps out! Missing Ultramid Header Files new GUS card RAM standards Protected mode soft Reply from Gravis about Windows'95 Right to Privacy?, Senate Bill S. 314 Sound Station & CD Audio Where to get Patches Windows Problem XCOM 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, 3 Mar 95 9:03:14 EST From: "Brian K. Dowtin" Subject: >GUS standard mem... David, I think the key here is not standard memory but - expandability. It seems that in general, consumers are willing to spend extra for a name (i.e. Creative Labs) - but not for superior technology :) i.e. GUS. So - it's more a question of selling price vs. features. Creative Labs may be able to get away with selling a $300 sound card. But I personally don't think it will be the 'next thing'. I think the key - if there could be just one - is to make the card 1. Affordable - to the point of cheap even. 2. But - Expandable, expandable, expandable. I think that may be the reason behind all the sales of "Wavetable Daughterboards". - they are an 'expansion option' Just my thoughts... `Brian ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 01:17:37 -0700 (MST) From: Ignatius Tam Subject: about qemm and dos4gw and gus... Hi guys, someone said in yesterday that they're having trouble using qemmm and dos4gw and gus, well, for all of you who have ears (and those who don't already know this fact): DPMI DOES NOT NEED ANY EMM386, QEMM, ETC!!! kick off any memory managers when u're using any dpmi programs, or else u're prompted to mysterious blackhole... (i don't want to explain this in this group, find the reason by yourself) u don't need to worry about conventional memory since dpmi has taken care for you. study how to make a multi config in dos 6, i have one for ems and one for xms/dpmi and the other two with cd drivers loading, i didn't even make any bootdisk in my life... i was very surprised very few people did this. if u need help setting up multi config, i can help... ok, that's it, NO MORE FUSS about memory managers, EVER, in this group! -iGnatius -- @------------------------------------------------------------------------@ | /\ /\ MarToPigGus!!(tm) YoUr DreaMing piGG meaT iS heRe! | | / -- \ conTaCT yOur lOCal deALeR!! __iGnatius tAm___ | | | . . u| e-mail: tam@cs.ualberta.ca / itam@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca | | | __ | personal homepage: http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~tam | | | < .. > | GUS digest: http://gpu.srv.ualberta.ca/~itam/digest.html | | \______/ phone: 403-433-3187 | @------------------------------------------------------------------------@ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 14:21:24 +0100 (MET) From: Danny Greefhorst Subject: ACE someone wrote: >Please share your experience with the UltraSound ACE wavetable card. Well; I've been using it as a standalone card in stead of my gus 3.4 and it seems to work just like the other card. The only things it misses are: - joystick connection - cd-rom connectors - ability to record What I don't like is that I still can't regulate te line-in level of my ultrasound. I'm trying to put the ACE next to a trust soundexpert 16+, beacuse my other ultrasound didn't quite cope with that. Danny ;) -- Danny Greefhorst(dgreefho@cs.ruu.nl) | Utrecht University CGN A142, tel. 030-539252 | Department of Computer Science working on Ariadne and Elmo | The Netherlands ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 15:43:49 +0100 From: "W.H. Li" <130314@pc-lab.fbk.eur.nl> Subject: ADPCM and DDSP Hi I have a Gus Max and a 486 25sx computer with 8mb. When I use UltraSound Studio with ADPCM compression, the recorded sound "cracks" and is distorted. Is this a soft- or hardware problem? Some soundcards use DSP to emulate Soundblaster and GM. Since the Gus Max also has a DSP, is it possible to enhance current emulation of soundcards using the DSP on the Max? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 14:30:48 -0500 From: Quang V Le Subject: Closed Account ACCOUNT qle@osf1.gmu.edu IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. IF THIS IS A LIST, THEN PLEASE REMOVE THIS ADDRESS. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 10:39:38 -0800 (PST) From: John Hong Subject: Descent I've just got descent and I must say that it is a great game, much better then Doom. But the sound does not work. I have a GUS with 1 meg of RAM. But every time I run the program it would reboot my system. I see all the title screens but after the screen that says "Loading Data" it would reboot my system. Has anyone else had that problem or is my computer a special case? Does anyone know how to solve this problem? I've tried just about everything, (clean boot, fooled around with memory managers etc...) I've got a 486 DX 33 with 4 MEGS of RAM. You know this game would be even better if I could get sound out of it. -John ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 20:24:11 +0100 From: chief@lysator.liu.se Subject: Digest Back Issues? To: gus-general@mail.orst.edu Hi! I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that sent back issues of this digest to me when I last requested some. I have a small problem again though -> I miss the Vol.19 Issue #26 digest! Have no idea why it was never delivered to my mailbox, but here I am without a copy. If someone could email me a copy, I'll be eternally grateful! Thanks! //Erik (chief@lysator.liu.se) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 12:52:08 -0800 (PST) From: h0mi Subject: Game patches? I was wondering if game patches existed that would allow native gus support for: Tie fighter Xwing Xcom Dark Forces I also want to know if someone can direct me to an ftp site where I can grab Dark Forces. I used to have it but deleted it when I couldn't get it to run on my system after I added 4 megs (to total 8). For what its worth, I've got a Gus with 1meg on board. Last question- would it be worthwhile for me to upgrade to the GUS max, from my current Gus with 1 meg? I ask because Im not certain of any advantages to the max, other than the 16bit recording abilities without getting a daughtercard. I dont think I can use the ram on the GUS with the Max anyway, which would mean spending even more money on a 1meg GusMax. When is this new Gravis card due out? "I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy." Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. homi@netcom.com Constantly on the lookout for more additions to my Kill file. Anyone else tempted to add /*.aol.com/a:j to your kill file? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 09:37:13 +0200 From: Mikko Issakainen Subject: GUS and Aces of the deep Try this: To get something out of Ultrsasound in Aces of the deep, edit the RESOURCE.CFG file. In Sound section change driver to e024 and port to 220. In Music section change driver to a002 and port to 228. You'll hear the sound effects but not any music. The effects will sound better if you modify your AT BUS clock setting in BIOS... Because I had some 'snap crackle pop'-problems with it but they disappeared after changing that setting. Does anyone know how to get music out of it???? Or there some new updates (I have cd-rom version, which is newer than the floppy version) to it?? Mikko Issakainen miissaka@silmu.jyu.fi miissaka@tukki.jyu.fi ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 15:34:00 -0500 (EST) From: Eric Fang Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V20 #2 Date: Thu, 02 Mar 1995 12:31:18 GMT From: Clarke Brunt Subject: Re: ADPCM driver and GUS > I've got a GUS (not the MAX yet) and have Microsoft's ADPCM drivers > installed for Compression of AUDIO. I don't have any software however > which uses these drivers when recording WAV file's, so I can't > compress. > > At work I have a SB 16ASP (don't kill me, it's my boss's fault) and an > SB program which does use the ADPCM driver. Is there something like it > for the GUS? :I assumed that the MicroSoft ADPCM drivers (which tend to :come with MicroSoft CDs, like Encarta and Dangerous Creatures) :were just for playback. Given that they are not soundcard specific, :they must just decode the compressed data and feed it to the :real soundcard driver. :You can record ordinary WAVs with the GUS, and then convert to :ADPCM using e.g. CoolEdit. Yes, you can do it this way, but it is going to be SLOW!! What he probably wants is windows gravis ADPCM software that uses hardware compress/decompress on the fly like gravis's DOS software USS does. NOT windows ADPCM codec. I have been asking about this kind of software for a long time, no response so far for some reason. Eric :I assumed that direct ADPCM recording relied on the compression :being done on the card (does a SB 16ASP do this?). ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 13:16:07 +0200 From: mianmi@tukki.jyu.fi (Antti Mikkonen) Subject: GUS MAX freezes my computer I bought a new DX4/100 board and when I installed the Max card, the computer will not start, I don't even get the BIOS setup or anything. The card worked with the old motherboard. What's wrong? Could the memory banks have broken? _________________________ | Antti Mikkonen | | University of Jyvaskyla | | *** Finland *** | | mianmi@tukki.jyu.fi | |_________________________| ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 16:27:29 +0100 From: Martin Laukkanen Subject: Re: GUS memory poll. > > Four megabytes should be the Gravis/AMD nextgeneration card/chip's base > installed ram. Why?! To give developers a nice comfy standard of ram > that they can play with. Hopefully, Gravis will offer all of its Thats stupid, four meg ram standard means that the card will be $200 to $300 (Australia dollars) more. One of the GUS's main advantages is very competive price! Also 99% of people CAN live with a bit of patch caching, Most people dont need more than a couple of megs, for example all the digital music lovers (MODs, S3Ms XM's), only need 1mb now, i say in a years time that may be 2mb. I think the standard mem should start at around 1 - 2mb if it is released before the end of this year. BUT dont get me wrong, the GUS NEEDS to be `able' to have at least 16MB mem, 32MB, but it doesnt 'need' that much standard! ---- Random OF xTatic.... or Martin OF Laukkanen. (martin@triode.apana.org.au) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 95 14:00:31 EST From: Hugo Scavino Subject: GUS on NT reply Not! I called their BBS in Canada about two months ago. They explicity said they wwere NOT going to suuport NT. They were though investigating Windoze 95. NT has limitations on how it talks to te hard-ware so there are some differences. BUt you think if they try to make it work on NT first they could have a leg up on 95. Oh well... I traded my bother my GUS for his proaudio. NO Problems now. Does an one know if the ACE could or does work on NT. Does it use need special device drivers. Or does it directly support General MIDI through the generic windows drivers? If so this could be a solution. Thanks Hugo ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 18:40:53 -0500 From: bowling.30@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu (sisco) Subject: gus tech questions Hello i have had my gus for about 4 months. i need to ask a few q's first i can't get any thing from the mic & line in when using a mic. and i have not tried say my guitar in the line in. i do not have cheep mics they are very good. if i push the mic and gain levels in the windoze mixer to the top, record. then play back i can only hear something if i turn my stereo full volume. i do hear yackity shmackity blah blah blah. its me but very distorted. my stereo tuner is really very loud which means the signal is very small. poo! i have made a wav file off a my cd drive with sound station. but thats it. can i turn the patches i have back into wav files so i can then change them around? i need a few effects on some patches. what is winjammer. i think its another music prog. if it is where can i get it? lastly i need to know about extra memory i have 512k i need at least 2megs but i don't thing the card will swing it. but to go to 1meg i need what? help me i need price, type. i'm a dumby so any details about the "potato" chips would help me a great deal. THE GUS IS THE BEAST hehehe and BEST!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks sisco ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 08:18 GMT+0100 From: RTHI@btma74.se.bel.alcatel.be Subject: HELL (the game) I have the CDROM adventure game HELL. In the setup program I am able to select Gravis Ultrasound as sound card but when I run the game I can only hear some "peeping and noise". The game does work with MAXSBOS but I would like to get native GUS support for this game. Has anybody got this working? BTW what is Iphone you're all talking about? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 13:02:28 -0500 (EST) From: Buddy Subject: Hello? I haven't received a digest in a while. Is it still going? Did I get dropped? I had posted a question about OS/2 drivers a few days ago. Anyone answer it? Kevin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Mar 1995 13:04:44 -0500 (EST) From: bill.hyman@ccmail.bsis.com Subject: Microprose e-mail address Anybody who wants to write to Microprose regarding their decision to drop all GUS support should address their letters to: Brian microprose@aol.com No need to flame Microprose as they will probably just ignore your letter. Just express your disappointment at their decision. Bill Hyman bill.hyman@bsis.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 18:57:41 +0001 (EST) From: KEVIN BULL Subject: Re: Microprose wimps out! I think we all oughta tell em what we think. There are a lot more GUS users around than they seem to think. Imagine the noise if they decided to drop SB support? Why stick to an old standard, when their games would sound SO much better with the GUS support? I hope that other software companies don't follow in their footsteps. Why would they decide to drop it when other companies show that support, even under a dos extender is possible? Is it a lack of programming talent, or is it that they just can't be bothered? Sorry for the grumbling, but I don't want to pay $65-$70 for software that doesn't work with my hardware. Way to go Microprose! .just my $.02 worth.. # # ###### # # # # # # # #### ##### # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ###### ## --------------------------------- E-Mail: kb94aa@badger.ac.brocku.ca --------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 00:15:29 +0000 (GMT) From: mike Roberts Subject: Missing Ultramid Header Files Message-ID: I have recently subscribed to these mailing lists and need some help in finding or writing some header files for use with ultramid. I recently downloaded the GUS SDK and have been paying a lot of interest in ultramid.doc. However to compile any of the example programs a few header files like ultramid.h and midi.h are needed. It is possible to construct a copy of ultramid.h from the documentation in the sense of satisfying compiler errors but i can't get anything to run. I get a few non-portable pointer conversion warnings or suspicious warnings as I have not figured out the correct types for all of the header file. I'm sure there is also a lot missing. Can anyone help me or point me to a ftp site. I have looked but been unsuccessful. Anything to do with ultramid would help. Ta's M ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Mar 95 16:53:12 CST From: Steve Sesterhenn Subject: new GUS card RAM standards This is in response to David Woldrich's posting about the amount of RAM that should be standard on new Gravis cards. I sent a vote to David in favor of making 1Mb standard. As can be seen by his results, 10 out of 14 people are in favor of this, so there must be a good reason: affordability. David's argument that 4Mb would give developers a "comfy standard" of ram to play with is definitely true. But he neglects to mention that 4Mb of RAM today costs just over $300, which would push the cost of the card well over the $400 price range. This is simply unacceptable, as the card would not be affordable to the majority of people who bought the original GUS as a low-cost alternative to other wavetable cards that cost much more. If Gravis were to only sell their new cards with 4Mb of RAM or more, they would be alienating a huge market of people who would be perfectly happy with only 1Mb (or can't afford 4Mb) but can't get it because it isn't sold. In my opinion this would be an incredibly stupid move on Gravis' part. Perhaps money is no object to David Woldrich but it usually is to the rest of the world. Putting one or (most likely) two megabytes standard would be a fair compromise between David's and my arguments, and in my option, would be Gravis' best bet. Everyone reading ought to follow David's advice and USE your voice ont the Internet to express your opinion on this idea. Those sitting back just reading are either too lazy or just don't care... and you probably wouldn't be reading this if you didn't care. So express your opinion and be heard. The Internet is a great place to easily do it. Cheers, Steve ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 95 11:13 EST From: samuel@gmgate.vircom.com (Samuel Audet) Subject: Protected mode soft Hi! >Well, QEMM does do some funky stuff that programs do not expect. I >ran into countless problems using it. However, I also have run into >many problems with Dos4g programs in general. High IRQs, crappy >DPMI performance, severe slowdowns for disk access.. etc. etc. I don't load DMPI... it doesn't do anything, VCPI is better and many programs tries to access DPMI but crashs. Have to use QEMM... I'm using DESQview :) >Whenever a DOS4Gw program gives me a headache, I rip out dos4gw and >replace it with PMODE/W, which 9 out of 10 times fixes the problems >and also makes it run faster. >ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/.13/demos/code/pmode/pmw116.zip I once looked at that program, BUT HOW can we use it? We have to recompile the hole program?!? >>Nway, my solution? Run HIMEM.SYS (with smartdrv if desired)... >>make 2 or 3 boot config. > >Oh, yeah, I do that too.. one boot HIMEM, one boot EMM386, one >boot nothing, and used to have a QEMM boot, but it caused too many >problems. Have a full QEMM boot, full EMM386, full HIMEM.SYS, a "game" HIMEM.SYS and a "game" EMM386 boot. Handy :) This Quickboot is handy also... now if just Desperado BOOT could just work with the TSR CENTER.COM is would be AWESOME!! Hum... this is not GUS anymore :) If you reply, reply to me directly. Thanks, Bye! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 95 01:14 GMT From: tbone@cix.compulink.co.uk (Chris Totten) Subject: Reply from Gravis about Windows'95 I sent off a message to gravis asking about drivers and here's what I got back - nice one Gravis :) // tbone --------------------------------< snip >-------------------------------- TO: tbone@cix.compulink.co.uk T>It looks like the interest for Windows'95 is going to be *amazing*, so T>are you working on up-to-date 32bit drivers for this great OS?? I'm We will have windows 95 driver when it is shipped. ----------------------------------------------------- Paul Malcolm Tech Support/Sysop Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Tech Support email: tech@gravis.com Fidonet Add: Paul Malcolm - 1:153/978 03/01/95 12 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 Mar 95 13:33:52 CST From: Steve Sesterhenn Subject: Right to Privacy?, Senate Bill S. 314 I know this has nothing to do with the GUS, with it has everything to do with the digest, considering the bill would apply to the digest as well. Therefore, I find this important enough to post to the GUS digest. Hope you all agree. -Steve -------------------------------------------------------------------------- RE: Right to Privacy?, Senate Bill S. 314 Hello everyone. This is a very important piece of information brought to my attention by a friend on AOL. If you value your privacy in your email you should definently follow through with what is proposed below. Simply put, a couple of senators have proposed a particularly heinous piece of legislation titled the "Communications Decency Act of 1995" (Senate Bill S. 314). Basically, the bill would subject all forms of electronic communication -- from public Internet postings to your most private email -- to government censorship. The effects of the bill onto the online industry would be devastating -- most colleges and private companies (AOL, Compuserve, etc.) would probably have to shut down or greatly restrict access, since they would be held criminally liable for the postings and email of private users. A petition, to be sent to Congress, the President, and the media, has begun spreading through the Internet. It's easy to participate and be heard -- to sign it, you simply follow the instructions below -- which boil down to sending a quick email message to a certain address. That's all it takes to let your voice be heard. (You know, if the Internet makes democracy this accessible to the average citizen, is it any wonder Congress wants to censor it?) Finally, PLEASE forward this message to all your friends online. The more people sign the petition, the more the government will get the message to back off the online community. We've been doing fine without censorship until now -- let's show them we don't plan on allowing them to start now. If you value your freedoms -- from your right to publicly post a message on a worldwide forum to your right to receive private email without the government censoring it -- you need to take action NOW. It'll take fifteen minutes at the most, a small sacrifice considering the issues at hand. Remember, the age of fighting for liberty with muskets and shells is most likely over; the time has come where the keyboard and the phone line will prove mightier than the sword -- or the Senate, in this case. Here's what you have to do to sign the petition: send an e-mail message to: S314-petition@netcom.com the message (NOT the subject heading) should read as follows: SIGNED eg. SIGNED lsewell@leland.Stanford.EDU Laura Sewell YES If you are interested in signing the petition, I would highly suggest investigating the details of the situation. You can find out more on the Web at http://www.wookie.net/~slowdog or in the newsgroup comp.org.eff.talk This was written by someone else so I can't take credit for the verbage, but please follow through if you believe it is important. Thanks, John ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Mar 95 11:31:27 GMT From: dwj@kid01pml.icl.co.uk (Dave Johnson) Subject: Sound Station & CD Audio [Posted to music digest:] >Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 14:44:07 >From: "Acs Attila - Discord of Exact" >Subject: Sound Station > >Hi everybody! > >I'm a GUS MAX owner, and I have an AZTECH CD-ROM too. >My problem is, that Sound Station always tells me, my >CD is empty. Thats why I can't play any audio CD-s through >my GUS. Can anyone help me? > >Address: G3ACSATT@gyakg.u-szeged.hu I have just bought a Mitsumi IDE Quad speed CD-ROM and couldn't get Sound Station to work either. The I realised you need the [MCI] CD Audio windows driver installed. After that, no problem - at least for me. Incidentally, I found the CD Audio-in connector (Mitsumi) on the MAX had the pins wired up back-to-front - either that or the audio cable itself was wired incorrectly. It's easy enough to rewire the audio cable. Has anyone else found this problem? +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Dave Johnson | | | | ProcessWise Portfolio Centre +-+ .---. +-+ | | International Computers Ltd |/ / ,-._\ | | | | /|| | _. | | | | Email: dwj@kid01pml.icl.co.uk | | \ `-' / | +--, | | +-+ `---' +---' | | Tel: 7241-4743 (internal) | | 01782-794743 (external) | +-------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 22:52:30 -0500 From: C Lacy Subject: Where to get Patches Does anybody out there know of a good place to get replacement patches for the GUS? I've had a look at the ones in the archive ( pp-3*.zip files) and there doesn't seem to be much selection. Specifically I'm looking for better trumpet, violin, and sax patches. Thanks for any help, Cameron Lacy ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 18:32:12 -0600 (CST) From: "Jeff M. Krusz" Subject: Windows Problem I have the 5.48 GUS (or whatever is the newest ones on epas) drivers and they seem to be interfereing with the windows timer. After using windows a couple of times, suddenly I cannot open a dos box, and when trying to dial someplace the time remaining doesn't update regularly (in otherwords the timer starts at 45 and doesn't change until I connect (it then goes to the correct elapsed time)). By uninstalling the GUS drivers and reinstalling them from the ultrasnd\windows directory the problem goes away for another 2 or three restarts of windows. The only new thing that I have added to my computer is the updated drivers so it cannot be a conflict with some other device(IRQ and DMA settings are all the same as before too). Any suggestions would be appreciated. -- Jeff Krusz | Quick to judge/ Quick to anger krusz@krypton.mankato.msus.edu | Slow to understand krusz@vax1.mankato.msus.edu | Ignorance and prejudice/ And fear krusz@msus1.msus.edu | Walk hand in hand --RUSH ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 13:26:31 -0500 (EST) From: Paul Slobodian Subject: XCOM I know that this question was asked before, But how do you get XCOM: Defense to work with the GUS card? PS- Anyone know a ftp site where I can pick up recent back-issues of the Digest? +--------------------------------------------+ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ! Paul Slobodian ay024@torfree.net ! \ AnYbOdY / ! Brampton, Ontario Canada ! / OuT ThErE? \ +--------------------------------------------+ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/ ------------------------------ End of GUS Daily Digest V20 #3 ******************************