Baslinux mailing list

[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

I stuck all my Creative sound cards into a computer one at a time and ran
a diagnostic program which lists IRQs.  I found seven of them which are
already set to a default IRQ5, 220, the one that can be jumpered to IRQs
10, 11, 12 or 15, and four newer cards (half of which are Vibra) that are
IRQ2 which conflicts with Cascade.  Are these going to work only with
Windows and PnP?  Is there any advantage to using the newer Creative cards
(with numbers higher than 1740, such as in the 4000s)?  The older ones
don't require opening up the computer to switch from line out to speaker
out since they have either 4 holes or a volume dial.

I also have an ALS 100, something odd by Yamaha, a few ESS'es (which keep
putting lines in autoexec.bat that prevent Windows from booting unless you
remove ess.com from where they are pointing!), Ensoniq, and a bunch of
Opti/Crystal cards that I think have DOS drivers but might not work with
Slackware so I am taking your advice and sticking to Creative.  I can't
even get one older Opti to work with Win98 - hardware conflict with PCI
bus. I have a couple SB-Pros that I put in computers for people who just
want to listen to the noises on their game CDs (kids). Let me know if you
need any more sound cards.

I have two cards with 2 1M 30-in SIMMs in it, one of which will play midi
files with a DOS midi program 'pmb' (Italian) so that they sound like
actual instruments (I think it must load a sound bank somehow) in Windows
but in DOS it tells me 'cannot set ctmidi.drv'.  The Italian instructions
say for this file to be in the pmb directory, which it is.  As I recall,
the other similar card works in DOS too.  I don't recall if I had to do
anything special for this.  Is it likely to sound like real instruments in
Linux?  With Windows Media Player this card sounded terrible so I changed
the default player to pmb.  Playmidi from SB16 sounds like a kazoo.

The other cards I think would need something added in order to be able to
load a sound bank to them in DOS, but did you say something about linux
programs loading sound bank (patches?) to main RAM?

Are the older cards with large heat sinks likely to sound better when used 
with nonpowered speakers?  We have actually been plugging in not speakers 
but old boomboxes that have line in (and broken tape decks), and using the 
volume controls on those.  They sound better than our computer speakers.

Thanks for any suggestions.  I want to put in sound cards with the highest 
chance of working, before closing up my four new linux computers.  It 
simplifies life if they all have the same IRQ (and no IRQ conflicts).

Do you know if I should have the 'msel' jumper on or off?  I have two
1740s with it set one way each.  I was able to download old motherboard
info from Creative a few years ago but can't find it now.  I have SB-PRO
jumper settings printed out.

I doubt anyone else on this list cares about my sound cards and hope I am 
not bothering you with too many questions.  Feel free to send me something 
Russian to translate.