Baslinux mailing list

[Ron Clarke <ariadne AT acepia.net.au>]

Hi Sindi,

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 10:56:48 -0400 (EDT)
Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com> wrote:

> 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.

    My guess would be that you need to find the Creative software to match 
each of the cards you have, and use that to set up the proper BLASTER 
settings.
 
> 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 only help with what I have used myself.  
I also have an AdLib clone card, which works fine in DOS and Win3.1, but I 
have yet to try with Linux.

> 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 MIDI playback, unless the card has the instrument sounds built-in, 
you would need to make suitable sound patches available to the card.
This is what I was talking about in previous posts - I listed the URL for the
best MIDI patches for Timidity that I have heard. But it is a BIG download,
about 23 MB from memory.

> With Windows Media Player this card sounded terrible so I changed
> the default player to pmb.  Playmidi from SB16 sounds like a kazoo.

   Again, without decent MIDI patches available the playback will sound 
pretty awful.
 
> 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?

    Not to RAM.  I just edited the timidity.cfg to point to where on HD I 
had stashed the patches, and away we went (after loading the correct mods, of 
course).
 
> 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.

   They would. I use ex-HiFi speakers plugged straight into the stereo output
"speaker" hole in the soundcard at the back of the computer(s). 
I don't use any more amplification than what the sound card outputs, and that 
can rattle the windows by itself. (windows with a lower case "w".)

> 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).

   Again, I think you can use the original setup software to get the card 
matching
suitable BLASTER environment variables.
 
> 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.

    As it happens, the manual for one of my favourite DOS MP3 players is in 
Russian,
and I am sure I am missing out on a lot of functionality because there is not 
an 
English language version.  Can I send what I have directly to you ?
The prog is DSS (Digital Sound System).
 
Regards,
         Ron 

-- 
Ron Clarke 
AUSREG Consultancy      http://www.valylink.net.au/~ausreg/index.html
Tadpole Tunes           http://tadpole.mytunebook.de/
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