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" <JOAKIM.ERDFELT@OFFICE.WANG.COM>
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.  <grin>

  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.  <Again, sorry to those of you PAYING for this mail>
								   -Joakim
 no sig

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 6 Apr 1994 02:35:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Peter C. Chien Jr." <pchienjr@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
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 <pfeifer@lf.hp.com>
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 <disclaimer.h>
Wilmington, DE 19808                            #define OPINIONS mine

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 05 Apr 94 20:21:02 -0400
From: "Momentary language, sexual situations" <dantonio@tay2.dec.com>
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 <strongbw@crash.cts.com>
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 <surgeon@vss.fsi.com>
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V12 #4

> Date: Sun, 03 Apr 94 14:02:12 EDT
> From: Akintunde Omitowoju <ZAO1@ETSU.EAST-TENN-ST.EDU>
> 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 <LIOREN1@WEIZMANN.weizmann.ac.il>
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V12 #5

>Date: Tue, 5 Apr 1994 11:13:03 +1000 (GMT+1000)
>From: Michael Daniel <mdanie@wilbur.mbark.swin.oz.au>
>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 <LIOREN1@WEIZMANN.weizmann.ac.il>
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V12 #5

>Date: Mon, 4 Apr 1994 22:53:36 +0800 (PST)
>From: Francis Li <fli@nermal.santarosa.edu>
>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 <wang@hpdmsjlm.cup.hp.com>
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 <JKS4675@ritvax.isc.rit.edu>
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 <CLARKE@lsl.co.uk>
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 <bpark@kaiwan.com>
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 <JOHS@dhhalden.no>
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 <nilspe@ifi.uio.no>
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 >> <<dmcintyr@vt.edu>>

------------------------------

End of GUS Daily Digest V12 #6
******************************
