GUS Daily Digest            Thu, 10 Mar 94  9:37 PST     Volume 11: Issue  35 

Today's Topics:
			 additions to my earlier post of getting FAQ
			  Alright, quit flaming the techs at Gravis!
				   Daughter Board for SB emulation
							 gus0038.zip
				  GUS Daily Digest V11 #34 (2 msgs)
							Hired Guns 3D
								 KQ5
					No problem with Gravis email.
					   no response from Gravis
		   People don't read the FAQ before they post here
						  Quest for Glory IV
					  Rebel Assault and the GUS
								test!

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: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 17:11:21 -0600
From: Don Eller <don.eller@inst.medtronic.com>
Subject: additions to my earlier post of getting FAQ

Sorry to almost forget a really important piece of information regarding using
mail-server.  I read the FAQ and was reminded that you address mail to
mail-server@nike.rz.uni-konstanz.de with the body of the message as follows:

begin
send help
send gusfaq.txt
end

The begin and end are necessary, even if you only send one command, and it is
a good idea the first time you use a mail-server to have it send it's help
file, in case new commands are added that ease use, or the syntax of commands
changed.

Good luck to all those that have had trouble getting the FAQ, and I hope that
it answers alot of your questions so that we can get on with problems that have
yet to be solved.  PS, if this fails to work for you, I have temporily setup
my mail account so that mail sent to don.eller@medtronic.com with subject of
"send gus-faq" will autoreply with the current Aug93 version I downloaded from
orst today.

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

Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 21:04:27 -0700 (MST)
From: "Shawn T. Rutledge" <rutledge@enuxsa.eas.asu.edu>
Subject: Alright, quit flaming the techs at Gravis!

> I know of have had no response from either sales@gravis.com or 
> I suspect it is all going to /dev/null at Gravis :)
 ..
> From: Fitzgerald Jr Steele <fjsteele@icaen.uiowa.edu>
> Subject: techwhatever@gravis.com
> 
> I've never been able to contact Gravis by email.  I've tried tech, tech1
> and tech2, even sales -- I always bounces back.  I thought it was only my
> mailer that was having problems, but if other people are having the same

I successfully got in touch with the man behind tech1@gravis.com, and he
was very friendly and helpful.

-- 
  _______                                                             KB7PWD
 (_  | |_)                                            shawn.rutledge@asu.edu
 __) | | \__________________________________________________________________
* C * Internet * IEEE * GUS * fusion * anti-Macintosh * sci fi * Star Trek * 

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

Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 17:08:21 -0700 (MST)
From: shannon@physics.Arizona.EDU (Shannon Miller)
Subject: Daughter Board for SB emulation

That guy was a genius!

Gravis, now listen carefully to me. Soundblaster IS the industry standard right
now. Truly and really.

Point two. SBOS is atrocious. Pathetic. Horrific. Sure, might not be too bad
for Adlib, but for the specialized soundblaster effects now common in games,
it just can't cut butter...

Point three. You've included an easy expansion method for a daughter board.


PLEASE think of a way to get a fully soundblaster quality emulation board
going. I would pay quite a bit for that... especially for us low-slot computer
users...

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

Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 12:46:55 -0700 (MST)
From: Gary Scott Kay <gskay@enuxsa.eas.asu.edu>
Subject: gus0038.zip

What ever happened to this file?  It was on epas for a few days then
vanished... is it superceded, or just MIA?

-- 
	   Gary S. Kay        / Tell me you're crazy - maybe then I'll understand.
gskay@enuxsa.eas.asu.edu /                                        - Tori Amos

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

Date: Wed, 9 Mar 94 13:17:39 CST
From: cowles@hydra.convex.com (John Cowles)
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V11 #34

yaga@u.washington.edu ("Chris") writes:
> Subject: AAARRRRGGGGHHH! Problems...
> 
> So,   1)  can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong  
>   2)  why is ultrinit loading twice?  Is this the problem?
>   3)  could someone _please_ upload me a copy of their autoexec and 
> config (I'm using DOS 6.2 w/multiple configs, GUS at the default 
> settings, etc.)
>   4)  someone grab this hammer out of my hand before I don't have a 
> GUS to worry about anymore

If you would please let us see the exact contents of your config.sys and
autoexec.bat, and let us know exactly what kind of hardware, memory,
and peripherals you have, I'm sure we can help!

John

-- 
	 John Cowles        cowles@hydra.convex.com   CompuServe: 72074,451
						Convex Computer Corp.  214 497 4375
						3000 Waterview Pkwy
						Richardson, Tx. 75080

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

Date: 10 Mar 94 10:33:51 GMT-1000
From: WIN KHONG <WLKHO1@mfs04.cc.monash.edu.au>
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V11 #34

> From: Slacker <yaga@u.washington.edu>
> Subject: AAARRRRGGGGHHH! Problems...
>
> So, 1)  can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong
	Could you check in your AUTOEXEC.BAT whether the line "SET
ULTRASND=C:\ULTRASND" or whatever the path is, is executed before any
other commands which executed the GUS (eg. call SBOS.BAT)
	Well if all else fails, why don't you start from the basic again.
Make a backup of your current CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and create
a new one.

eg. of a clean CONFIG.SYS
-------------------------
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM
FILES=30
BUFFERS=30

eg. of a clean AUTOEXEC.BAT
---------------------------
PROMPT $P$G
PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;.....etc...
SMARTDRV 1024 512

	After that, reinstall your original disks (eg. 2.06A) with the
patches. After that, just delete C:\ULTRASND\ULTRASND.INI and install
GUS Installation 3.11 (GUS0041) over it.

	If the installation was successful and everything works fine, you
can start configuring your multiple CONFIG.SYS.

>     2)  why is ultrinit loading twice?  Is this the problem?
	If you were to check you CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT you should
see in your CONFIG.SYS a line DEVICE=C:\ULTRASND\ULTRINIT.SYS
And in your AUTOEXEC.BAT a line ULTRINIT.EXE.

	It initialises the card twice to deal with some device drivers
which need to access the GUS in the CONFIG.SYS.

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

> From: d7924115@sparc1.cc.ncku.edu.tw
> Subject: Stacker 4.0 and GUS
>
> Hello , all
> After I upgraded my Stacker from 3.1 to 4.0 , the mega-em seems to go wrong
> in games. When I play Xwing , the speech sounds strange. It just can't say
> the whole words. It often say the first word and keep slience later. Before
> I upgraded Stacker , GUS worked well with megaem in muisc and sound. So can
> anyone know what happened on my system and how to fixed it ?
	What is the memory requirement of Stacker 4.0? It seems to me
that Stacker 4.0 may be a bit too big!!! Try running MEMMAKER or
whatever memory manager you use to optimize your memory.

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

> From: Fitzgerald Jr Steele <fjsteele@icaen.uiowa.edu>
> Subject: techwhatever@gravis.com
>
> I've never been able to contact Gravis by email.  I've tried tech, tech1
> and tech2, even sales -- I always bounces back.  I thought it was only my
> mailer that was having problems, but if other people are having the same
> problem then maybe gravis.com is screwed up.  I hope the gravis people
> look into that and fix it soon, it sure would be nice to talk with then
> directly.
	How about contacting 'chris.yuzik@gravis.com'. I've never had
problems with this address (and I did with tech@). Also, he is a
helpful guy....  :)  (Chris will probably strangle me for this!!!)

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

Date: Wed, 09 Mar 94 16:26:00 EST
From: Greg <BGUZ@musicb.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Hired Guns 3D

For those interested in buying Hired Guns because of its 3D support,
here is my verdict on the game. First of all, this is the only game
I know that includes custom patches (*.pat) and some of the music
sounds great. The game has a specific Gravis directory which includes
the digital samples and 3d samples. There are around 15-20 digitized
of which only four are Focal Point 3D. So beware, those expecting full
3d sound will be upset. However, the four 3d sounds are incredible
most notable is the explosion sound. The game itself is fair, and the
graphics are not very good, because the game supports 4 players in 4
different windows on screen. This leads to another problem. The 3d
sounds are great with headphones, so if 4 people are playing, in
order for all 4 to hear the music and sound speakers must be used.
My 99$ speakers are not very good for listening to 3D samples. In
general, if you want to buy the game for its sound and music go
ahead, but if you want to actually enjoy the gameplay you may want
to save the 50$.

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

Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 02:03:55 +0800 (WST)
From: Adam Boyt <aboyt@tartarus.uwa.edu.au>
Subject: KQ5



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

Date: 10 Mar 94 08:47:04 GMT
From: "A.J.Sithers" <WPHAJS@cardiff.ac.uk>
Subject: No problem with Gravis email.

Hello All!

Just to let you know that I've had next-day replies from both sale@gravis
and tech@gravis.  I feel that the support I've recieved is friendly and of
high quality.

So there.

Andy


					
A.J.Sithers                                Department of Pharmacology                 
										   UWCM, Heath Park, Cardiff
eMail: sithersAJ@cardiff                   United Kingdon, CF4 3QD
				 
				   It works! It works! I'm a Genius!

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

Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 17:27:12 -0600
From: Don Eller <don.eller@inst.medtronic.com>
Subject: no response from Gravis

>Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 09:04:05 -6816 (GMT-68:16)
>From: "J.Waghorn" <ts0jwa@orac.sunderland.ac.uk>
>Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V11 #33

>> 
>> My records indicate that correct Internet addresses are  
>> "tech1@gravis.com" and "tech2@gravis.com".  This would explain 
>> why your mail is being returned.
He could be right you should try the advice and let us know that it didn't work
before you go on to your next conclusion.  I apologize if you have tried tech1
or tech2, but there is no way to tell since you didn't provide us with that
information.

>Noooooooo
>My mail is not being returned at all, I sent it & like almost everyone else 
>I know of have had no response from either sales@gravis.com or 
>tech@gravis.com.
>I suspect it is all going to /dev/null at Gravis :)

>Jason
Don't assume that mail must be returned or replied to.  Scenerio - Gravis starts
email and they had one tech whose email address is tech@gravis.com.  He is
joined by two new techs tech1@gravis.com and tech2@gravis.com, then he leaves
the company.  His mail address still exists and receives mail, but nobody is
reading it or replying to it.  You shouldn't assume that Gravis was smart
enough to remove tech@gravis.com mail address or set it up to forward to both
tech1 and tech2.  They might not have enough experience managing an email
post office, or there software might not offer such nominal functionality such
as forwarding or aliases.

Try tech1 or tech2 and let us know!

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

Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 12:22:06 -0600
From: Don Eller <don.eller@inst.medtronic.com>
Subject: People don't read the FAQ before they post here

Posts like the following are still fairly common.  I'm assuming that people who
post to gus-general must read it to see if their questions are answered, but
apparently quite a few don't notice the hint : Before you ask...read FAQ first
or don't understand what "FAQ" is or how to get it.  I know some of this
may simply be lazy people who would rather have someone tell them "exactly" how
to do something rather than read through an FAQ, but I think that if the hint
about reading FAQ's was moved to the top of the digest, and it included more
specific information about what FAQ stand's for, why they should read it first,
and for "real" neophytes, what is meant by getting the FAQ and reading it
would leave only repetitive questions from the lazy, that could just be 
ignored or answered curtly like -- Read the $#@%FAQ, if you don't understand it
then ask a question about what blah, blah, blah in the FAQ means, so it could
be updated to be more understandable.

I think since the FAQ also gives details on methods to obtain files, all that
would be necessary in the digest header would be information on how to get the
FAQ by mail, since its so similar to subscribing to the digest, it can be 
assumed that they're capable of requesting the FAQ the same way.

Sorry to sound so negative, but I'm sure that anyone that has been reading the
digest long enough to see questions that are in the FAQ asked over and over
again are not appreciated and is why most user-support groups eventually consist
of only people who need a lot of basic help (they usually won't or can't read
the manuals), one or two experts with a whole lot of patience.  I'd hate to see
this happen to the general-digest, so that all the experts are off in their
own special "peer" digest, and wouldn't participate in the general-digest as
well.  Most people contribute as long as they see they are getting something in
return, more experience bandwidth to discuss their problems or discoveries, and
when the digest becomes too clogged with basic questions that are in the FAQ,
they begin to feel that their time could be better spent in other digests.

PLEASE newbies, read the FAQ (which should probably be renamed to Frequently
Asked Questions w/ Answers)  It really is easy to read, and you can get a copy
as easily as requesting the digest.  Just send email to

 mail-server@nike.rz.uni-konstanz.de
and put "send gusfaq.txt" in the message body.



It appears Dave already anticipated the need for all new subscribers to have
the FAQ sent to them, but I think it might help to be able to get the FAQ
easily (for those that don't have or know how to use ftp mail, or ftpmail
servers) to be able to request the FAQ.  Of course they could unsubscribe and
then subscribe again, (assuming Dave server code doesn't keep track of names
after they unsubscribe)

Maybe all the request servers should respond appropriatly to
	Send FAQ
or  Send GUS-FAQ

What about it Dave?  I found gusfaq.txt missing from info dir on epas, but I
found it on orst.  It looks like it has not been updated since August.  Enough
has changed I think everyone should particpate in updating it.  If whoever
maintains this doesn't have the time, I would be will to add input this time
around.

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1993 18:25:30 -0600 (CDT)
From: ddebry@grue.dsd.ES.COM (Dave DeBry)
Subject: FAQs for the New Users

	I have modified the MailServ code to automatically send the
FAQ to new subscribers.  If they actually read it, this will cut down
on traffic immensely.

	This only applies to subscribers to the GUS Daily Digest.  I
figure the readers of the GUS Musician's Digest and Programmer's
Digest already know enough to get the FAQ.

	At least, that's what I'm hoping. :)

 
>Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 16:01:35 GMT
>From: nguyen@eerie.fr (NGUYEN Francois                   )
>Subject: Step by step instructions for games GUS setup
>
>I do not know if such a guide already exists
>but I think it would be a good idea to write one.
>
>If it does exist, please let me know, I think many
>of us would be happy to get it.
>
>If it does not, I offer to collect the infos and
>to put them together into a file.
>
>Thanks to send me a complete description of how
>to install and play games with the gus 
>(i am talking about special installation, such as
>special irq number, megaem, special option with 
>sbos, or special version of sbos, ...
>
>send everything to nguyen@eerie.fr
>                   ---------------
>
>thanks everyone
>
>Francois
	'

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

Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 11:35:04 -0700 (MST)
From: shannon@physics.Arizona.EDU (Shannon Miller)
Subject: Quest for Glory IV

Bummer game, guys. Really.

Supports MIDI in a variety of ways, as per the standard Sierra want. However,
thanks to the all-encompassing and highly user-surley DOS4GW, I can't
run MegaEm and the game at the same time. I suspect I COULD if I had more than
4 meg, which I don't.

I tried all possible Sierra driver combinations, even installed it
manually, and still it barfs at whim.

SBOS makes it regurgitate in a similar manner.

I can only get the game to run with NO sound support, and even then it is
a might bit unstable. Apparently there's something in the UltraSound
drivers that the game is fighting.

Serious bummer.

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

Date: Wed, 09 Mar 1994 13:42:45 -0500 (EST)
From: E_PEISS@PAVO.CONCORDIA.CA
Subject: Rebel Assault and the GUS

My Ultrasound slows Rebel Assault to a crawl when I play the game.  With
out a sound board graphics are fast and fluid.  Also a friend of mine
with the same setup 'cept the GUS has the game working fine with a SBPro.
My systen is a 386DX40 with a double speed Mitsumi CD-ROM drive 4 megs
of memory, 128K cache, a SVGA card with one meg on board.  Anyone know
why this happens??  Oh BTW since I got Rebel I upgraded my CD-Rom drive
from a single to a double spin got a SVGA with a meg to replace my old
VGA one with 256K put still zip.  My autoexec and config are bare except
for GUS and CD-ROM drivers....

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

Date: Mon, 07 Mar 1994 23:37:00 GMT
From: thomas@hammer.hacktic.nl (Thomas van Kuipers)
Subject: test!

test!

Let the greatest part of the news thou hearest be the least part of what
thou believest, lest the greater part of what thou believest be the
least part of what is true.
				-- Francis Quarles (1592-1644)

<-------------------------------------------------------------------->
 Thomas van Kuipers    Email: thomas@hammer.hacktic.nl
 De Wadden 49          Examenyear of HighSchool (6 VWO)
 3524 AG Utrecht       Important: Computers, Math, Women and Music!
 Telephone: +31 30 884235         Netherlands (in Europe)
<-------------------------------------------------------------------->

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End of GUS Daily Digest V11 #35
*******************************
