GUS Daily Digest            Sun, 26 Feb 95  9:37 PST     Volume 19: Issue  26 

Today's Topics:
						  7TH Guest and GUS
						  Cut the chatter...
		  Dark Forces, Full Throttle, Ultrasound Experience
					Descent - a fix, maybe ......
					GUS Software Probs Not So Bad
					   How to get MKII to work
							Internet Phone
							 Magic Carpet
						   MAXSBOS .21????
				  Okay.. more memory is important..
						   Warp drivers....
							  Whats New?
			Win95 + GUS Drivers - GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!!

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: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 15:18:05 -0500 (EST)
From: Hal Black <black@clark.net>
Subject: 7TH Guest and GUS

Hi.

   I can't get digital sounds from the Seventh Guest with my GUS MAX.  I
have t7gfix3.zip, which has a lot of drivers for different sound cards.  Can
someone tell me the EXACT instructions for what to do to get it to work with
the GUS (MAX)?

   The music sounds great, though...

   Good news is, I got my ram upgrade, and now I have a full meg.  My advice
to MAX or new GUS users (the ones that come with 512K ram) Call gravis and
get the number for 9600 Baud, which is a company that has competitive prices
on the chip you need, and it WORKS.  Before I did this, I ordered from
somewhere else, and the chip didn't work, and I had to go through lots of
hassle. It's ~$40 for the chip, and well worth it!

		Hal

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

Date: Sat, 25 Feb 95 16:02:30 EST
From: Bryan Maher <bsm@SEI.CMU.EDU>
Subject: Cut the chatter...

> 
> Will either Microsoft or Gravis get their act together for the soundcard
> "Gravis Ultrasound" !!
> 
> If they don't I can't honestly see the ultrasound being around on the
> market place for very much longer !!

As a member of Team OS/2 I am sick and tired of hearing the ignorant comment
that IBM doesn't support something and Microsoft does... Let's set the record
straight. Microsoft does not support anything other than the AT specification.
It is up to the
hardware manufacturers to make hardware and drivers that adhere to certain
standard API's so that their product will work with Windows or OS/2 or
whatever.  Additionally, as a developer I am so very tired of hearing people
complain about support not being available for Win95.  Microsoft has changed
the API specification 3 times in the last year.  It would be a waste of a
company's time and money to develop for an unsupported platform.  Gravis has
many months until the final product comes out and it is in their best interest
to wait until the final API specifications and the latest SDK's become
available for use.  This frees up their time for refining the existing
software. I personally feel Win95 will be highly flawed in its first version (
Microsoft's own first version track record supports this...) and it is in most
people's best interest to wait at least until the first revision comes out.

Give Gravis a break.  They will come through.

Bryan Maher

> and tell them that if they don't support the card you'll be throwing it a
> way and buying a Creative Labs sound card instead!!!


P.S. YOU can go buy a SoundBlaster anytime you want. I'll stick with my G-MAX.

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

Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 22:23:18 -0800 (PST)
From: Stanley Kwong <shkwong@ucdavis.edu>
Subject: Dark Forces, Full Throttle, Ultrasound Experience

	The guy who posted that the Dark Forces demo works with maxsbos 
with the \c \x switches was right.  The sound effects do work beautifully.  
There's no music but the music's not that great anyway.  Also, the Full 
Throttle demo works flawlessly.  And since the soundtrak isn't midi, it 
works just like it does in my store.  And to those who were inquiring 
about the price of the Ultrasound Experience, the price is $4.99.  If you 
send me a check I'll mail it to you but I can't do that until next month, 
after finals are over.  BTW, if you do send me a check, send it to me in 
one of those envelopes that are made for shipping disks.  That way the CD 
won't get crushed when I send it to you.
							Stan Kwong

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

Date: Sat, 25 Feb 95 17:46:44 GMT
From: ljb@spclmway.demon.co.uk (Lewis Berrie)
Subject: Descent - a fix, maybe ......

  I spent last night playing with the HMI drivers for Descent.
  I tried other HMI drivers from other games, but none improved the noise.
  I then attacked the DESCENTG.INI file.
  I tried commenting-out some patches (one's near the end) and it seemed to
improve a bit ... not really much good.
  Then I played with the settings at the beginning of the file ... and got
some success !!!
  What I altered was the sampling rate of the patches for the 1 Meg card,
'cos that is what I have got.
  Normally the line is this :-

O 1024 8 22

meaning on 1 Meg cards, load the patches in 8 bit and at 22 khz.
  I upped the frequency to the normal 44 khz, and wham, most of the noise was
gone !!! It only loaded 64 of the 67 patches (since some of the patches
doubled in size), but the ones missed are hardly ever used (according to the
DESCENTG.INI file). There was still some noise in the percussion of the intro 
music, but other music was vastly improved.
  I then tried 16-bit instead of 8-bit, but this did not improve matters
anymore. Only about 35 patches were loaded this time, but the music still
sounded fine.
  Please could some other people try this fix to see if improves the sound on
their cards (even on 512k cards, 'cos the music still should sound fine).
  I checked the readme files that came with the patch update for DESCENT, and
it said they had reduced the patches to 8-bit 22khz on >512k cards to help
stop a LOADPATS lockup. It did not lockup on me once after I had reverted the
patches back to 44khz, nor even when they where at 16-bit.

  Hope this is of some use.


		Lew
		:-)

  P.s. Could the noise be due to aliasing problems when reducing the sampling
frequency ??? I always thought you could not half the frequency of a sample
without passing it through a [digital] low-pass filter in case it contained
frequencies above the Nyquist frequency of the new sampling rate (normally
half the sampling rate is the Nyquist frequency). If it did contain too high
frequencies, then aliasing would occur (lots of weird, un-wanted noise
when the high-frequencies get "mapped" down into the lower frequency band).
Do the HMI drivers, or the LOADPATS program, perform such signal processing
to the patches when they are loaded at a lower frequency to save memory ???

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

Date: Fri, 24 Feb 95 9:15:19 EST
From: "Brian K. Dowtin" <dowtin@ncat.edu>
Subject: GUS Software Probs Not So Bad

>Everytime a new release of the install-disks is out there is ALWAYS something
> not working ( now for the 3.59 for example its just clear they even didnt
>try to install it on a single machine and see if the gus was functioning).
>
> They announce something ( read Megaem protected mode ) and after 2 months
> none has seen even the beta.
>
> We just cannot let everything go this shameful way.
>
> If the situations keeps this way i am going to sell this card.
> Alessio.

Alessio, 
	Easy now...
	Gravis is just like any other company that writes software. Its not a
trivial thing to produce perfect code (that runs on N! variations of
machines and configurations). Nor is it a trivial thing to estimate the
time to write a piece of software. 
	I'm thankful that they are so responsive. I've personally gotten at
least 4 of the software updates (GUS000xx) free. This shows 1. They are
trying to improve the software. 2. Addressing user problems and concerns.
3. Not out to screw their customers.
	Look at the software industry - Chicago - was Windows94 (Ha!) -
then it was supposed to be out 1st Quarter 95, now its 2nd or 3rd... 
	Look at DOS 6.0 - there have been two upgrades  since it came out
and for most folks they were about $10.00 a piece. (-free to download
though)

	All I am trying to say, is that I can think of many companys who,
if in Gravis' shoes would have offered less support and charged more for
it. 

`Brian 
 --
#### If you want to be on the cutting edge - be prepared to bleed a little.

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

Date: Sat, 25 Feb 95 18:41:27 MST
From: dchow@stu.athabascau.ca (Donald Chow)
Subject: How to get MKII to work

  Okay, for the guy with QEMM problems with MKII, as it says in the manual
you should load any memory managers.  A clean boot, or just XMS will do.

 As for the gravis gamepad, run 'ultrajoy 31' before loading the game
(editing mk2gus.bat is a quick shortcut).  Make sure the switch on the
_bottom_ of the pad is pushed to the _right_ which enables 4 buttons.

P.S. The top switch os for switching to leftie play..

Don

-- 
	 Donald Chow   dchow@a.stu.athabascau.ca   bf298@freenet.carleton.ca
			:  F u s i o n - Grafk Design: GATB and X-Phile  :
	  I was put on this Earth for a number of reasons, right now, I'm
					so far behind, I'll live forever.

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

Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 17:17:35 -0500 (EST)
From: David Ross <snakey@cs.UMD.EDU>
Subject: Internet Phone

	 Has anyone gotten the Internet Phone program to work properly under 
WFWG 3.11 with a GUS?  I set it up on a friends machine, and it works 
fine, but on mine with the GUS, the speech (coming off the net) gets 
screwed up.  (Like someone pressing the mute button of a TV on and off 
every 2 seconds or so)  Also, it crashes _very_ frequently during 
"conversations."  I put that in quotes because it's impossible to tell 
what people are saying.  :)  Transmission of my recorded voice seems to 
work fine though.  (My friend is down the hall in my dorm, and we both 
are on the net directly)  Any help would be greatly appreceated.  Thanks!

David Ross
snakey@cs.umd.edu

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

Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 00:58:40 +0200 (EET)
From: Saari Anssi <s106275@cs.tut.fi>
Subject: Re: Magic Carpet

>Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 11:39:37 -0800
>From: "Dale Newcomb, Jr." <newcomb@gemtech.com>
>Subject: Re: Magic Carpet

>Anyone else know what I need to do to
>get the demo version to work with the GUS? I don't even care if it's
>crappy SBOS - just want to hear something!

Well, it works for me with Maxsbos, but GUS owners would only get the music.

Anssi

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

Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 16:26:27 -0500
From: arg2@po.cwru.edu (Adam Glick)
Subject: MAXSBOS .21????

   wherer can i find maxsbos alpha .21 all i can find on epas. is vert .1
alpha and i was wondering were the ver everyone talks about is. thanmks
-Adam
arg2@po.cwru.edu
			  'A person who believes one thing will solve all their problems
			   is a fool : they're twice the fool if they believe the thing
			   that will fix their problems is money'

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

Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 21:16:20 -0800 (PST)
From: Dave Woldrich <davew@uofport.edu>
Subject: Okay.. more memory is important..

Hello,
I'm not a big shooter when it comes to the GUS, but I think that a 
question needs to be raised about the new and improved GUS/AMD Interwave 
that was mentioned on this list:

   What do we, the consumers, want to see in the amount of base RAM that
   will be shipped as standard on the next GUS?  "next GUS" meaning the 
   next generation GUS compatible card that will be able to address more 
   than 1 meg of RAM.

Considerations:
   Cost of RAM, larger MIDI patch sizes, Sounds in games, (other?!) 

I would like to organize some sort of informal poll among folks on this
list.  If you would like to have some say, please mail me with the amount
of RAM you would like to see shipped as standard on every new GUS.  This
might make design and cost issues inside Gravis easier if we let them know
how we feel now.  Anyhow, I'm assuming that the next GUS will be able to
use SIMM modules instead of DRAMs, so you'll probably need to base your
vote on available SIMM module sizes out there...  My address is
	davew@uofport.edu

Mail me before February 29.  I will tally your votes and post them to the
GUS general mail server on the next day.  I will repost this message a few
times so everyone gets a look at it.  PLEASE DO NOT POST A VOTE TO THE
MAIL SERVER -- that is clutter and clutter is *LAME*!  Don't be a lamer. :)

I have not gotten an overwhelming response yet, so feel free to write me 
if you haven't...

David Woldrich    (davew@wally.uofport.edu)  |  Majoring in Computer Science 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
		 "Uh ... d'they do that with LASERS?!?!"  -Dave Letterman 
									 ^^^^^^ 

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

Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 21:45:05 -0500 (EST)
From: Buddy <cs3mh3dn@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>
Subject: Warp drivers....

I have a simple question and I hope to get a simple answer. I am about to 
install Warp on my machine. I have used the Ultrasound in Windows for 
over two years and I have an external keyboard hooked up to my card. I 
want to be able to play the Ultrasound and record midi tracks under OS/2. 
Since I don't have any midi software that runs under OS/2 natively (does 
it exist?) I will obviously be doing it under Windows within OS/2. I 
understand that the Manley drivers and the Gravis drivers will both give 
me .wav playback under OS/2. My question is this....

Which drivers should I use to allow midi recording using my keyboard?

Thanks for your help....

Kevin

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

Date: Sat, 25 Feb 95 23:01:06 EST
From: Meshreki@eecis.udel.edu
Subject: Whats New?
Message-ID: <9502260401.aa02917@stimpy.eecis.udel.edu>

A couple of people might be interested in my "log" of the new Gravis releases
as I found them on archive.epas.utoronto.ca.  At the very least, you can 
find out if its worth it to you to download the latest install disk or patch.
Send any comments or corrections to meshreki@ee.udel.edu

Sam
---

/// GUS0046.ZIP ///

DOS MAXSBOS v0.21 beta


/// GUS0045.ZIP ///

DOS UltrINIT    v2.31           Supports ULTRAMIX.INI
DOS MIXER                       Supports ULTRAMIX.INI


/// GUS0044.ZIP ///

DOS SETUP   v0.10 alpha Combines SETUP & SetGUS.


/// GUS359x.ZIP (x = A,B,C,D,E,F) ///

DOS UltrINIT    v2.29
DOS PlayFILE    v4.50
DOS SETUP   v5.03do
DOS SetGUS  v2.50
DOS PARSE       v3.59
DOS WPARSE      v1.20

Windows GRVSULTR.386    v5.48
Windows ULTRASND.DRV    v5.48
Windows ULTMPORT.DRV    v1.02
Windows Patchmaker      v1.62
Windows MIXER           v5.32

MIDI Patches                    All have patch names inside patches!


/// GUS0043.ZIP ///

DOS PlayMIDI    v5.12
DOS PlayFILE    v4.40
DOS UltraMIX    v1.03
DOS UltrINIT    v2.25
DOS UltraMID    v1.12


/// GUS042.ZIP ///

Windows Patch Manager   v1.56   Fixed some Bank Manager bugs
Windows GRVSULTR.386    v5.34 \
Windows ULTRASND.DRV    v5.34 - Fixed shell & .WAV bugs, increased max DMA to 8K
Windows ULTMPORT.DRV    v1.01 /


/// GUS353x.ZIP (x = A,B,C,D,E,F) ///

DOS GravUTIL    v3.0
DOS PlayMIDI    v5.06   Can use external ULTLOGO.BMP, fixed initial delay bug
DOS PlayFILE    v3.8    MAX/DB support
DOS SBOS        v3.82
DOS UltraMID    v1.11
DOS UltraJOY    v?.??
DOS Ultrinit    v2.23   Added -s "silent" mode
DOS E.BAT       v1.0  - front-end for emulators (SBOS,MegaEM,UltraMID)
DOS GUSEMU      v1.0  /

Windows Mixer           v2.02   Added volume percentages
Windows Patch Maker Litev1.13   Added increased envelope precision
Windows Patch Manager   v1.55   Added Bank Manager -- MAJOR UPGRADE!
Windows GRVSULTR.386    v5.21 \
Windows ULTRASND.DRV    v5.21 - Added DMA Buffer sizes, MAX/DB support
Windows ULTMPORT.DRV    v1.01 /
Windows ULTRAHLP.HLP    v?.??
Windows ULTRASND.INI    v?.??   Added Patch Bank Names

General MIDI patches    v?.??   New file dates, some patches improved?

BUGS:   * Windows drivers -- fixed in GUS042.ZIP
		- garbled .WAV on old GUS (and GUS MAX?)
		- incompatible with any 3rd party shell (NDW,PC Tools)
	* Bank Manager
		- copying perc bank to bank 0 doesn't work -- fixed GUS042
		- creating new perc bank w/ copy current doesn't work
	* SBOS.CFG still has SEIRRA typo (should be SIERRA)
	* File dates -- if any existing file is dated newer than intended
	  replacement file on 3.53 install disks, it will NOT get replaced.
	  (example:  replacement SBOSLIB.SBS is dated 1/2/80 on install disks!)
	  Delete specific original files and do manual (file) install or delete 
	  everything and do a fresh install.  (BACKUP any important stuff 1st!)
	* General MIDI Patches -- still don't have names inside patches
	* GV v1.7 -- Gravis (readme) Viewer skips/blanks lines occasionally

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

Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 16:47:42 -0500
From: joe@ping.ping.com (Joakim Erdfelt)
Subject: Re: Win95 + GUS Drivers - GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!!

>Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 10:18:05 GMT
>From: "Mark.Carline BSc Elec Eng." <mark.carline@unn.ac.uk>
>
>Will either Microsoft or Gravis get their act together for the soundcard
>"Gravis Ultrasound" !!
>and tell them that if they don't support the card you'll be throwing it a
>way and buying a Creative Labs sound card instead!!!
>Mark.Carline@unn.ac.uk

Well ....
  Creation and maintaining of Sound Card drivers is not Microsoft's 
responsibility.  It is Advanced Gravis's responsibility.  Microsoft
could care less if you make threats like that.  They dont care.
They have NOTHING to do with the creation of these drivers.

  Just give Gravis their fair share of time to create them. I mean 
Windows 9x is still in A BETA TESTING mode right now.  When Windows 9x
has been out and in the populace for 2 months and Advanced Gravis STILL
HASN'T released their drivers, THEN you can complain.  But as for now
I'm content with simply going through the BETA TESTING motions with
Microsoft themselves.

-Joe

  



-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Dear Earthling :  Hello! I am a creature from a galaxy far away, vacationing 
on your planet.  I have transformed myself into this little .sig .  As you 
are reading it, I am having sex with your eyeballs.  I know you like it, 
because you are smiling.  Thanks for a wonderful time.

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

End of GUS Daily Digest V19 #26
*******************************
