GUS Daily Digest            Fri, 7 Jan 94   007          Volume 10: Issue   7 

Today's Topics:
						<grvsultr.386> problem
			 DRAMs, Windows volume, Mega-Em patches, etc.
							 FTP archive
						  GUS, Phat and CGW
			   GUS Daughter Cards, where can I get one?
				Mail order outlets selling GUS, please
						   Patch Maker Lite
				Problems with the new Windows drivers
					 Rebel Assault sounds choppy
							Return To Zork
							SimCity 2000!
							  Unreal 1.1
				 WAV Volume with new Windows drivers
 WHY DOES GRAVIS NOT POST THE PROGRESS ON OS/2 DRIVERS EVERY 2 WEEKS!

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: Thu, 6 Jan 94 08:44:40 +0100
From: rve2@sh.alcbel.be (Rudi Verbist SH27)
Subject: <grvsultr.386> problem

Hi,

Could anyone tell me what's the difference between the <grvsultr.386>
files shipped with v1.21 and with v2.06a ?

I ask it because I can only install the Windows drivers shipped with v1.21
and NOT those of later versions. In the latter case, when I start Windows, the
Windows logo appears, but when it arrives at the line <device=grvsultr.386> 
in the [386Enh] section of the <system.ini> file, Windows exits to DOS 
(without leaving an error message).

The only 'unusual' part in my 386-DX40 PC is an EGA card and monitor.

Could that be the origin of my problem (e.g. a new device conflict in the 
[386Enh] section, that didn't occur in the software v1.21) ? 


I hope at least someone can help me with this problem, because there's no
much fun on a GUS without Windows working with v2.06a or later drivers.

Thanks,

Rudi (Internet : rve2@sh.alcbel.be) 

( P.S. Feel free to answer me in English, French, Dutch or German )

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

Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 12:36:55 -0500 (EST)
From: Phat H Tran <ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: DRAMs, Windows volume, Mega-Em patches, etc.

> Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 08:24:09 EST
> From: aa993@freenet.carleton.ca (Christopher L. Tumber)
> Subject: DRAM
> 
> I'll be upgrading my GUS DRAM this week-end, but I don't really know what 
> I'm looking for...Can anybody clue me in? In particular, I've heard 
> there's a couple brands to avoid, which?

Get 256k by 4 bit chips (they have 4256 on them) of access times 100ns
or less.  Avoid Sanyos.

> Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 13:29:23 PST
> From: Scott Bobo <scott@mothra.rose.hp.com>
> Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V10 #5
> 
> Hi all -  I've read a couple of complaints about the new windows drivers 
> supplied with Patch Maker Lite.  I too am having problems - I can barely
> hear the music on wav and midi files.  The normal chord.wav that sounds 

You are probably using the old mixer from previous installations.  Use
the new mixer in pmak1100.zip (the one with the save button) instead.

> Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 22:39:21 -0500 (EST)
> From: Peter Joseph Guillaume <guillau1@student.msu.edu>
> Subject: MegaEm
> 
> Just a quick question about MegaEm.  I recently upgraded to a meg on my gus and
> tMegaem automagically detects that and loads my patches at 44khz, but still
> only at 8-bit.  Is there something I am doing wrong or a limitation of the
> program.

To be able to fit as many patches as possible, Mega-Em loads them in
at 8-bit resolution.  16-bit patches don't sound all that much better,
especially when you're busy playing a game, while the drop in instrument
diversity would be noticeable.

> Also, I got Rebel Assault the other day (after being pleased to see a great
> game with native GUS support) and was horrified when I loaded it up.  The
> sounds are choppy to the point of being intolerable.  It sounds like an old
> record with skips and all.  I've read at least one other post concerning this
> and it seems to have gone unnoticed.  Has anyone else had this problem and more
> importantly, found a solution.

The GUS support in Rebel Assault simply consists of playing long
WAVs of pre-recorded music from the CD, so you must make sure that
your CD is operating up to speed.

> Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 16:38:42 -0500 (EST)
> From: gt7039a@prism.gatech.edu (An anonymous word of wisdom)
> Subject: Star Control II
> 
> Need some help on Star Control II... Star Control II sounded great with
> the GUS set at 256k RAM... However, when I upgraded to 1024k, I kept
> getting some problems with the instruments clearing... I tried clearing
> the GUS RAM before I ran the game... but in the middle of the game even,
> some of the instruments will not change...
>

Star Control 2 has a well-known bug which afflicts 1MB GUSes.  You
can minimize the symptoms by using the GUS on a 16-bit DMA channel
and by clearing GUS memory before playing the game.
 
> Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 11:45:00 PST
> From: Richards Roger <tcemail!rnd1.indy.tce.com!RichardsR@uunet.UU.NET>
> 
> Now when I got the gus0035.zip drivers, I played with the REMIX
> parameter and set it to 1 and it worked!  No more lockup and the GUS
> was now starting to give as good of sound in MS Arcade as other sound
> cards.  Well, I installed the "latest" drivers found in pmak110.zip
> and now MS Arcade locks up if REMIX is set to 1, so I have to set it
> back to 2 and the lousy sound returns.  Fortunately, the memory

Ugh.  A recurring bug.

> driver releases.  The gus0035.zip drivers looked like they were
> developed for the GUS MAX since it had mixer controls that I could not
> use.  Does anyone know the story behind all of these various GUS
> Windows driver releases?  Has Gravis taken a step backwards with the
> latest Windows drivers?

Significant steps forward were taken, rather.  The new Windows driver
now supports patch samples >64kB, and have incorporated functions for
the DB and Max.  The mixer hasn't been trimmed back either.  Before, it
would display all sorts of sliders that wouldn't function on base GUSes,
but now it detects what revision of the GUS (Max) you have and whether 
you have a 16-bit DB attached or not and only displays the controls that 
you can use.

Phat.

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

Date: Thu, 06 Jan 1994 11:50:28 GMT
From: Clarke Brunt <CLARKE@lsl.co.uk>
Subject: FTP archive

Has anyone had any luck with the nike mail server in the last few days?
Yesterday, I eventually got a reply to a test message, but attempts to
get files just seem to disappear without any acknowledgement.

Also, how about a new ls-lR file being generated - I think the present
one dates from August 1993? I realise that the 00Index.ALL is more
informative, but the ls-lR includes the submit directory, and also the
file sizes. For anyone not familiar with it, the ls-lR file contains
a listing of all files in all directories of the GUS archive, as would
be produced by the UNIX command ls -lR.

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

Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 02:39:00 GMT
From: thomas@hammer.hacktic.nl (Thomas van Kuipers)
Subject: Re: GUS, Phat and CGW

For everyone concerning technical details about DOOM & QEMM...

 ----------------------------- forwarded message -----------------------------

>> Doom is not a protected-mode game.  It works with my QEMM.
>
>DOOM IS Protected mode...  trust me.
>
>(And, if you don't, call up Watcom and ask them what the heck the DOS extender
>DOS4/GW is for...)
>
>Joshua Jensen

>Why does it work with qemm then?

Find the DPMI specs at qdeck.com and you'll find a function that puts the
computer into 32-bit DPMI mode... QEMM uses DPMI and supports it.  Watcom's
Rational DOS extender provides the gap between DPMI and flat mode for Watcom C. 
QEMM flips between protected mode and real mode to bridge the gap between DOS
and protected mode.  DOS4/GW turns on QEMM's CONSTANT protected mode
interface...

Joshua Jensen

----------------------------- end forwarded message --------------------------

<-------------------------------------------------------------------->
 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)
<-------------------------------------------------------------------->

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

Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 9:06:18 CST
From: Jon Fletcher <fletcj@tenfwd.uci.COM>
Subject: GUS Daughter Cards, where can I get one?

Hi all -
I am planning to get a GUS very soon but I need to know where to
get a daughter card for a CD-ROM.  I haven't decided on a CD-ROM yet
so I am leaning towards information on the SCSI CD-ROM Daughter card
(This one should work with most CD-ROM's right?).  Anyways, I read
through the FAQ's and it listed "What new hardware is coming out for the
GUS?" but it seemed somewhat outdated and didn't list any places that
it was available (only from GRAVIS, maybe?).  I am going to get my GUS
mail-order because nobody in the TWIN CITY area stocks them, that I have 
found, and the place that I am planning to order from, Disk-Count Software,
only handles the GUS ($129 + $4 shipping, cheapest I could find).

Any information on any of the DAUGHTER CARDS and/or where to order them
from would be appriciated.

Thanks in advance, Jon

-- 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jon Fletcher                           |  ^>^^>^>^>^^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^^>o
UCI/Unified Communications, Inc.       |                      O 
Software Engineer                      |                 O oO
email fletcj@tenfwd.uci.com            |   /__       o 0        
									   |  /____\   o             
									   |  [_/\_] oo             
									   |    --                            
									   |   dive to your deepest domain 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 16:35:14 +1100 (EST)
From: Charlie Brady <charlieb@tplrd.tpl.oz.au>
Subject: Mail order outlets selling GUS, please

I've seen a lot of posts that the street price for GUS is now about US 
$100. Can someone please email me some names addresses and telephone 
numbers of mail-order places which take Visa card with a price like that. 
It's very hard to find anyone with GUS for sale here, let alone for that 
price. Telephone numbers with area codes as well as 1-800 numbers, as I'm
not sure whether I can use that service. Thanks.

Charlie Brady * (W) charlieb@tplrd.tpl.oz.au * (H) charlieb@budge.apana.org.au
"Make it as simple as possible - | Tel: (02) 413 6838 ____Telectronics__| /\__
  but no simpler"   Einstein, A  | Fax: (02) 413 6868 Pacing Systems    \/  

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

Date: 6 Jan 94 16:31:00 PST
From: EBULALACAO@CSUPomona.Edu
Subject: Patch Maker Lite

Where can I get a copy of this?  What filename is it under?  Is it in EPAS?
Thanks for any replies.

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

Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 09:11:15 +1030 (DST)
From: Michael Scholten <michael@apanix.apana.org.au>
Subject: Problems with the new Windows drivers

G'day everyone.

I am a new subscriber to this digest, but have read a few copies from
someone else.

A few digests ago I read of some peoples problems with the new Windows
drivers where they couldn't get _any_ midi sounds.  Unfortunately I have
not read a 'fix' yet (probably due to missing the relevant issues) and I am
having the same problem, except that I do get output from Patch Maker Lite.
One thing I found was that I could not even load the patches manually using
Patch Manager.

Until I find the solution I have simply replace my new ultmport.drv and
ultrasnd.drv files with my old ones, but I am obviously not getting
the benifits from the new drivers by doing this.

It may be important to mention that I got the new drivers from the SDK
rather than from the zip file which had PM Lite and the drivers only.

On a semi-related topic, I have read something about patches > 64K and how
to use them.  Unfortunately when I had a play with Patch Maker Lite (with
the new drivers loaded) the first thing I was told was that my .WAV file
was > 64K and asked if I wanted to truncate it.  If I answered 'no' it
wouldn't let me continue with that .WAV anyway.

Quite obviously I am doing something wrong, but what it is I don't know. 
Any assistance you can offer is greatly appreciated by four users down
under :) (I haven't tried it on one of the machines yet).

michael@apanix.apana.org.au

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

Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 15:44:28 GMT
From: charltjr <charltjr@sun.aston.ac.uk>
Subject: Rebel Assault sounds choppy

Regarding the following as posted to the 6th's digest,

>Also, I got Rebel Assault the other day (after being pleased to see a great
>game with native GUS support) and was horrified when I loaded it up.  The
>sounds are choppy to the point of being intolerable.  It sounds like an old
>record with skips and all.  I've read at least one other post concerning this
>and it seems to have gone unnoticed.  Has anyone else had this problem and more
>importantly, found a solution.

I also got Rebel Assault and had this problem. Once. While running in
a DOS session under Windows. Because, if you must know, that was the
ONLY way I could get it to run without my machine locking solid.
Wierd, no?

Anyway, on my setup I solved it by increasing the amount of memory
that RA allocates to buffer its sound. You can change it using the
setup utility for RA. Having paid 50 pounds sterling for what is,
essentially, a graphics demo I took it back after two days of
only-running-under-windows-with-no-sound agony. I'm NOT a "newbie" and
I've never been given so much trouble by a game before. Life's too
short, and 50 pounds is too much for ZERO gameplay. Sorry, but there
you go.

Hope this is of help to you,
best of luck! ;-)

While talking about games, I noticed someone having trouble with
Dracula Unleashed a while back. I got it to *work* with SBOS, but the
video and sound kept drifting out of sync. I ended up putting my old
SB back in to run it :-(. Mabey the new SBOS can do
better................ (He said, rushing off to download it)

Happy new year GUSers,

John.

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

Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 11:37:43 -0500
From: Dale Luther Bewley <dbewley@tech.iupui.edu>
Subject: Return To Zork

	Has anyone gotten Return to Zork to work? It is supposed to
support the GUS, but when I tell it that's what I have it won't find
the IRQ and DMA settings, it leaves them blank.  Yes all enviro.
variables are set.  I can get it to run with SBOS UNTIL it tries to
play speech! Then the animation goes into a loop... Can anyone help
me?!
	thanx
dbewley@etsun.tech.iupui.edu

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

Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 22:44:08 -0500 (EST)
From: Pete Kilcullen <pmk@access.digex.net>
Subject: SimCity 2000!

Well, I got SimCity 2000 for DOS today. To get sound and music, it needs 
SBOS.. Doesn't work with Ultramid or Megaem. I used SBOS 3.7B2 and set 
both sound and music for Soundblaster. It works OK with QEMM loaded 
(v7.03) and I have 611K free before loading the game.

Sounds and graphics are GREAT!! Music is just OK. Haven't really gotten 
into playing yet. Just wanted to get the news up ASAP!

Pete

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

Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 10:02:32 -0700 (MST)
From: jknepley@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Jim Knepley)
Subject: Re: Unreal 1.1

> Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 11:12:10 -0500
> From: "Momentary language, sexual situations" <dantonio@tay2.dec.com>
> Subject: Unreal 1.1
> 
> Has anyone been able to get this to work? If so, what OS are you running
> (i.e. MS-DOS, DR DOS, OS/2)? I'm running DR DOS 6.0 and it consistently
> says it needs 14xxx more bytes, despite the fact that I have 625K free,
> thanks to QEMM's Stealth. When I run it under OS/2 2.1, the music plays at
> about 1/2 speed. And it appears that FC changed some of the scroller
> messages!

I had the same problem with DR DOS and Unreal.  I booted with a DOS 5.0
boot disk (still using QEMM, though) and it worked just dandy.  It's 
amazing the performance gain because the Ultrasound takes so little time 
to mix voices.  On my 386sx/16 it was nearly as smooth as on a 386dx/33 
with a SBPro (the vectors weren't quite there, but everything else was).

Jim

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

Date: Thu, 06 Jan 1994 11:58:04 -0800 (PST)
From: MDENAULT@POMONA.CLAREMONT.EDU
Subject: WAV Volume with new Windows drivers

A few people have recently complained about problems setting the WAV
volume with the new Windows drivers.  For the record, I have had no
such problems.  I go to Mixer, set the WAV volume, click on "Save",
and the volume is set to that level.  I should add that I've locked
the Left/Right volumes -- maybe there's a bug if they're not locked?

Anyway, as a temporary fix, you might try adjusting the WaveVolume,
WaveVolumeL, and WaveVolumeR parameters in system.ini under the
ultrasnd.drv section.  For max volume, I have mine set to 3586, 3563,
and 3563, respectively.

Hope this helps...
---
ciao
matt                            mdenault@pomona.claremont.edu 

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

Date: Tue, 04 Jan 1994 00:43:00 GMT
From: thomas@hammer.hacktic.nl (Thomas van Kuipers)
Subject: WHY DOES GRAVIS NOT POST THE PROGRESS ON OS/2 DRIVERS EVERY 2 WEEKS!

Do you find that reasonable? I find this NECCESSARY because they are 
saying they produce it for a year now...


<-------------------------------------------------------------------->
 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)
<-------------------------------------------------------------------->

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

End of GUS Daily Digest V10 #7
******************************
