GUS Daily Digest            Thu, 30 Mar 95  9:37 PST     Volume 20: Issue  30 

Today's Topics:
							   Amiga CD
					   GUS & Avi sound problem
				  GUS Daily Digest V20 #29 (5 msgs)
						   GUSMax Upgrade?
		   GUS with Asus P55TP4 or Gigabyte 586 motherboard
						Microprose and the GUS
				X-COM 1.4 and GUS:  I got it to work!
			   X-Com 1.4 patch available (GUS Support!)

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.

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Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 16:26:27 +0300 (EET DST)
From: H{m{l{inen Jori <jhgrc@cs.tut.fi>
Subject: Amiga CD

> Date: Wed, 29 Mar 95 10:55:00 BST
> From: D.W.Johnson@ppc.icl.co.uk
> Subject: Q: Amiga MOD files

> I own an Amiga CD32 with several CD-ROMs.  Some of these CD-ROMs
> contain MOD files which I would like to transfer to my PC to play using
> my GUS.  When I try to read these files using Windows File Manager, I can
> read the CDs directory structure and filename, but not the file itself.

This problem comes from mscdex, which isn't supporting ISO9660 
rockbridge extension(or what ever?). 

Problem comes from ISO9660 standart which limits filenames to 8+3
like in MS-DOS filesystem. But there is an extension to this which
allows 256(?) characters in filename and Amiga CD-ROMs uses this
extension. MSCDEX can read the directory and convert those long
names to 8+3 format but cannot read the file from disk.

I got this problem also because in BBS, I am cosysopping (running
on PC+cdrom+mscdex+msdos), was aminet-cdrom with these longer filenames
and that could not be used. I saw the directorys but..

> I assume there is some sort of binary file incompatibility (byte-swap?)
> between Amiga and PC files.

No there should not be. You can read the files made with amiga trackers
which are transfered to you by a modem or a floppy and it works. So why
should not CD disk work?

> Does anyone know how to convert Amiga files from CD to PC readable format?
> I would appreciate any help.

Well perhaps better mscdex would do it because it interpretes information
read by CDROM to msdos-format.

Or install Linux with CD-ROM and mount CD32 disk, copy files to MSDOS
partition or if you have a friend with Linux and CDROM.. 
Linux ISO9660 filesystem supports those longer filenames and my friend
has tested that aminet-cdrom and it worked..

 --------------------------------- 
Jori H{m{l{inen, h149373@cc.tut.fi                

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

Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 22:18:41 CST
From: "STEVE FERNANDEZ" <SFERNAND@acs.unt.edu>
Subject: GUS & Avi sound problem

I've been reading about many (ok, most) people having sound problems 
with AVI's.  Well, I too had the same problem and I think I found a 
way to sort of fix it.  Ah, the story goes that I was installing 
Quick Time 2.00 and trying to get it to work with GUS and it 
wouldn't.  Just flat wouldn't (I forget the symtoms).  So I started 
checking everything and noticed a few things:

 1) It doesn't seem like the GUS driver can do stereo sound w/AVI or 
QTW files, at least it doesn't do any sound when I try to play stereo 
files. (and still doesn't, anyone? anyone?)

 2) When I dropped from a 16-bit DMA channel to an 8-bit, everything 
started to work.

So, now I just run with 240,3,3,5,11 and everything seems to work 
flawlessly with my system...Oh, I do also have a SB 1.0 @ 220,7,1 and 
everything is cool.
 
  
---Steve 
 
p.s.  While I'm on this soap box, did the beta release of Mega 3.0x 
upset anyone else besides me?  I seem to remember Gravis making 
claims that there was NO real difference between board revisions.  
BUT, there it is in Mega that the Roland emulation won't work with 
boards older than 3.x (or something like that).  Not cool!
 
 

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

Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 13:19:36 -0600 (CST)
From: John Patrick Lestrade <lestrade@Ra.MsState.Edu>
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V20 #29

> Dear anyone concerned,
>      I'm an e-mail user in Hong Kong.  I don't care who are you but I just
> know that I was confused with the somewhat DIGESTs received every day
> recently.  I do also like to meet friends from other parts of the world (I
> guess you're from Australia because your e-mail address ends with "edu") but
												 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Chrysan Chan

Dear Mr. Chan,
Just a small correction: "edu" at the end of an address stands for the 
country of Educasia. It is a small country in South America that lives 
under a (sometimes) benevolent dictator. Dr. Dean.
Hope this helps clear up the confusion.

--
John Patrick Lestrade               | Begin PGP Public Key
cnesta::lestrade  or SSL::lestrade  | ``Open Sesame''
lestrade@ra.msstate.edu             | End PGP Public Key         

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

Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 15:27 -0500
From: DANTONIO@PROCESS.COM (Momentary Language, Sexual Situations)
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V20 #29

> From: Sky Woo <swoo@rahul.net>
> Subject: AVI sound playback under Windows

[Helpful tips deleted]

I'll give this a try, but the odd thing is, once I click pause/resume it's
fine UNTIL it rewinds and plays the AVI again. Then the volume is severly
muted again...So the problem must be in the code that STARTS the playback.
Perhaps it is time to bug the AOL person again...

Thanks,
DDA

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

Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 16:15:49 GMT
From: Thomas Lew <lew@octel.com>
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V20 #29

Hi.

> Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 22:01:08 CST
> From: linfy@iastate.edu
> Subject: Please disconnect my acount from GUS
> 
> I am sorry if this is not the right address for this.  However, I do not
> know where to write as my computer net knowledge is limited.  Will you
> please disconnect my account for GUS.  My boyfriend, the one who usually
> read this newsgroup went back already, so he will not read this anymore.
> Thank You.

Well, that's what you get for letting other people use your account! :)
Anyways, this isn't a newsgroup.  Its a mailing list.  The address to use
to unsubscribe yourself is at the end of every mailing:

> End of GUS Daily Digest V20 #29
> *******************************
> 
> To post to tomorrow's digest:             <gus-general@mail.orst.edu>
> To (un)subscribe or get help:     <gus-general-request@mail.orst.edu>
> To contact a human (last resort):   <gus-general-owner@mail.orst.edu>

Try e-mailing gus-general-request@mail.orst.edu with the word "unsubscribe"
in both the subject and body of the message.

Hope this helps!

Thomas Lew
thomas.lew@octel.com

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

Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 01:20:07 -0330
From: acameron@cs.mun.ca (Aaron Cameron)
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V20 #29

>>Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 21:53:48 -0400 (EDT)
>>From: SSARTOR@TrentU.ca
>>Subject: Panasonic CD-ROM & GUS
>
>>Good day fellow GUSers.  I just had a friend install a PANASONIC
>>CD-ROM in my system which has a regular Gravis Ultrasound.  When we went
>>to plug the cable into the plug on the soundcard it was smaller than the
>>plug....
>
>     Are you talking about hooking up the AUDIO cable to the GUS or the CD
>     drive CONTROLLER cable?  The audio cable that came with my cd drive
>     was too small for my GUS audio port as well.  I have to check out a
>     Radio Shack or something to get a different one.

Why not just plug it into the Mitsumi input?  That's what I did with mine
(had the panasonic -> creative labs plug on it) and it works fine (there was
a manual addendum in the bottom of the box that actually told me to do it,
but I only found that after I had it working).  Plug it in, and if you don't
get any sound, flip it over.  No chance of frying your card either.  It's
MUCH simpler than buying another cord to fit the panasonic input (especially
since the bastards here wanted $14.95 for it - no shit!).  Good luck.

Cheers,
AC
/---------------------------------------------------------------------------\
|        ***              *****               WELCOME TO MY WORLD!          |
|       *****          ***********            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~          |
|      **   **       *****      ***         It's really not that bad...     |
|     ***   ***      ****                   once you get used to it!        |
|    ***********     ****                                                   |
|   *************    *****      ***    ---------> Aaron Cameron <---------  |
|  ****       ****     ***********     Memorial University of Newfoundland  |
| *****       *****       *****        ---> acameron@europa.cs.mun.ca <---  |
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------/

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

Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 09:49:10 -0500 (EST)
From: hcpiv@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V20 #29

RE: avi playback problems

A big improvement is made by upgrading to Video for Windows version 1.1a. 
You can grab vfw11a.zip from various sites.  Email me if you have trouble
finding it.  I used archie to find it at freebsd.cdrom.com in
/.5/cica/desktop.  Using this I can use larger playback buffers and the
sound is fine.  There is also a SoundMapper which has an ADPCM CODEC
driver.

I have also found the 5.50 drivers in the gus0048.zip file to make
improvements.  The volume levels don't do weird things.  This improves
QuckTime as well.  This version of the drivers doesn't distort too bad at
0DB wave volume which is good since most players and games, etc. set the
volume to full when playing AVI and MOV files.  archive.epas.utoronto.ca
has gus0048.zip in /pub/pc/ultrasound/gravis/patches.

RE: earthsiege

If you have a GUS Max then you should use megaem 3.03b and choose SB/GM. 
You get good music, the intro and death sequences are smooth and fast,
etc.  About lockups, I have found that the readme file's note about mouse
drivers is not a lie.  If you are using an early mouse then the program
will lock up solid.  I also found that I needed to make a boot disk or
clean alternate boot config or else it would still lock up occasionally. 
My friend with a plain old SB deluxe has the same problem.

Harry

<:-{}   hpulley@uoguelph.ca      | This message released to the PUBLIC DOMAIN
 \      Harry C. Pulley, IV      |  Mind/Matter=Communication/Transportation
 --------------------------------+--------------------------------------------
Real programmers don't drink Zima|Read Melissa Scott's Trouble_And_Her_Friends

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

Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 10:53:19 -0800 (PST)
From: David Joseph Regeczi <dregeczi@sfu.ca>
Subject: GUSMax Upgrade?

I remember that back in December, Gravis was offering an upgrade option 
from an old GUS to the Max.  Do they have any plans to bring this offer 
back?  (I'm stuck with rev. 2.4 of the board)

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

Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 11:50:34 -0800
From: Ferdinand Mataragnon <stud001@athena.bcit.bc.ca>
Subject: GUS with Asus P55TP4 or Gigabyte 586 motherboard

Hello. I'll be going up to Pentium 90 in a few days and will be
getting either an Asus PCI P55TP4 (Intel Triton chipset) 
motherboard or a Gigabyte PCI motherboard which uses the
ALI chipset or the Intel Triton chipset. Both use Award flash
BIOS. The Asus also has the NCR SCSI BIOS built-in (810 model
I believe). Both have on board EIDE ports, serial ports, and 
parallel ports.
 
Has anyone had experience using a GUS with either motherboard? 
(I have a GUS v3.7 with 1 meg RAM) Did the motherboard you use 
have NMI? Any problems using the GUS and megaem with the SCSI 
BIOS on the Asus? Any other quirks, problems I should know 
about or watch out for?

I'll also be using OS/2 with GUS support via Gravis' alpha
drivers. The HD I'm currently using is IDE but I will add
(or move to) a SCSI drive soon.
 
Thanks for any help that can keep me from losing too much hair 
after moving up. =)
 

Ferdinand 
stud001@athena.bcit.bc.ca

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

Date: Fri, 31 Mar 1995 00:45:55 +0930 (CST)
From: Adrian Vesnaver <godfathr@student.adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: Microprose and the GUS

Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 04:14:33 -0500
From: Mark <71333.314@CompuServe.COM>
To: godfathr@smug.student.adelaide.edu.au
Subject: MicroProse considering dropping GUS support in XCOM!
Organization: via CompuServe Information Service

This is something I received after replying to a usenet post, and I think 
it is something that GUS owners will find both interesting and dissapointing.

>The Gravis Ultrasound support for MicroProse products is not 
>somthing we have had a lot of fun with so far.

>Many of the problems stem from the original Gravis music code, or 
>the board itself.  We have - after a whole year - just finished 
>creating new drivers for this card, which we are satisfied can be 
>used with the majority of Gravis cards, and we have included 
>these with Transport Tycoon, UFO/X-COM v1.4, and XCOM:TFTD.  Will 
>will support the card, only where it is feasible and will cause 
>the fewest problems.
>Note: This only applies to MicroProse-Europe made products.  
>Those created by MicroProse-USA are unlikly to have Gravis 
>support.

>Regards,
>Mark Rich/MicroProse-Europe

Well there you have it. On one hand it's good to see that they actually 
are trying to make an effort to support the GUS, but on the other it 
seems only a minor effort at that considering Microprose-USA are not 
following their European counterparts, and that GUS support will be 
"limited".

-- 
	,-_|\    Adrian Vesnaver    MAIL:      godfathr@.student.adelaide.edu.au
   /     \   Adelaide, SA                  c2a_vesn@aelmg.adelaide.edu.au
   \_,-*_/   Australia          PGP Key:   finger godfathr@student..........
		v

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

Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 11:05:40 -0600 (CST)
From: read@utpapa.ph.utexas.edu (Dave Read)
Subject: X-COM 1.4 and GUS:  I got it to work!

I installed the X-COM 1.4 patch two nights ago, and was promptly
rewarded with unpredictable lockups, crashes, static from the GUS,
squeals, pops, thrumming, off-key music, etc.

I farted around with my setup until I got one which worked.  I couldn't
get XCOM and QEMM to coexist at all after the patch, so I set up a
non-QEMM boot disk.  That fixed the crashes, but not the static, pops,
squeals, etc.  When I switched the GUS to use DMA channel 1 instead of
the default 6, everything worked fine.  I guess XCOM doesn't like
16-bit DMA and the GUS!

Anyway, that's what works for me: no QEMM, and DMA channel 1.

Good luck,
Dave

-- 
Dave Read   (read@utpapa.ph.utexas.edu)      "When in doubt, sheet it out."
UT-Austin Heavy Ion Physics Grad Student 
PGP public key available by 'finger'              G O   B R A V E S ! !

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

Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 13:28:09 -0600 (CST)
From: read@utpapa.ph.utexas.edu (Dave Read)
Subject: X-Com 1.4 patch available (GUS Support!)

I got the patch for X-COM: Ufo Defense yesterday, from
ftp.cdrom.com: /.14/dresden/incoming/xcom14.zip

It patches 1.3 to 1.4.  Lots of things changed: some new music & sound 
effects, no copy protection doc-check, and others.  The big one,
though, is that X-COM now has native GUS support! :)  It's a little
buggy (at least on my system) in that the GUS occasioanlly squeals for
no reason, and there are intermittent pops & cracks and what-not, but
it basically works.  Completely different experience than with SBOS!

The other big difference is that this version of X-COM crashes
horribly if you have QEMM running...

Joe Bob sez  "Check it out."

-Dave

-- 
Dave Read   (read@utpapa.ph.utexas.edu)      "When in doubt, sheet it out."
UT-Austin Heavy Ion Physics Grad Student 
PGP public key available by 'finger'              G O   B R A V E S ! !

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End of GUS Daily Digest V20 #30
*******************************
