Ultrasound Daily Digest     Fri,  5 Feb 93       Volume 2 : Issue  33 

Today's Topics:
					   Cakewalk support for GUS
					  comanche maximum overkill
						 Conflicting Gameport
							GUS & Sierra?
					GUS 1MB static clicks problem
					 GUS: End to OPTi DMA blues?
					How Gravis should release SBOS
							opti chipset 
						   Patchfile format
			   Sound Card review in PCWorld (Feb, 1993)
						 Speakers for the GUS
						  Ultra Chuck Yeager
				 What are the OPTI Chipset problems?

	Information about the UltraSound Daily Digest (such as
mail addresses, request servers, ftp sites, etc., etc.) can be found
at the end of the Digest.
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Date: Thu, 4 Feb 93 20:00:13 -0800
From: dedmunds@sfu.ca
Message-Id: <9302050400.AA16523@selkirk.sfu.ca>
Subject: Cakewalk support for GUS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I got a reply from Greg Hendershott (12-tone systems) today stating that
the next version of Cakewalk will support patch caching.  This version
is due out in May.

He wondered whether Gravis had told people to flood his mailbox with
requests for GUS support (or more correctly, to conform to Windows
multimedia specs).

Darran Edmundson
dedmunds@sfu.ca

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

Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1993 14:39:00 +0000 (GMT)
From: Dave Ingles <davei@central1.lancaster.ac.uk>
Message-Id: <24206.9302041439@central1.lancaster.ac.uk>
Subject: comanche maximum overkill
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Has anyone got the 'comanche maximum overkill' patch to work correctly
? I managed to get it to play the background music ok but as yet, I
haven't been able to  get the sound effects to work.

Davei

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>                         D.Ingles@uk.ac.lancaster                           <<
>>                         Telephone (0524) 59 3679                           <<
>>               Higher Education National Software Archive,                  <<
>>    Computer Centre, The University, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, United Kingdom     <<
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1993 00:26:59 +0700 (MST)
From: Adam Cowen <cowen@ee.ualberta.ca>
Message-Id: <Pine.3.03.9302040059.A17082-a100000@bode.ee.ualberta.ca>
Subject: Conflicting Gameport
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hi!
Tonight I have finally gotten around to trying to disable the game port on
my multi I/O card. Well I was using gravutil and it says something like
possible conflict ... technical reference number (x) ... please see the
manual for details. So fine I look in the flimsy coil thing that is
supposed to be the manual and what does it say. On page 55 I it says 
"... For more troubleshooting information, see your main UltraSound
manual..." What!?! I thought this was the main manual. Oh well maybe they
(Gravis) intend on making a better manual! 
 
I dont have the manuals for the multi I/O card, but if anyone knows how I
can disable the multi I/O cards game port then mail would be really
appreciated. I know I can disable the UltraSounds, but I would really like
to use the speed compensating feature. Oh well, gotta go!

Thanks 4 any help.

Adam Cowen
cowen@ee.ualberta.ca

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

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 20:48:21 GMT
From: fisher@decwin.enet.dec.com ()
Message-Id: <1993Feb1.204821.23681@nntpd.lkg.dec.com>
Subject: GUS & Sierra?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <EBU.93Feb1194602@lk-hp-7.hut.fi>, ebu@snakemail.hut.fi (Erik Bunn)
writes:
|>
|>I seem to recall a friend mentioning that this issue was addressed in
|>the GUS digest. If it was correct, Sierra _will_ be supporting the GUS
|>in future games. Correct me if I'm wrong..
|>
|>On to the question: how difficult, in general, would it be to design
|>a totally separate sound module? It would need to be so separate
|>that a new module could be made for an old game after a new sound card comes
|>|>comes out and that could be supplied to customers.
|>I imagine it's not trivial, since nobody to my knowledge does it - but 
|>would it really be impossible?
|>

Lots of people DO do this, Sierra among them.  That does not mean that they are
0 work, however.

However:  A lot of the devices that Sierra supports are MIDI devices.  I
believe
that their music all assumes certain sounds/effects on certain MIDI channels.
That means that all they have to do to support a new MIDI synth is to write
a file that has a bunch of patches to download to the synth and to set up the
synth so that (for example) channel 8 is the cricket, etc (or at least so
that
a patch select 43 will select the cricket).

This is harder to do for a GUS, since (1) the don't have pre-written software
which makes the GUS play given a bunch of MIDI commands and (2) they have to
go find a sampled cricket, put it into the right form, get the GUS to load it,
etc.

So what I guess I am saying is that you can set up a lot of different ways to
use a multitude of different synths.  If you are MOD-based, most of what you
need is some code to play mods on the GUS.  However, in this case it is much
harder to support MIDI synths on the other end of a MIDI wire.  If you are 
MIDI based, it is very easy to support new synths on the end of a MIDI wire,
but
much harder to support a new board.  Obviously, Sierra has found it desirable
to
do this for some boards (like SB).  However, it is a big investment to make
for
a new card with no track record.

This implies to me that Gravis would do well to supply (maybe even for FREE!)
code which took simple MIDI-like calls and turned them into music on the GUS.
It would also be nice if they would supply "clip-patches" of sound effects that
a publisher could use with the above routines.  I suspect that these two things
would go a long way in helping the GUS break in.

Burns

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

Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1993 20:36:15 GMT
From: ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran)
Message-Id: <C1w3wF.65u@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: GUS 1MB static clicks problem
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <1993Jan29.164336.26252@wam.umd.edu> adhir@wam.umd.edu (Al Dhir) writes:
>>
>>I have the exact same problem with my GUS.  Everything above is EXACTLY what
>>happens to me.  DRAM fails, I switch chips around, and the fails happen in
>>different spots.  I have tried different chips, and still no luck.  I also
>>get that crackling noise when I load a ton of patches with patch manager
>>and play the ones loaded highest.
>>
>>What gives?  Anybody else have this problem?
>>
>
>I, too, was having all kinds of DRAM problems with GUS.  I had bought 6
>80ns 44256s and every time I ran the DRAM.EXE tester, some were reported 
>as bad.  When I switched the chips around, the chips would still come out bad
>but in random locations...it never seemed to work the way I would have
>expected it to.  Finally I got sick of it and exchanged the chips for 70ns
>chips and everything has been perfect since.
>
>When I was having errors, BTW, I had some patches getting garbled, but no
>more.
>
>I suspect that GUS wants either all the same speed or maybe you ned 70ns
>accross the board.  
>

Gravis first shipped the GUS with 100ns DRAMs, but then started shipping
boards with 70ns chips.  This leads me to suspect that 100ns is not
fast enough.

Phat.

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

Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 09:35:20 GMT
From: waardenb@cs.utwente.nl (Jerry van Waardenberg)
Message-Id: <1993Feb1.103520@cs.utwente.nl>
Subject: GUS: End to OPTi DMA blues?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In article <gting.728053393@sfu.ca>, gting@fraser.sfu.ca (Gabriel Ting) writes:
|> Seems that Gravis has heard the pleas of many a user who can't get the
|> 16 bit DMA channel to work with the GUS. Especially those with the dreaded
|> faulty OPTi chipsets...
|> 
|> Here's an excerpt from the Gravis BBS, reprinted without permission:
|> 
|> TITLE:      Advanced Gravis Tech Note #7
|> AREA:       16 BIT DMA
|> DATE:       January 20, 1993
|> KEY WORDS:  OPTI CHIPSET 16 BIT DMA CRASH
|>  
|> SUBJECT: Faulty DMA controllers
|>  
|> There is a known problem accessing 16 bit DMA channels on certain brands
|> of chipsets, including SOME models of OPTI.
|>  
|> The way to tell if you have this problem is by setting the GUS DMA channel
|> to one of the 16 bit DMAs, 5, 6 or 7.  Try playing some digital audio
|> samples.  You may have to run them 5-10 times to make sure there are
|> no problems.  If you get a PARITY error set the DMA channel to an 8
|> bit DMA such as 1 or 3.  Play some more digital audio samples.  If you do
|> not get another parity error then you probably have a faulty DMA controller.
|>  
|> The are a few ways to fix this problem.  First, you can replace your
|> motherboard.  Remember a motherboard without CPU should only be a few
|> hundred dollars.  It is the CPU that cost so much, not the motherboard.
|> If this is not an alternative and you can not live with an 8 bit DMA channel,
|> you may try running the program OPTIFIX that may be found in GUS0013.ZIP
|> on the Gravis BBS (604)431-5927.

Well, it does _not_ fix the problem with the M-321 boards... (PC-chips chipset,
revision 2.3).

Jerry

*------------------------------------------------------------------------------*
 Jerry van Waardenberg                             _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/
 Tele Informatics and Open Systems                  _/     _/   _/  _/ _/
 Department of Computer Science                    _/     _/   _/  _/   _/
 University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands  _/     _/   _/  _/     _/
 E-mail: waardenb@cs.utwente.nl                  _/   _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/

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

Date: Thu, 4 Feb 93 8:17:19 MST
From: Stuart Yoshida <yoshida@elektra.fc.hp.com>
Message-Id: <9302041517.AA07413@elektra.fc.hp.com>
Subject: How Gravis should release SBOS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #31, sbm@pt.com (Steve McGowan) writes:
>
>I called Gravis a week ago and they said that an SBOS upgrade would be
>available in the "next couple of weeks". But they had not decided how
>they were going to distribute it (Just sending it to registered users or
>wait for you to call and ask for it).

 Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems that the easiest way for
 Gravis to distribute the new SBOS is to put in on the Gravis BBS.  From
 there it'll probably find its way very quickly to Internet, and the
 distribution problem is solved!

 There has been plenty of precedent set for this method of distribution
 already, and it might become even easier since Gravis will have (has?)
 direct Internet access.  This will mean they can upload the new SBOS
 directly to the EPAS archive site.

 Of course this only solves the problem for GUS users on Internet, but
 since Steve is addressing his concern to the Internet crowd this seems
 like a logical solution.

>
>Steve

 P.S.  I'm sending a copy of this message to Chris Yuzik and Alan
	   Alvarez.

--

  Stuart Yoshida

Internet: yoshida@elektra.fc.hp.com
   Voice: (303) 229-2324

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

Date: Thu, 04 Feb 93 10:51:44 -0500
From: "It's your hand, Buckaroo" <dantonio@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Message-Id: <9302041551.AA10142@magick.tay2.dec.com>
Subject: opti chipset 
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

>      This may be a no-brainer, but if only one chip is the culprit why not
> replace the chip (which is socketed) instead of replacing the entire
> motherboard?  $30 for a single chip has got to be more cost effective.

I haven't checked my system internals lately, but I was under the
impression that the chip in question (82C206, I think) was surface mounted
to the motherboard. If it's just socketed and you can get another one
cheap, then go for it! Of course, not everyone is comfortable yanking chips
off their motherboard, either...Make sure you're grounded...:-)

DDA

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

Date: 4 Feb 93 10:09:36 MET+1
From: "Proconia"  <PROCONIA@trisse.hj.se>
Message-Id: <MAILQUEUE-101.930204100935.448@trisse.hj.se>
Subject: Patchfile format
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Hi

I asked yesterday if anyone could send me the file format for the
patchfiles. Unfortunatully I forgot my addres:

proconia@tekn.hj.se

Lars Ljungberg

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

Date: Thu, 4 Feb 93 16:40:20 PST
From: aktang@sdcc13.UCSD.EDU (I should be studying)
Message-Id: <9302050040.AA08206@sdcc13.UCSD.EDU>
Subject: Sound Card review in PCWorld (Feb, 1993)
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

In the February, 1993 article of PCWorld, there's a special
multimedia section which includes a review (more of a table of
comparison) of many soundcards, including (among others), the Gravis
UltraSound.  It also lists other Ensoniq based cards as well as Aria
Based cards.  The majority of the cards are of the Yamaha OPL type,
though.  (No surprise).  It does mention how the new wavetable type
cards have advantages over the FM cards, but apparently, they didn't
do a very thorough tests of all the cards:

	"The Ensoniq based models also fall far short of the Sound
Canvas' 4MB; the UltraSound has only 256KB of stored sounds...All of
this affects the quality of the sound..."

Well, you get the picture.  It also reviews poorly the the 1MB ROM
on the Aria based cards.  Hmmm... Oh, well.  It does say that the
prices are fair, however.

Just thought I'd mention it.  There's a whole table of 40+
soundcards in there, so if you feel like it, pick up a copy and read
it, then put it back, or whatever...

-Anthony Tang
aktang@sdcc13.ucsd.edu

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

Date: Thu, 4 Feb 93 07:41:18 PST
From: dggok@pbhyg.PacBell.COM (David G. Gok)
Message-Id: <9302041541.AA06962@ns.PacBell.COM>
Subject: Speakers for the GUS
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

Thanks for the answers to my previous questions.  This digest is
great (and so are the people)!

Next question.  What do folks recommend as a good speaker 
arrangement?  What are the best speakers?  Unfortunately, my
good home stereo system is too far away from the computer to
be of any use.  I attached a pair of cheap ($28/pair) powered
speakers and it sounded horrible.  I plugged in a good pair of
headphones and got GREAT sound.  I then plugged in my
"ghetto-blaster" (you know, the box with speakers that you use 
to see teenagers wander around with playing music real loud :-))
and the sound was okay, but not great.  So, is there any list
of "acceptable" speakers, along with their prices?  I'm sure that
for $300 (USD) I could get a great pair of speakers, but who
wants to spend that much for a system that will primarily play
games?

If this is in the FAQ please point me to it.  If not, maybe it
would make a good topic?

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

Date: Thu, 4 Feb 93 11:43:44 PST
From: "Johnny Y. Ow" <owjohn@SEAS.UCLA.EDU>
Message-Id: <930204.194344z.1325646.owjohn@watson.seas.ucla.edu>
Subject: Ultra Chuck Yeager
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I finally got "Ultra Chuck Yeager" in the mail today.  It was wrapped up in a brown cardboard envelope (no pretty game box).  The game is *exactly* like the original, except for the sound & music effects which are pretty nice.  Is it worth the $15? probably not.  Save your money and get a memory upgrade.

  -Johnny Ow

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

Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1993 08:57:09 +0200 (EET)
From: Vesa Karhila <Vesa.Karhila@fmi.fi>
Message-Id: <199302050657.AA18513@pouta.fmi.fi>
Subject: What are the OPTI Chipset problems?
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

 Question 8 in the FAQ gives you a warning if you have the OPTI chipset
 in your computer.  I have just made a reservation for a GUS which
 should be shipped next week.

 Last night I checked my computer and to my horror I found the following
 text in the manual: "At the heart of the mainboard is a high performance
 OPTI Chipset and a 25 ns fast Cache SRAM making the system very reliable
 and powerful."

 What I would like to know is: what are my chances for the GUS not to
 work in my computer?  Do you have any statistics?  Have you found
 any correlation with faulty OPTI chips and the CPU-type (386/486/SX/DX..)?

 The FAQ was very short about what kind of trouble I might have, so
 I would like to know what to look for when I get my GUS.  My computer
 is a 386DX with 64kB Cache and 4MB memory.

 Please e-mail me.  And of cource I will report my experiences with
 the coming GUS.
--
	Vesa K
	e-mail: Vesa.Karhila@Fmi.Fi

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

Date: Thu, 04 Feb 93 10:23:42 EST
From: darkhawk@Athena.MIT.EDU
Message-Id: <9302041523.AA12240@alfredo>
To: Ultrasound Daily Digest <ultrasound@dsd.es.com>

I have experienced problems running the mantaray demo.
Has anyone out gotten the Crystal Dreams demo by
TRITON to work with sbos 1.23 or earlier. I noticed that
most of the old demos by Twilight Zone don't work with
SBOS 1.21 or later.

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

End of Ultrasound Daily Digest V2 #33
******************************
