GUS Daily Digest            Tue, 26 Oct 93  0:07 MDT     Volume 7: Issue  25  

Today's Topics:
				  Dram, Mikes and Headphone control
							 Dram Upgrade
						 Ground loop isolator
			 GUS, new Mitsumi drive and audio connection
							 Gus/Dual Joy
					  GUS / Windows / MS Arcade
					   GUS Daily Digest V7 #22
					   GUS Daily Digest V7 #23
				   GUS Daily Digest V7 #24 (2 msgs)
				   GUS Game Support Grading Matrix
				 GUS Support Petition [very long...]
						   mono microphones
							OPTi question
						Problems with ultramid
						   Registered User
							  SBOS 3.60?
							SBOS version ?
								 SF2
				   Silverball registration card!!!!
		  Terminator Rampage Setup (How can I make it work)
					   Which SCSI card to buy?
						  Why not Ultramid?

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: Mon, 25 Oct 93 3:11:56 MDT
From: Steve "Bongos" Larson <larson@ee.ualberta.ca>
Subject: Dram, Mikes and Headphone control

Hi folks.

# From: sylk@mik.uky.edu
# Subject: RAM for gus?
# 
#   What is the specification for the GUS ram?  I know I need 80ns Drams,  
# but are they - 256X4, 256X1, or what?
# 
	256K X 4bits, Cmos

BTW, thanx Francois for the slap in the head |-) (although I would argue
that better dynamic mikes *do* have "nicer" output than the PZM
or any other piezo for that matter, comparing a given I/P)

Re: headphone volume control...
And in case you didn't catch it yesterday, you can apparently *buy* such
a thing from Radio Shlack in the U.S. for five bucks. I would be a little
reluctant to use this as a speaker control, as the (newer) GUS's are
capable of 4W/ch. into 8 ohms, enough to toast your control.            
That's what L-PADs are for (balanced load).

(I don't think it's avail. in the Canadian R.S. catalog...)

I'm looking into a part number for a ground loop isolator. A good
place to get one (mail order) is MCM electronics in Centerville, Ohio.
They have a 1-800 #, decent prices, etc. I'll post some numbers when
I find my catalog (damn, I know it's around here _somewhere_!) If any
of you tekkies come up with a R.S. part number (Can., U.S., U.K., etc.)
pleeze post it for those interested.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Steve Larson,   Department of Computer Engineering, University of Alberta
larson@bode.ee.ualberta.ca  c311-47@ucs.ualberta.ca (if bode bounces)

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 07:52:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: gt5543b@prism.gatech.edu (Antonio C. Rodriguez)
Subject: Dram Upgrade

>  What is the specification for the GUS ram?  I know I need 80ns Drams,
>but are they - 256X4, 256X1, or what? 

				^^^^^
 The 256x4's are what you're looking for.

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 00:11:51 -0700 (MST)
From: "Tim M Limes" <15601@ef.gc.maricopa.edu>
Subject: Ground loop isolator

> Where can I find one (or several) of these beasts, or how can I make my
>  own?
 
I got my Ground Loop Isolator at radio shack, cat no. 270-054...I was
suprised when I hooked it up, I didn't realize I had so much noise! About
$12 can getcha one.

Tim

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 09:57:56 EDT
From: "Frank Pikelner" <frank@cs.yorku.ca>
Subject: GUS, new Mitsumi drive and audio connection

Hello all,

I just purchased a Mitsumi FX001 CDROM drive. The drive comes with a 4-wire
cable for the audio. The wires are as follows:

	   -----> left
	   -----> ground
	   -----> ground
	   -----> right

 Although the connector is too small to fit the GUS connection on the card
 (I would guess the 4 pins to be for the audio out of the CDROM drive) I could
 come up with some thing. WHat are the pin outs of the 4 pin connector on the
 Gravis card? ALso I've seen mentioned that Gravis has some Mitsumi interface,\
 what is it for $50?

 THanks in advance,

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	   ___/     /   Frank Pikelner                                        /~\
	  /     _/ /    Technical Assistant, Department of Computer Science  <v.v>
	 __/   ___/     York University (Toronto, Canada)                    ,\^/;
   _/    _/         Internet: frank@cs.yorku.ca                          _{!}_
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 05:37:34 PDT
From: "Burns Fisher, VMS Engineering  25-Oct-1993 0836" <fisher@skylab.enet.dec.com>
Subject: Gus/Dual Joy

Yes, the GUS supports dual joysticks.  I run Microsoft Flight Simulator with a
Kraft joystick which has the stick on one controller and the throttle on one 
axis of the second controller.  It works fine.

Burns

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

Date: 25 Oct 93 22:27:22 EDT
From: "Joakim Erdfelt" <JOAKIM.ERDFELT@OFFICE.WANG.COM>
Subject: GUS / Windows / MS Arcade

ok fellow GUSers out there. Got a new question to ask ya.
(is it GUSer or GUSite? <g>)

I just got MS arcade for windows and i'm *REALLY* impressed with their
true-to-the-original game sounds.  The Asteroids (thump, thump) is really
wild on the GUS.  But it seems that after using ANY of the 5 game for more
than 5 minutes causes a lock-up.  Anyone else had this problem?
is it just me. or is it the GUS drivers doing something funky?
anyway i like my GUS and i want to be able to use the sounds available.

OH! if i turn the sounds off i can play forever. ;-)

My machine...
486dx/33mhz - 8 Megs RAM
STB S3 based ISA video accelerator.
GUS 1 meg.
Windows GUS configuration. [system.ini]
[ultrasnd.drv]
port=220
midi_int=7
gf1_int=11
sample_dma=1
dram_dma=1
Load16As8=1
ActiveVoices=22
mixer=4
MIDIVolume=127
WaveVolume=3686
				   Any help would be appreiciated.

  ALSO.. Anyone have luck getting the GUS to work with Syndicate?
		 tried SBOS v2.06 up to v2.10 (it's version 10 whatever i just
		 can't remember exactly) has a "patch" been released to fix the
		 oversight by Bullfrog to have GUS support? <g>

								   Joakim "SVEN" Erdfelt
								   joakim.erdfelt@office.wang.com
								   edit/compile/link/run/curse/boot

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

Date: 25 Oct 93 12:44:11 +0100
From: "Alexander Majarek, Sascha, SAM"  <Alexander.Majarek@uibk.ac.at>
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V7 #22

One silly question: Where can I get the TIGER-catalogue ?

Do they also ship to Europe (including catalogues) ?

Thanks in advance,
SAM

*********************************************************************
*Alexander.Majarek@uibk.ac.at * There are 3 ways (fast, sweet, sure)*
*Perthalerg. 1c/11            * for a man to ruin himself:          *
*A-6020 Innsbruck             * 1. Gamblin'   (fast),               *
*AUSTRIA (EUROPE)             * 2. Women      (sweet) &             *
*Tel.: 0043-512-84-26-15      * 3. Computers  (sure)                *
*********************************************************************

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 11:11:35 -0400
From: adhir@oberon.umd.edu
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V7 #23

>Date: Sat, 23 Oct 93 13:26:00 PDT
>From: n4zfd!frodo@rylos.n2idf.ampr.org ("James M. Blakely")
>Subject: Tiger Software
>
>Someone mentioned that "it was nice to see the GUS in a mainstream catalog" 
>and told about how the GUS was advertised in Tiger Software's catalog.
>
>This is *not* a good thing. Tiger Software is generally the last stop for a 
>product before it's pulled from the market -- their line is made up 
>primarily of closeouts and discontinued items.
>
>Gravis, are you trying to tell us something by placing the GUS with Tiger?
>
>------------------------------

What ever gave you the idea that Tiger Software is the "last stop"
before a product is "pulled from the market"? I guess the brand new
NEC 3X3 CDRom drives are getting ready to be 86ed...along with the
Sharp Expert Pad 7000, the Miracle Piano, etc etc etc.

Perhaps you should check your sources before spreading bullshit.

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 09:07:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Phat H Tran <ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V7 #24

> Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 07:26:25 -0600 (CST)
> From: E33GLASSER@sask.usask.ca
> Subject: new uploads
> 
> I also uploaded a 3D sound demo from Europe called GUS3DEMO.ZIP.
>

This new 3D demo is better than the others that I've tried.  Although
I still have trouble locating the sources, running the demo in 
non-interactive mode using headphones did give me the impression of
being swamped by an assortment of gear, and a bird.

  
> Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 07:25:14 -0600 (CST)
> From: E33GLASSER@sask.usask.ca
> Subject: Prince of Persia 2
> 
> Ok, I have tried almost every conceivable setup.  I still get 
> random lockups.  What setups have been successful for others?
> By the way SBOS 3.60 definitely sounds the best for this game,
> but it is not stable.

Have you tried SBOS 2.10?

> Date: Sun, 24 Oct 93 15:54:06 -0400
> From: sylk@mik.uky.edu
> Subject: RAM for gus?
> 
> Hello!
>   What is the specification for the GUS ram?  I know I need 80ns Drams,  
> but are they - 256X4, 256X1, or what?

256x4, in 20-pin packaging.  The chip numbers are usually 4C256 or 
something close.

> Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 23:41:45 -0400
> From: Christine H Venart <venart@cse.psu.edu>
> Subject: Ultramid and UW2
>
[...] 
> So...with my new sound, I decided to actually start playing this
> game with the intent to solve it.  Unfortunately, I noticed that
> although all of the sound works great, everytime a digitized sound
> gets "sounded" my character turns a little to the left.

The only solution I found was to unplug the joystick and use
the keyboard for the movements.  Left hand on the movement keys and
right hand on the mouse is ideal for me.

Phat.

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 7:16:04 PDT
From: mikebat@netcom.com (Mike Batchelor)
Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V7 #24

Not the GUS Server once wrote...
$  
$  ------------------------------
$  
$  Date: 24-OCT-1993 23:46:10.29
$  From: Richard Wyckoff <RWYCKOFF@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU>
$  Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V7 #23
$  
$  n4zfd!frodo@rylos.n2idf.ampr.org ("James M. Blakely") writes:
$  
$  > Someone mentioned that "it was nice to see the GUS in a mainstream catalog" 
$  > and told about how the GUS was advertised in Tiger Software's catalog.
$  
$  > This is *not* a good thing. Tiger Software is generally the last stop for a 
$  > product before it's pulled from the market -- their line is made up 
$  > primarily of closeouts and discontinued items.
$  
$   I used to think this...until I looked in the newest Tiger catalog.
$  Unless the new triple speed NEC CD-ROMS are also being remaindered (funny,
$  I didn't even know they existed till I looked at that catalog) it seems that
$  Tiger has moved from the DAK catalog arena to that of Micro Warehouse.  I
$  also saw the PAS and Turtle Beach cards in there too, I think.  Don't worry
$  about the GUS! 

I'd certainly would not mind seeing 386MAX v7 in a closeout catalog, but
alas, Tiger sells mainstream current releases, and current products.  With
very deceptive advertising tactics, I might add.  And prices through the
roof.

$  ------------------------------
$  
$  Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 07:25:14 -0600 (CST)
$  From: E33GLASSER@sask.usask.ca
$  Subject: Prince of Persia 2
$  
$  Ok, I have tried almost every conceivable setup.  I still get 
$  random lockups.  What setups have been successful for others?
$  By the way SBOS 3.60 definitely sounds the best for this game,
$  but it is not stable.
$    
$  Neil Danylczuk

MegaEm works flawlessly with the game, and I do not miss the sound
effects.  The music is far better than with SBOS.


-- 
Mike Batchelor      |
mikebat@netcom.com  |                  This space for rent
mikebat@qdeck.com   |

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 16:25:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: roberts@brahms.amd.com (Dave Roberts)
Subject: GUS Game Support Grading Matrix

To go along with the GUS Support Petition that I've proposed, I've
taken a shot at working up a GUS Game Support Grading Matrix.  Here's
the first incarnation.  Please fill in for the "???"'s and tell me
about other companies that you feel should be included in the list
(and why -- there are a lot of companies out there and I don't think
we need to include every garage software house out there).

Dave Roberts
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
I/O and Network Products Division
david.roberts@amd.com

-----
Grading scheme:

F - stated commitment not to support the GUS
D - non-committal, "we'll support it if it makes it big"
C - stated support, no actions
B - stated support, support in 1-2 new releases
A - stated support, support in 3-4 new releases
A+ - stated support, support in *all* last few releases (>4, no gaps)

Patches to previous releases adds a "+".
"-" may be given for anything

"Has support" means that the game *ships* with GUS support in the
retail box.  Anything available on the Internet or Compuserve is a
patch.  "Support" means native register level coding, AIL drivers, or
custom Ultramid-based drivers.  Hacking a special version of SBOS to
work doesn't count :-).  I know that some people don't consider
anything that uses Ultramid or AIL drivers as native support, but I
do.  If the GUS is "in the menu", so to speak, it's native support.

Note that Windows programs that support the GUS can only give you a
"-".  Technically, anything that is written for Windows should work,
and thus isn't counted toward raising a company's letter grade.  If
the application does not cache patches, however, a "-" may be
assigned.  Patch cacheing is an architected portion of the Windows
Multimedia API.  Failure to cache patches is a bug in the program, not
an option.

-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
NAME               |GRADE| Notes
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Access Software    | ??? | 
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Accolade           |  B  | StarCon 2 support but none else
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Activision         |  B  | Return to Zork has support,
				   |     | stated support (Mech Warrior II)
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Apogee             |  C- | Stated support (Raptor), but Halloween Harry
				   |     | doesn't work even with SBOS
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Bethesda           |  C  | Stated support (Delta V, Terminator:Rampage)
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Dynamix            | ??? | Stated commitment??
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Electronic Arts    |  B  | Early support, but little follow through
				   |     | Chuck Yeager Air Combat support and
				   |     | Seal Team patch
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Epic Megagames     |  B+ | Zone 66 has support and even an
				   |     | advert for the GUS.  Firmly
				   |     | stated commitment (+ is for the advert)
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
ID Software        |  C  | DOOM has stated support but it
				   |     | may be removed because of the
				   |     | size of the drivers (!!??)
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Interplay          |  C  | Stated support
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Impressions        |  C+ | Patch for Rules of Engagement II
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
LucasArts          |  C  | Stated support (Rebel Assault)
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Maxis              |  C+ | Stated support and released
				   |     | patches for older games
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Microleague        |  B  | Silver Ball shipping
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
MicroProse         | ??? |
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Mindcraft          | ??? |
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
New World Computing| ??? |
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Ocean              |  C  | Stated support (Jurassic Park -- GUS 3D!!)
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Origin Systems     |  C- | Has had GUS drivers for Strike
				   |     | Commander working but not relased,
				   |     | gives excuses about GUS support being hard
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Sierra On-Line     | C++ | Released a patch to let several
				   |     | older games work and says that
				   |     | future games will all have support
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Sir-Tech           | ??? |
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Software Toolworks |  C  | Stated support (Nick Falldow Golf)
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Spectrum HoloByte  |  C  | Stated support (Star Trek: TNG)
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
SSI                |  B  | Shipping Darksun
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Strat. Studies Grp.| ??? |
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Three-Sixty Pacific| ??? |
-------------------+-----+---------------------------------------------
Virgin             |  C  | Stated support (Werewolf)
-------------------+-----+--------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 16:22:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: roberts@brahms.amd.com (Dave Roberts)
Subject: GUS Support Petition [very long...]

I am a very satisfied GUS owner who has been reading the digest since
I got my GUS in February.  During my time of reading, I have watched
with interest as various email campaigns have been proposed to the
game companies to voice support for the GUS.  I know that often times
all that happened was that a bunch of product support people working
for the companies got ticked off.  In the best cases, people got
prewritten form letters back.  Like you, I would like to see the GUS
supported in more games.  I think that voicing our support for the GUS
is a very good idea, but we can't be as haphazard about it as we've
been in the past.

BACKGROUND:
-----------

Although email is easy for us to write and just about every
interesting company is connected to it via either the Internet,
Compuserve, or some other online subscriber service, very rarely do
the top executives/decision makers read the email that comes in
through those publicly known addresses.  If we're lucky, we're
alarming the support people enough to make them bring it up at the
next team meeting.  From there it might get escalated to someone who
cares.  Rarely does it make it to a decision maker and may in fact be
counter productive because we GUS owners end up being labeled as a
"vocal minority," and nothing more.

Being a semiconductor marketing person, I look at this situation as
equivalent to getting a design win with a chip.  Right now, Creative
Labs owns the socket on the board and we want in too.  This is a
strategic decision for all of the game companies because they are
going to have to expend perhaps considerable resources writing,
testing, and supporting the GUS, should they choose to include it.
They may have to possibly delay schedules of products already in the
works.  This is not a decision that a single software engineer or
support person can make.  This has to be driven from the top, down to
the bottom.  We have to change the minds of the decision makers and
make them see that the GUS offers a very wonderful future for gaming
products.

WHAT WE NEED TO DO:
-------------------

Okay, let's realize that Gravis and Forte are already working pretty
hard on just this very problem.  As consumers, what we need to do is
create the pull.  Of course, that's what we've already been trying to
do, but it hasn't been coordinated.

I propose that we write a petition to the executives of the various
game companies that we are interested in.  This petition will start
off with a cover letter of why we think the GUS is a valuable
soundcard to support.  It will have attached the names of every GUS
owner that can be found (see below).  It should be sent on paper
through the standard postal service.

Second, we need to keep score.  That is, we need to lay off the
companies that have announced GUS support and reward them with our
purchase money.  We also need to know who is not performing up to our
expectations so that we can stay away from their products if we feel
so inclinded.  To this end, we need to keep a list of game companies
that we care about.  We need to make public their responses to the
petition sent to them and "score" them on their current progress.  I
can envision this list being posted to the GUS digest every two weeks
or so as we update it.

Finally, I don't think we should accept help from Gravis for this
venture.  I want Gravis to be able to look a game company executive in
the face and say with a straight face that they neither organized this
nor instigated it.  This is from us users, not a simple ploy by a card
manufacturer to get its hardware supported in future releases.

THE COVER LETTER:
-----------------

The following is the cover letter that I propose we send.  Feel free
to comment on it and suggest things.  Note that it's pretty long right
now, so I don't want to keep adding things that aren't really
specific.  Think before suggesting something randomly.


Dear [xxx],

On the following pages of this letter are the names of Advanced Gravis
Ultrasound sound-board owners.  We are writing to you to educate you
about what the Gravis Ultrasound is, what it offers to the computer
entertainment industry, and to encourage your support for this
hardware in all your future titles.  This letter was not written by
Advanced Gravis, nor written at their request.

First off, what is the Ultrasound?  Simply put, the Ultrasound is the
lowest cost, great sounding sound board on the market today.  The
price of the Ultrasound is lower than many older technology FM-based
sound boards (the Creative Labs Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro,
Sound Blaster 16, Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum, etc.), yet the
Ultrasound's sound quality is much higher.

The reason for the Ultrasound's great sound is that it uses newer
wavetable synthesis technology rather than older FM technology.
Wavetable synthesis uses samples of real instruments to recreate
music, as opposed to FM's mimicking of instruments.  What this means
in simple terms is that an Ultrasound will play the sound of a real
sampled piano while an FM-based card will play a Nintendo-sounding
interpretation of a piano.  The difference between the two, in terms
of sound quality, is very great and all sound board manufacturers are
now rushing to produce wavetable synthesis cards in order to keep up.

Now, given that wavetable technology is far superior to FM technology
in sound quality, what distinguishes the Ultrasound from the other
wavetable-based cards coming to market?  Two things: cost and RAM.

In terms of cost, the Ultrasound is very inexpensive compared to the
other cards it competes with.  On the street, the Ultrasound sells for
between $120 and $150 (US).  In comparison, Creative Labs Wave Blaster
(a wavetable synthesis daughter-board for the Sound Blaster 16) costs
$240 and requires a Sound Blaster 16 to attach to (another $210),
bringing the total to $450.  Now, other wavetable-based cards are less
expensive than the Creative Labs option but still more expensive than
the Ultrasound (in the $180 range for a ViVa Maestro 16, Aria-based
card).  In spite of this, they still don't have the sound quality of
the Ultrasound.

The second distinguishing feature of the Ultrasound is the fact that
it uses RAM to hold its samples.  Many of the other wavetable-based
cards store their samples in ROM.  The Ultrasound stores the samples
on disk and then uploads them to the card when they are needed.  There
are two advantages of this method over ROM-based cards.  First,
samples can be changed.  For instance, if an owner of the card doesn't
like the violin sample, she is free to replace it with another that
someone else (perhaps even she) created.  With ROM cards this is not
possible.  The second advantage to using RAM to store the samples is
that only the samples actually used for a given application have to
reside on the card when the application is being used.  To keep costs
down and yet store all the needed General MIDI instruments in a ROM,
many other wavetable cards use lower quality 8 or 12-bit samples
usually totalling one megabyte or less.  The Ultrasound ships with
over five megabytes of high quality, 16-bit instruments samples on
disk.

Now that I've explained what the Ultrasound is, I'd like to explain
what it offers you, the entertainment industry.  In past years,
publishers have often included support for the high-end Roland SCC-1
or MT-32 sound boards in their games.  Often, this was simply so the
composers could hear what their music was supposed to sound like
before they "derated" it to work on a Sound Blaster.  Additionally, it
gave the game an ideal "demo mode" which was often used at trade shows
and retail stores to show off the game.  In great proportion, however,
most purchasers of the software went back home and actually used the
software with a poor-sounding Sound Blaster.  The Ultrasound allows
the mass market to all have the sound quality of a high-end Roland
sound board.

The Ultrasound also offers software writers and composers two
technical benefitts: hardware mixing and freedom from the General MIDI
instrument set.

The Ultrasound mixes samples in hardware.  This allows multiple,
overlapping sound effects to be played without having to devote
possibly critical CPU time to mixing the samples in software.  This
allows a dramatic environment to be created for the consumer without
slowing the software down to a crawl.  Consumers are tiring of
in-order, one-at-a-time sound effects, and the Ultrasound is the
easiest and most dramatic route to an immersive aural environment
consisting of many simultaneous sources of sound.

Finally, because RAM is used to store instrument samples, if a
composer wants to change the samples for whatever reason they are
easily uploaded.  This frees composers from the shackles of the
General MIDI instrument set and allows many different styles of music
to be incorporated in the software.

The following list of people (representative of all Ultrasound
owners) think that having inexpensive, high quality sound for their
software is important.  We urge you to consider the Advanced Gravis
Ultrasound the vechicle to make this goal a reality.

The Ultrasound is already shipping and no action is required other
than you adding the support to your future releases.  This is not a
difficult process as the board is easy to program and software
development kits are readily available from Gravis (for free).  Gravis
has even written John Mile's Audio Interface Library (AIL) drivers for
the Ultrasound that can simply be included with your releases for
instant Ultrasound support (if your sound system uses the Miles AIL
system).  Some companies are even releasing patches and drivers for
their sound systems to support their older releases.

Thank you for your time.  We appreciate your support, we'll be
watching, and we'll be voting with our pocket books.  Many other
companies such as Sierra On-Line, Strategic Simulations, Maxis, and
Activision have announced their support of the Ultrasound.  We hope
that you'll join them.

Sincerely,

Dave Roberts
Speaking for:

[numerous GUS owners' names]

ACTION ITEMS:
-------------

I'll volunteer to do the leg work here.  I'll accept help from other
people who wish to help out. :-) Please let me know.  Since this is a
petition, what's required of you individually is relatively little if
you just want to participate.  All I need is a very short email
message from you telling me some information.  See below for all the
details.

Before you do anything, please read all of these and then respond.
Since I could be getting at least hundreds of responses, I'll be using
some sort of electronic processing to help me with this.  Because of
this, you'll need to respond in an appropriate format that I'll
describe below.

1. I need a list of game companies that you care about.  In fact,
don't limit yourself to game companies.  Any company that writes
software that needs explicit GUS support should be targeted.  Note,
please limit yourself to the more major companies.  We don't want to
be sending petitions to every garage outfit everywhere.

To start off, I have collected the following list.  Please write me
and send me more names.  Note, some of these companies have already
said that they will be supporting the GUS.  I want to track these as
well, so if there are others that I've left off, please send those to
me.  This list will be use to both track the progress of the various
companies and form the basis of who gets sent the petition.

Access Software, Inc.
Accolade
Activision
Apogee
Dynamix                                   
Electronic Arts
Epic Megagames
ID Software
Interplay
LucasArts                                 
Maxis
MicroProse                                
Mindcraft
New World Computing
Origin Systems                            
Sierra On-Line
Sir-Tech                                  
Spectrum HoloByte
Strategic Simulations, Inc.               
Strategic Studies Group
Three-Sixty Pacific
Virgin


2. For each of the above companies, I need standard surface mail
addresses of their headquarters.  Additionally, I need names of either
presidents, vice-presidents, or major decision makers.  You'll have to
go off your knowledge of this and I'll be relying on people who work
either in this industry or live in the fringe to help with this.

3. I need you.  I need names of GUS owners to put on this petition.
To make the point that I/we didn't make this up, I'd also like
paper-mail addresses and email-addresses for each person who responds.
I'd like everyone who reads the GUS digest to add their name to the
list.  I know that this goes out to several hundred direct email
addresses throughout the world and gets relayed onto many BBS's and
FidoNet connections.  I also know that many of you may know people who
own GUSes but don't read the digest.  Please ask them to respond as
well.  If they don't have email, please send it in for them.  Ideally,
I'd like to reproduce an exact copy of Gravis's registration list. :-)

That's all!

RESPONSE FORMAT:
----------------

Please make the subject line of your message contain [GUS petition].
Then, please use the following format for your response.  Put this
stuff first.

NAME: Dave Roberts
EMAIL: david.roberts@amd.com
ADDRESS: 40802 Capa Dr.
ADDRESS: Fremont, CA 95054

[use as many ADDRESS lines as you need]

If you have additional information about various things, put this
*FOLLOWING* your name and address.

XTRA:

Blah, blah...


The system works as follows.  First, I save all the incoming messages
that have [GUS petition] in them into one big file.  I then run a
script on the file to search for all the NAME, EMAIL, and ADDRESS
lines.  As these are found, they are added to the name file.  When the
XTRA line is found, it causes the script to save that individual
message into another file that I read by hand to get any sort of
messages.  If you don't have anything to say other that your name and
address, don't include the XTRA keyword.

That's it.  Start sending those names and addresses in.


Dave Roberts
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
I/O and Network Products Division
david.roberts@amd.com

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

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 14:46:51 +0930 (CST)
From: Gavin <SCARMAN@hfrd.dsto.gov.au>
Subject: Re: mono microphones

>dionf@ERE.UMontreal.CA writes ....
>Doesn't matter. By using a mono mic on the GUS you simply put to ground one
>input which will not damage the GUS.

I have a dynamic mic with a 6.5mm plug, so I bought a 6.5->3.5mm adapter with 
the stereo rings thinking that this'll solve the problem with only one channel 
when using a mono mic. However the GUS throws a wobbly. I guess I'm creating a 
hum loop or something but I can't see how. Does anyone know what the input 
circuit to the GUS's mic port look like?

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 11:08:30 +0100
From: v92jl@november (johan linder)
Subject: OPTi question

----------
X-Sun-Data-Type: text
X-Sun-Data-Description: text
X-Sun-Data-Name: text
X-Sun-Content-Lines: 0

----------
X-Sun-Data-Type: default
X-Sun-Data-Name: mailtogus
X-Sun-Content-Lines: 15

I am planning to buy a GUS for my pc. My computer has a mothercard called
OPTi-391 wb ver 1.0  The DMA chip has the number F82C206 which could be faulty according to gus0013.zip file. However my DMA chip has not the name OPTi on the frontside ( several of the other chips has ). My DMA chip looks like this.

		   -----------------
			 CHIPS
			 F282c206   H    
			 6058-F 
			 9047 EANE
			 JAPAN
		   ------------------  

Does anyone know if this is the chip that could be faulty?. If it is, should i
go for the PAS16 instead?

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 22:44:15 +0200
From: tjakobs@mswe.dnet.ms.philips.nl (THEO_JAKOBS TEL.62667)
Subject: Problems with ultramid

hi again..

I have received some messages on the Ultramid problem i have, you all say
that i should get the new disks.
BUT WHAT DOES THE NEW DISKS HAVE TO DO WITH THE DARN 'UltraSoundCard not lo-
cated'...
And programs like Gusmod,2nd reality,Crystal Dreams 2, they all work, so the
darn card is in the computer..

Ok, ok  i know i should curse the gravis ultrasound, but i want some music
with games (not via MegaEm(good job leesteer)) but via the &^%& Ail-drivers.
Because when the ail-drivers will work, i can finally put some music and sound
in my own games (they will be ready in the near future).

Hope to get some solutions for my problem...

By the way, people who send me a message, THANX. you people at least tried to
help, and i respect that..

Andre Jakobs
  MicroBrain Technologies Inc.
	The Netherlands

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 15:16:51 +0100
From: Jens-Uwe Jansen <jj@germany.eu.net>
Subject: Registered User

Hello Gravis, 

I just got the list of registered users from epas and was very disappointed
not to find my name on it. I bought my GUS in May and gave the registration
card to the dealer (Moennekes & Mosdzen in Lage, Germany), because he said
they have direct contact to your company. 

After I didn't discover my name, I called the dealer to ask what happened to my
registration and got the answer that they sent you a bulk of a few score of
registrations by fax. So you should have got my registration a long time ago.
Could you please tell me what happened to my registration ???

Or do you process european customeres more slowly, than on the american
continent ;-) ?

Sorry if my language is a little bit hash, but english isn't my native
language, so I lack a bit finetuning.

	Ciao,
	Jens-Uwe Jansen

  ===    ____                          ===       EUnet Deutschland GmbH
  ===   /      /   /   ___    ___  _/_ ===       UUCP-Support
  ===  /----  /   /  /   /  /___/  /   ===       Emil-Figge-Str. 80
  === /____  /___/  /   /  /___   /    ===       D-44227 Dortmund
  =====                              =====       Tel. +49 231 972 2222
  ===== Connecting Europe since 1982 =====       Fax  +49 231 972 1111

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 22:39:02 +0200
From: tjakobs@mswe.dnet.ms.philips.nl (THEO_JAKOBS TEL.62667)
Subject: SBOS 3.60?

hi...

Maybe i'm a little behind on SBOS, but what the hell is SBOS 3.60, and
where can i get it... I still haven't got my updates, and i'm not on the
last database (was on ftp-site). but i send my registration-card about 3.5
months ago (to the swiss-adress).

Andre Jakobs
  MicroBrain Technologies Inc.
	The Netherlands

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 14:06:00 +0100 (MET)
From: Geir Johannessen <joge@alkymi.unit.no>
Subject: SBOS version ?

What is the newest version of SBOS?

-- 
Geir Johannessen                         joge@stud.unit.no
Stud.techn.

I am the creator of the NEWS group alt.kill.the.whales! :)

"Aa vaere taktfull, er aa kunne fortelle en person at han
har et aapent sinn naar han egentlig har et hull i hodet!"

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 13:53:06 EST
From: BGUZ000 <BGUZ@MUSICB.MCGILL.CA>
Subject: SF2

I can not get Street Fighter2 to work with digitized sounds.
By reading the digest, it seems that I am not alone. I think that
the program only works with a 100% soundblaster compatible card
because even in the manual, it states that digitized sounds will
not work with a Pro Audio Spectrum. On my 486-33, the game is not
that slow. My complaint, is that it only supports 2-button joysticks
so the game lacks in the control aspect. However, I have seen an article
in   a french magazine that says that Mortal Combat will support the
4-button Gravis pc gamepad.

G. Segal
bguz@musicb.mcgill.ca

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 10:33:35 EDT
From: ciabatto@esc.syr.ge.com (David Ciabattoni)
Subject: Re: Silverball registration card!!!!

>Date: 22 Oct 93 16:22:00 PST
>From: EBULALACAO@CSUPomona.Edu
>Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V7 #21
 ..
>Anyway, has anyone else tried Silverball with a surround sound setup?
>Awesome on the GUS!  Music on the front and sound effects on the rear speakers!

This is a good idea, I think Ill try that. 

I would just like to note that I also indeed did buy Silverball and
just sent in the registration card. This is the first 'GAME' I have purchased
for the IBM , EVER!!!!!!!!! 

On the registration card I put a little '*' and wrote "I also bought Silverball 
for it's GUS support".!!!!!

I figure this is another way of 'pushing' the future supoort of the GUS. I was SOOO
happy to see in the installation, SoundBlaster, and GUS as the only options!!!!

Joy, Joy.

Ciao.

	- Dave

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 10:30:47 CDT
From: surgeon@esds.vss.fsi.com
Subject: Terminator Rampage Setup (How can I make it work)

How do I get Terminator Rampage to run ?

I tried several configurations of EMM386, but could never get enough EMS (it 
wants 2 Meg) and conventional (it wants 585 K) at the same time.

I then tried the boot floppy route. I got the game to run after putting the GUS
initalization and environment variables in the floppy autoexec.bat.

It got to the opening screen, music played, and then it locked up (reset button
time!).

Any suggestions? Is anyone else having this much trouble?

 -----------------------------------------------------------------
   Mike Surgeon
   FlightSafety International, Visual Simulation Systems
   2590 North Highway 94       
   Saint Charles, MO 63301-0037       E-Mail: surgeon@vss.fsi.com
 -----------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 23:23:52 -0600 (CDT)
From: ddebry@grue.dsd.ES.COM (Dave DeBry)
Subject: Which SCSI card to buy?

	So I've decided to buy a SCSI card.  But if the Adaptec (which
one?) has a conflict with the GUS, which SCSI card *should* I buy?

-- 
Dave  ddebry@ debry@   \
DeBry dsd.    peruvian. | "Sorry, my mind went to Bermuda for a minute."
	  es.     cs.utah.  |
	  com     edu      /

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

Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 17:56:24 +0930 (CST)
From: Gavin <SCARMAN@hfrd.dsto.gov.au>
Subject: Why not Ultramid?

Many of you have bitched about Ultramid saying it's not "native mode" and it 
takes up too much memory, but... what if the patches selected by ultramid were 
specifically chosen for the GUS and the game only required say 520k of memory, 
any real gripes? Email me and I'll post a summary.

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

End of GUS Daily Digest V7 #25
******************************
