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RetroTech Chris Profile picture
@RetroTechChris
Mar 2, 2024 • 13 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
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A few weeks back, we talked about PCI sound card compatibility in Windows 3.1x. And then I went and purchased an Aureal Vortex AU8820 sound card for like $10 bucks. Let's find out how well it works in DOS, Windows 3.11, and a few other OSes in a thread here!



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First, you'll be pleased to know that this sound card works with Hannah Montana Linux. Okay, enough of that already... for now 😂. Gosh, that color scheme is beyond atrocious and hurts my eyes. Image
How about Windows XP? Yep, detected and good to go! Image
Okay, off to Windows for Workgroups 3.11. Install was a cinch, but.. all I get in the program group is an uninstaller? Really?? No mixer? Yeah.. more on that in a minute.

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Things are looking good in the MIDI mapper, nothing to do there! All set. Image
If we look at installed drivers, we'll see there is a mixer. It just has no GUI. Fortunately, we can control the sound settings via system.ini. Under [Config\MixerSettings], I just changed all values from 32767 to 65535 to give "full volume" everywhere!

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Oh, and for the drivers, for the interested, I downloaded them from here! vogons.org/viewtopic.php?…
Alright, how about DOS? Fortunately there is a TSR you can use to make things work, included in the drivers above. However, it will probably lock up with newer systems. You can pull the "asp4dos" file from Win9x drivers to fix it though, details here: vogons.org/viewtopic.php?…
So, running asp4dos from the command line, we can see the card get detected. PRO TIP: If you install the Win3.1 drivers, you'd best take asp4dos out of autoexec.bat before you reboot, or replace it under the C:\WINDOWS directory before you do if you have a newer system! Image
So, for the most part, we are done. But there are two more problems to solve. The first is setting audio levels. I think with a vortex.ini file, this can be done with the asp4dos driver. But that was giving me trouble. So I downloaded SBMIX and it worked perfectly! Image
The next problem? If you run Win3.1x, the real mode DOS driver will uninstall. So after you exit Win3.1x, you need to reload it again. See this post I made today on Vogons that talks about the fix I used with a batch file! vogons.org/viewtopic.php?…
Anyway, there you have it. Now we can do fun things like play MIDI, MP3, and WAV files in Win3.x... using a PCI sound card. Thanks for following along! I'll leave you with a post I just did where we play an MP3!
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More from @RetroTechChris

RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Apr 5
Okay, let's look at one more retro item today: this ISA to USB interface card with an M-Systems Disk On Chip module! Can we use this little device to boot a computer? Absolutely! We'll test this out on the Pacman PC. Time for a 🧵 Image
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First, where did I get this, and what does it do? I picked this up from AliExpress, and this device basically lets you access USB drives from DOS systems. And it does support boot ROMs like the M-Systems Disk on Chip. We'll be using that today. Image
Let's look at some of the settings. We have a jumper to change the I/O address. Another jumper specifies 16 bit or 8 bit system. And the jumper in the middle? It's a mystery. The back of the board has some writing in Chinese that basically says "this end faces PC rear" Image
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Read 9 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Apr 4
Recently I picked up this SMC network card, that supports network boot via a boot ROM. I spent some time with it, and we had some misadventures together. But it did give me a chance to test out my new POST card too. How could all of this be related? Time for a 🧵 Image
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First of all, let's take some time to admire the property sticker on the back! This card was allegedly property of America Online at some point 🤣 Image
Okay, so I got this SMC Ethercard Elite 8216T (say that five times fast) installed in my Pentium 233 MMX. I was able to pull up the boot ROM configuration page, but savings settings would freeze. That would be a bit of a metaphor for this card... Image
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Read 12 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Apr 4
Hooray, my PS/2 Model 70 386 is fixed! No more issues with the system freezing on powerup when a Microsoft mouse is plugged in. How did I fix it? Let's talk about it in a 🧵 here! Image
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In case you missed it, I recently got a device to display BIOS diagnostic codes on powerup, and we learned that the system was getting stuck when it was testing the keyboard controller:
So, what did I do? I went to eBay and found an untested motherboard. For $35, I was more than willing to take a gamble! Image
Read 8 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Mar 31
My parallel port POST test card arrived today! Let's test out my IBM PS/2 Model 70 386 to see if we can figure out why it is not powering up when certain types of mice are plugged into it! Time for a quick 🧵 Image
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First, a little about the tester card. It's an AliExpress special. That said, it did get here pretty fast. I'm impressed! Image
Alright, first off, let's try this card out without a mouse plugged in. Looks like the system boots, and we land on code 0x6E. I found this awesome reference manual called The BIOS Companion, and it has this code listed as "Reset page register; boot up system". That tracks! Image
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Read 6 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Mar 29
Okay, you all voted, and for NOW, we're going to put this NEC MultiSpin 6X SCSI CD-ROM into my Pentium 233 system. This drive is REALLY cool! Let's talk about it briefly in a 🧵 here! Image
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First of all, if this ends up being permanent, I won't be too sad. The Philips drive that was in the system is starting to look a little ratty 😅. Granted, for form over function, it is an 8X drive, so TECHNICALLY this is a downgrade! Image
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Also, before I get too far into this, in case you missed it, I picked up this drive earlier today at a vintage computer sale that was happening a town or two over! I did grab all of the caddies you see here that go with the drive as well!
Read 9 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Mar 29
Looks like someone about 20 minutes away from me is selling a massive Macintosh/PC collection. I think I might go have a look, just for fun of course! Some pics. 1/4 Image
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Read 5 tweets

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