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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
Dec 26
Yesterday, I talked about a few systems I had that were not Intel/AMD/Cyrix based. Well, here's another one: my Gateway 2000 tower has a UMC processor in it! I haven't powered it on in a hot minute, so let's talk about it briefly in a 🧵 here! Image
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As we saw from the intro photo, this system has a UMC Green CPU US5-SUPER33 in it. And, indeed, it is super! It's almost as fast as a 486 DX2/50! These CPUs were subject to a legal dispute, and thus were not sold in the USA Image
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On power up, we can see that this processor is detected as a U486SX by AMI BIOS. Not all motherboards supported this CPU. But my Shuttle-HOT-433 board does! Image
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Read 5 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Dec 26
I thought I'd power up and inventory my systems that don't have CPUs made by Intel/AMD/Cyrix, but are x86 compatible. I do have a few! Let's have a quick look at them in a 🧵 here! Image
Let's start with the system on the far left, the tower. It happens to be an ITX Llama system, built around the Vortex86EX CPU. It's similar in performance to a 486 or Pentium system. I did make a custom BIOS build to play the Nokia tune 😂 Image
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Oh, I should give some specs. 128MB RAM, ATI Rage Pro 128 AGP card, 120 GB SD card for storage, Crystal audio, and an RDC Ethernet card as you will see from my Windows screenshot here. This is a quirky system.. a bit buggy... and I HAD to use QEMM for memory management Image
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Read 9 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Dec 21
I thought I'd take some time today and "assemble" the new additions to my Compaq LTE 5000 series fleet! Each machine got a battery, hard drive, and either a floppy or CD-ROM drive. Let's talk about it briefly in a 🧵 here! Image
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First, I started with the batteries. The cells have been removed, so we just have plastic shells. They all needed a cleaning, but this one was THE WORST. Some Goo Gone took care of it, and some elbow grease. Also, I was one battery short, so I pulled one from my spares! Image
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One of the laptops had a screw that wasn't tight and blocked the battery, so I had to take it apart and tighten it. I also replaced the CPU cover on this laptop since it was in bad shape.. this is the laptop where we discovered previously that Goof Off is bad for plastics. Image
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Read 10 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Dec 16
I just made a 10 cent improvement to this Compaq LTE Elite 4/75 laptop. Anyone want to guess what it is? Let's talk about it in a brief 🧵 here! Image
Did you make your guess? Yep! It was the screen latches! For 10 cents, my local library's makerspace printed these for me today! Image
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Here are the prints. Apparently they have a TA26 and a Prusa printer. The lady at the makerspace said "use the Prusa ones!" And so I did! Image
Read 7 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Dec 15
Sometimes curiosity gets the best of us, and that happened when I saw this Xircom Parallel Port Multiplexor III for sale. What does it do? It lets you use a printer and Xircom parallel port Ethernet adapter at the same time. Does it do it "well"? Let's find out! 🧵 time! Image
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As you might have seen from the intro pic, I'm going to use my AST Premium Exec 386SX/25 to test this out. This machine doesn't have any PCMCIA slots, so I do use a Xircom Pocket Ethernet III to get it online! Image
Here's a close up of the device itself, as well as some of the items that were inside the box. Very nice! Image
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Read 10 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Dec 13
I've got these two cute little Compaq LTE Elite 4/75 systems. I'm just about done setting up one of them.. how about we set up the other one here, in real time! Time for a 🧵 Image
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So, first off, we are going to have a minor complication. These laptops have a near 100% failure of their floppy drives, the dreaded Citizen W1D drive. Fortunately, I've installed an OpenFlops W1D to replace it.. basically a Gotek replacement for the Citizen W1D! Image
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The very first thing we need install is the diagnostics partition. We will also need other software for Windows for Workgroups 3.11. So I went online and grabbed the needed Compaq SoftPaqs for diagnostic setup, as well as video, PCMCIA drivers, and a few other odds and ends! Image
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Read 19 tweets

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