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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 27
Recently I updated the BIOS on my Compaq LTE 5400 to support large hard drives. However, this ended up causing a few other issues I had to solve. Anyone remember battling with DOS conventional memory and dealing with driver issues? Well... here we go! 🧵 Image
As I noted in the opening post, I upgraded the BIOS. This upgrade basically adds XTIDE to the system to support large hard drives. But, XTIDE is what is known as an option ROM. Which means that it is going to take a slice of the "upper memory area" in order to work. Image
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This caused two issues for me. First, my PCMCIA network card tended to "live" in the region that is now used by XTIDE. Okay, no problem. This computer uses SystemSoft software to manage PCMCIA. Through trial and error, I moved its memory region elsewhere. Network card fixed! Image
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Read 10 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Apr 25
If you know me, you know that I like retro connectivity! Recently I picked up this most excellent WiRSa v3 (WiFi to Serial Adapter) from RetroDisks. It provides many ways to get online. Let's go through them and talk about my experiences with this device in a 🧵 here! Image
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So, first, from the first post, you saw a picture of the device. I pulled that from the GitHub page that explains how to use this thing. You can find it here: github.com/nullvalue0/WiR…Image
Alright, let's explore. So, when you get the device, the first thing you get to do is configure WiFi! You can either do that the manual way, or the automated way. This device is smart enough to detect nearby networks, which is pretty stellar! Image
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Read 17 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Apr 21
Can we add a 240 GB SSD to this Compaq LTE 5400 laptop from 1996 running Windows 95? Yes, yes we can, and it just got easier with a recent breakthrough! Let's talk about it in a 🧵 here! Image
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Okay! So, here we have a proprietary laptop with a proprietary BIOS. But we also have a persistent enthusiast who added XTIDE support to the LTE 5000 series BIOS. Wow! You can read about that here: bachler.se/lte5000xtide/Image
Alright, let's get started. I thought I had a rather large CF card around that I could use, but I think I gave it away. However, as you saw from the intro shot, I have a 240 GB SSD. I took it out of its shell, and fitted it with a SATA to IDE adapter! Image
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Read 8 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Apr 20
I picked up some interface cards at VCF East, and also found a CD-ROM drive on the free pile. Let's give them a test! We'll use one of my 486 DX2/66 systems. Let's go! Time for a 🧵 Image
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We'll start out with the CD-ROM. Looks like this was in a Compaq originally (allegedly a Presario). It's a model CR-581-KCQ, which I think makes it a 4X Panasonic drive. Anyway, I popped in my GCW Companion CD, and the drive passed! Hooray!! Image
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Next we have a DTC 2278E VLB controller. I have one of these, but the HDD pins are broken. It still works, but for $5 I was glad to have another 😂. I booted up Windows 98, I have a mouse, the HDD works, and the FDD works, calling it good! Image
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Read 8 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Apr 20
Let's explore this AT&T 6300 that I picked up from consignment at VCF East this weekend. It's going to go to a friend soon, but we can at least look at it first! Time for a 🧵 Image
First of all, here it is with the cover removed. What a weird computer!! Two disk drives. Apparently the video card connects the top logic board with the motherboard below. Image
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Let's get the cover back on. First, I removed the degraded foam after it made a mess everywhere. And then I learned that I really need to "pull" the left support a little to put it in place so that the case would latch properly. You can see wear marks where it was "hitting." Image
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Read 12 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Apr 19
How about some more exhibit pictures from VCF East? Here we have a cool Commodore / Atari accessor, an Amiga featuring me (😂) and a really cool AT&T Unix system Image
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There was a ham radio exhibit with a Win3.1 computer, and a block game on vintage hardware exhibit!! Image
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@yyzkevin is always up to something cool. His new PCMCIA cards will bring wireless networking, sound, and more to vintage laptops!! Image
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Read 10 tweets

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