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help configuring "Hardware.cfg"

 
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jiraf
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:08 am    Post subject: help configuring "Hardware.cfg" Reply with quote

i have installed an Opti soundcard , i don´t know its model ... how should i configure "Hardware.cfg" ?

many thanks any help ... anxioustly waitting to try it =)
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jiraf
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:09 am    Post subject: help configuring "Hardware.cfg" Reply with quote

... i´ve tried to configure "autoexec.bat" as descrited in the manual , but with no success !

... :/
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tom roscoe



Joined: 09 Oct 2003
Posts: 41
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:27 am    Post subject: configuration Reply with quote

hey jiraf,

i need some more information from you regarding the computer you are trying to run converter on.... definitely what model / type of OPTi soundcard you are using, if it is on your motherboard or an actual card, whether it is a pci card, etc...

It should be at least SoundBlaster Pro compatible, if not SoundBlaster 16.... it may require the use of a dos driver to support the soundblaster standard however, so check the manual which came with your soundcard...

In the autoexec.bat file, you would then need the SET BLASTER=xxx xxx etc line, which would tell converter where to find your soundcard.

In other words, if your soundcard is SoundBlaster Pro or Soundblaster 16 compatible, follow the instructions in your soundcards documentation on how to use its soundblaster mode, and then follow the instructions in the converter manual on how to set up converter to use a SoundBlaster card.

Hope that helps!
tom
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jiraf
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:28 am    Post subject: Re: configuration Reply with quote

thanks your reply

Opti btc1817ds
fcc id : e5x1817

what i´ve set at c:\autoexec.bat
SET BLASTER=AE0C I05 D1 H3 P380

i really don´t know much more about computers to describe it more , i think it´s a Pci card
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tom roscoe



Joined: 09 Oct 2003
Posts: 41
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:30 am    Post subject: opti soundcard Reply with quote

Hey jiraf,

ok problem #1: E0C is not a valid soundblaster port address... usually this value would be 220, or either 240 or 260...

(possible) problem #2: change the I05 to I5 on the set blaster line

Ok, i just did some searching on google and found out the following info:

- the card is probably an ISA (P&P) card.
- it should be able to do soundblaster Pro emulation.
- it seems to have an mpu401 midi port on the card.

Try the following:

1] change your SET BLASTER line to the following:
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H3 P380

2] in hardware.cfg, choose soundcard mode 3 (mpu-401 only) and see if converter can initialize the mpu-401 port which should be on your soundcard

3] if that doesn't work, change your mpu-401 port to 330 or 300 - in other words:
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H3 P330

4] if converter sucessfully loads, and you see the graphics etc, then the mpu-401 port has been successfully initialized. Otherwise, you have the wrong port address in the Pxxx part of SET BLASTER, or the soundcard doesn't have a hardware MPU-401 port and needs a dos driver to emulate it (again, having some sort of manufacturer's documentation on the soundcard is useful here)

5] If soundblaster mpu-401 mode has worked, go back into hardware.cfg and try soundcard mode 6, to see if converter can initialize your soundcard as a soundblaster. Remember to use a valid soundblaster port address, such as:
SET BLASTER=A220 ... ...
or
SET BLASTER=A240 ... ...

etc.

6] If this doesn't work, try to locate dos drivers for your card...


Hope this helps!

If you are able to make this card work, please drop a note here to let me know!

Best of luck,
tom
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tom roscoe



Joined: 09 Oct 2003
Posts: 41
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:31 am    Post subject: drivers for the btc 1817ds card Reply with quote

hey again jiraf,

try this link:

http://www.btc.com.tw/btc2002_e/sound.html

there are dos drivers there for what i believe is your soundcard (btc1817ds)... at the top of the chart on the webpage (on the row "btc 1817Dx")...

and also below the chart, under "Applications":
1817dos.zip

Hope that helps,

tom
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jiraf
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:32 am    Post subject: Re: drivers for the btc 1817ds card Reply with quote

i´m having some difficultys , with its configurations
the drivers were already installed , i´ve downloaded from that site , but they are the same that are already installed
i´ve tried
SET BLASTER=A200 I5 D1 H3 P330
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H3 P330
SET BLASTER=A240 I5 D1 H3 P330
SET BLASTER=A200 I5 D1 H3 P300
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H3 P300
SET BLASTER=A240 I5 D1 H3 P300
etc , all alterations were made in both Autoexec.bat and in Hardware.cfg
... with no success
... is the I5 the same as the Mpu401 irq asked in Hardware.cfg ? could be this the problem ? ... 2 as default , should i change it too ?

what i think its weird is that , at one of the help me files of the Opti drivers says that this board can run in SoundBlasterPro mode ... and it sayS that the user should writte at c:\autoexec.bat
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4
... a bit confusing

there´s this software Subz3ro Adlib Tracker , thas has more or less the same requirements as this , but i just need to do 1 some small adjustments following the help file instructions , and everythings run ok with this soundboard

... i have an Ess1868 soundboard stopped , do you think i could try replacing it ?

many thanks for your help and attention
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tom roscoe



Joined: 09 Oct 2003
Posts: 41
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:33 am    Post subject: Re: drivers for the btc 1817ds card Reply with quote

hey jiraf,

by using soundcard mode 3 in hardware.cfg, converter uses the mpu401 port and irq in the SET BLASTER line, not the address and irq on the mpu-401 specific parameters in hardware.cfg (the last two lines).

If you wanted, you could try changing those two parameters to the address of your mpu-401 port and try it...

in terms of the SET BLASTER line, what the documentation has provided is an older form of the SET BLASTER line... any additional parameters are ignored by software if they aren't used/needed so don't worry...

What was the adjustment you made to enable Subz3ro to work?

what error is converter giving you - unable to initialize mpu-401? soundblaster card not found?

having an incorrect IRQ setting won't prevent converter from loading properly - you just won't be able to use audio or midi input.

If you're getting the "unable to initialize soundblaster card" error, the port address is wrong.

If you're getting the "unable to initialize mpu-401" error, the mpu-401 port address is wrong.

If all else fails, try the Ess1868 card...

good luck,
tom
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jiraf
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:34 am    Post subject: Re: Re: drivers for the btc 1817ds card Reply with quote

hi Tom

Subz3ro to work
... in the help file

"You may encounter playback problems when you are using some older
soundcard with OPL2 chip or with derived OPL3 chip. In this case, toggle on
the safety OPLx latency (set option "opl_latency" to 1)."

... here , in the .ini file

"opl_latency=0 ; OPLx register writes latency:
; [0] opl3-optimized (recommended)
; [1] 3.3 + 23 æs (use for OPL2 chips or if troubles)"

... the errors lauching Converter
first was just "soundblaster card not found" ... but now "unable to initialize mpu-401" , check yours ...
... than i remembered that all sound card configurations are displayed when windows is initiating , still in Dos i]ve hitted Pause key when this configurations were being displayed and here is what is displayed

"Port Address : 220
Irq Channel : 5
Dma Channel : 1
Mpu-401 Interface : on
Mpu-401 Port Address : 300
Mpu-401 Irq Channel : OFF"

... my c:\autoexec.bat

"mode con codepage prepare=((850) C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ega.cpi)
mode con codepage select=850
keyb po,,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\keyboard.sys
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H3 P300
SET SOUND16=C:\1817
C:\1817\sndtune
C:\1817\sndinit /b "

..my hardware.cfg

...
"# 6 = Sound Blaster Pro or clone ..... (( AUDIO INPUT ))



3



80





2



300



... could the "Mpu-401 Irq Channel : OFF" be the problem ?

... thanks for all Tom
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tom roscoe



Joined: 09 Oct 2003
Posts: 41
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:36 am    Post subject: Re: Re: Re: drivers for the btc 1817ds card Reply with quote

hey jiraf,

ok if the printed i/o settings work with your card with other dos software, then that should be ok... instead of soundcard mode 3, try soundcard mode 6 which is soundblaster pro specific, or soundcard mode 0 which is mpu-401 only and uses the last 2 parameters of the hardware.cfg file.

The Subz3ro setting wouldn't affect converter at all, since it makes no use of the opl / FM chip on any soundcards.

In order to use midi input in converter, your card's mpu IRQ channel should be ON... whether or not the mpu401 port on your soundcard uses a different IRQ than the other (audio) portion of your soundcard is unknown to me, but it is possible it uses an additional IRQ.

If using mode 0 of converter, you will need to update the MPU IRQ parameter (3rd parameter) in hardware.cfg...

This really puzzles me... certainly converter has worked with every combination of port addresses / IRQ channels i've thrown at it... the only thing which is keeping converter from loading is the port address itself for whatever card (soundblaster, mpu-401) you are using - an incorrect IRQ setting won't prevent converter from loading (it will just limit its usefulness).


So my only guess is that the card is not being initialized properly by the opti/btc dos driver / init program when booting into DOS..


ok try two things:

use the following SET BLASTER line in your autoexec.bat (just put a 'rem' in front of the one already in your autoexec):

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4

in hardware.cfg, use mode 6 (soundblaster pro audio)

if you still get the "unable to initalize soundblaster" error, change hardware.cfg to use mode 0 (generic mpu-401 only) with the mpu-401 base address parameter set to 300 (as it seems you have it) and try that.

If that doesn't work, i'm not quite sure what will... but it's definitely down to the base addresses right now... and this is a card i'm unfamiliar with, so any quirks it has i can't really advise you on...

what are the card's settings under windows? (control panel -> system -> device settings -> soundcards etc -> resources)

see if those line up with what you are using under dos...

hope you have some luck here! best wishes,
tom
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jiraf
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:37 am    Post subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: drivers for the btc 1817ds card Reply with quote

hi Tom
... i´ve initiated sndinit.exe , at msdos , activated Mpu401 Irc Channell as 2/9 , selected 9 as the Mpu401 Irc Channell in Hardware.cfg , and select the 6 mode , SoundBlasterPro ... everythings ok now ...

many thanks

i´m trying it right now !

all the best
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tom roscoe



Joined: 09 Oct 2003
Posts: 41
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:40 am    Post subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: drivers for the btc 1817ds card Reply with quote

hey jiraf,

i'm glad you were able to get it to work - and it's good to know the card works with converter Smile

have fun,
tom
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jiraf
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:43 am    Post subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: drivers for the btc 1817ds card Reply with quote

hi Tom

yesterday , i´ve replied to your latest post , but i don´t know what happened , it is not displayed !!!

well , i´ve been reading the manual , there are some functions with wich i´m not familiarised , but i´m an easy learner ... could you help me to configure Converter to put it to work ? Its being difficult , i´ve followed your examples , but with no success ! i can hear the Line In , but even the scopes aren´t working ...
my configuration setup
computer1 with Converter connected via a midi cable that can send to and receive from , midi data to/from a 2nd computer ( usually this 2nd computer is sending midi clock to computer1 , syncing them ) , and LineIn in Converter computer , is the LineOut of the second .
... could you give me a basic configuration , just to get Converter to work , and from there starting explore it ?

many thanks all the attention
all the best
joao
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tom roscoe



Joined: 09 Oct 2003
Posts: 41
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:46 am    Post subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: drivers for the btc 1817ds card Reply with quote

hey joao,

the way you've connected converter sounds fine, so here's some questions:

1] what soundcard mode are you using converter in? I'm assuming still mode 6 from your previous response.... since your soundcard only supports soundblaster pro audio, midi and audio input cannot be used simultaneously, only audio input or midi input (with the usual mouse/gameport input etc). Even soundblaster pro audio & mpu-401 midi mode will only use the midi port for midi output, not midi input.

in other words, the modes you are restricted to are modes 0, 6, 7, and 8.

Using a soundblaster 16/awe32 etc, the above limitation doesn't apply...

2] does converter recieve midi ok? if not (and converter is operating in a midi input mode) then there is a problem with the IRQ converter is using to communicate with your midi / MPU-401 port.

3] if converter recieves midi ok, but audio doesn't appear when using a soundblaster pro audio input mode, then there is either a problem with the IRQ assigned to the audio portion of your soundcard, or some other hardware device in your computer is conflicting with the DMA channel being used (try using DMA channel 3, for example)...


not sure what else it could be, aside from those three things... the default settings converter is set to when first loaded and run, would enable midi input and audio input to be viewable in the various lower display panels....

hope that helps!

-tom
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