Other Operating Systems and the Thunder and Lightning


OS/2 WARP Support for the Thunder and Lightning

In the past, Media Vision's position regarding OS/2 WARP support has been, "Work is underway at IBM for full support of our sound card products; we will provide drivers and updates as they become available."

Unfortunately, Media Vision will not be supporting OS/2 WARP for any of the product line at this time. In the future, you may wish to contact IBM for multimedia support.

Media Vision apologizes for any inconvenience this change in stance may cause you.


NT Support for the Thunder and Lightning

Unfortunately, Media Vision does not support Windows NT for any of its product line at this time. Media Vision has not positioned or advertised its products as being a solution for the Windows NT market. Microsoft may be able to provide you with further information regarding NT support.

OS2 2.1 Support

SB emulation Please note: the FM portion of the card is not supported in OS/2

As many of you know, Media Vision has perfected Sound Blaster compatibility and all of our sound cards that claim 100% Sound Blaster are, in fact, compatible at the hardware level.

Paradoxically, the Sound Blaster driver that ships with OS/2 2.1 (SBD2.SYS) does not work with the Media Vision Thunder Board nor the Sound BlAster section of the Pro Audio Spectrum 16, even though the hardware is the same. Here's the reason why: When Media Vision cloned the original Sound Blaster (calling our clone 'Thunder Board'), we added some extra features. For example, the Thunder Board has the ability to record at up to 22KHz. We needed a way to check whether the card in the system was a Sound Blaster or a Thunder Board to determine whether or not to allow the enhanced functionality.

The method we came up with was to have a 'hidden' version number. The first time a program asks a Thunder Board (TB) for its version number, the TB returns the same value the Sound Blaster returns. The second time, the TB returns its own version number (which is different from the Sound Blaster version number.)

The Sound Blaster people discovered our trick and now they put a _double_ version check into their code to detect the Thunder Board. We think that's a fair and reasonable thing to do, as long as they don't crash the user's system or do anything else destructive. Claims that the Thunder Board isn't 100% compatible are obviously misleading.

The OS/2 driver performs a double version check and so it's possible to bypass the second check and allow the Thunder Board to work. All that is necessary is to change a single byte. We're telling you which byte it is here so that you can verify the change or perform it yourself. We've also supplied a patched version so that you can avoid the details and just start using the driver.

The byte to change is at offset 3ED8 (hexadecimal) in the file. Change the value from AB to 00. Here's how to install the patched driver.

First, make sure you've installed the MMPM/2 Sound Blaster driver.

Before installing the Sound Blaster driver, be sure you know what the IRQ jumper setting is for your Thunder Board. Use the MINSTALL program to install the Sound Blaster driver. After all files have been copied to your system, a Window entitled "Sound Blaster Installation" will appear. It will ask you to select which type of Sound Blaster card is to be installed. Choose the:

Sound Blaster (ISA and MCV)

selection. Be careful. The default choice is 'Sound Blaster Pro (ISA with OPL2)' and that driver will not work.

Then you will be asked how many Sound Blasters are installed. Select 1.

The next screen asks you for the DMA, I/O Address and IRQ. Most cards should be set to DMA 1 and I/O address 220. Some Thunder Board owners may need to change the IRQ setting to 5 or 2. Those are the only other choices that the driver offers.

When the Installation program has finished, go to an OS/2 command window and perform these commands:

[C:\]cd \mmos2
[C:\MMOS2]copy sbd2.sys sbd2.old
[C:\MMOS2]copy a:\sbd2.sys

The last command assumes the patched SBD2.SYS file provided with this document is on the A: drive. If it is not, substitute the proper path to the patched file.

Now reboot your computer and you should have sounds.

If you wish to patch the Sound Blaster driver yourself, here's how:

Remember that symdeb and debug adds 100h bytes to the offset so the byte you must change will be at offset 3FD8.

Start a DOS session.

[C:\]cd \mmos2
[C:\MMOS2]copy sbd2.sys sbd2.old
[C:\]debug sbd2.sys
-e 3fd8 00
-w
Writing 8A7A bytes
-q

If the above Debug session does not make sense to you, do not attempt the patch yourself. Ask a DOS expert.


NT Support for Thunderboard

Windows NT is not very different than Windows 3.1, and most of the techniques will be the same with several small modifications.

First, and one of the main differences you will notice, is that there is no SYSTEM.INI or WIN.INI. So you must use the CONTROL PANEL for your install & changes to the drivers.

After installing Windows NT on your system follow the steps below to install the Media Vision drivers to get sound from your system.

1. Go to the MAIN GROUP and select CONTROL PANEL. and then select the DRIVERS applet, then select ADD.

2. Pickup "Media Vision Thunderboard" driver, and select "OK."

3. Next, if the CD ROM is not in the driver, Windows NT will prompt you for where the drivers are loaded.

Enter "cd-drive:\i386',and select "OK."

4. Next, you will be prompted for the DMA, IRQ. If you encounter a conflict, you will have the 'LOOPING' problems as with Windows 3.1 except it will stop after several seconds.

5. Verify that the Installed Drivers include the following;

Media Vision Thunderboard

6. Select CLOSE Restart Windows, ENJOY

Please note: MIDI is not supported in NT for the Thunderboard


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