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1994-11-18
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Unofficial Advanced Gravis Ultrasound Drivers #2 ("Manley Drivers")
Copyright 1994 Robert J. Manley and Multi-Player Computer Adventures
Version 0.6a - SHAREWARE - please read the REGISTRATION section for details
FEATURES
- basic GUS rev 3.7 and MAX/daughtercard mixer support
- 8 or 16 bit wavefile playback
- mono or stereo
- hardware MIDI playback (to an external synth or synth module)
- volume and balance control
- multi-session (many registered streams - one active)
- Ultrasound specific OS/2 VDD giving DOS sessions:
- reduced interrupt latency
- hardware virtualization
- MIDI port emulation of Roland MPU-401 in UART mode
(allowing WinOS2 to load and use those drivers - hooray!)
- GM emulation for DOS and Windows sessions under OS/2 with
the goody pack which is only sent to registered users
- absolute lowest system overhead possible
- rigorous testing
Here is what it has been tested and known to work with:
- OS/2 2.1 with MMOS2 CSD, OS/2 2.11 (with its MMOS2 CSD), Warp!
- system sounds
- digital audio applet
- MIDI applet
- compact disc applet and CD explorer (bug in version 2.3 hangs
PM message queue when using digital transfer)
- bigben2
- dmplayer 1.01
- video player / Ultimotion
- wave doctor
- multimedia mahjongg
- GUSmixer (even while the device is in use!)
- play.cmd (thanks to TFS for reminding me about this one)
- WinOS2 apps
- media player
- Cakewalk Pro
- Midisoft Recording studio
INSTALLATION
*** STEP #1 ***
This driver requires one of the following to be installed:
- OS/2 Warp (with MMOS2 installed) Beta I, Beta II, or GA
- OS/2 2.11 MMOS2 from either
- OS/2 2.11 refresh package
- OS/2 2.1 + Feb '94 Service Pack (== OS/2 2.11)
- OS/2 2.1 MMOS2 + November '93 MMOS2 CSD
(ftp-os2 in pub/os2/ibm/os2fixes as MMPMCS.DSK)
If neither of these versions of MMOS2 can be found, the installation will
fail and nothing will be added to your CONFIG.SYS.
*** STEP #2 ***
Use an OS/2 based unzip program (e.g. Info-Zip's) to unpack ULTRA05E.ZIP to a
directory on your hard disk or floppy. From that directory, run "MINSTALL",
accept it as the source, and then proceed with the installation. The following
lines will be appended to your CONFIG.SYS:
DEVICE=<drive>:\MMOS2\ULTRADD.SYS /B:b /C:c /D:d /U:u /M:m /V
DEVICE=<drive>:\MMOS2\ULTRAVDD.SYS
where (with defaults):
b - base I/O address of Ultrasound (220)
c - base address of 16-bit CODEC (32C)
d - DMA channel for playback (7)
u - GF1 IRQ (12)
m - MIDI IRQ (5)
If you have a 16-bit daughtercard, you must manually change the address (in
hex) following the /C: switch to the base address for that board. The valid
addresses for the daughtercard are: 530, 604, E80, and F40. You may install
this software over a previous version without first uninstalling. Also note
that the driver can be UNINSTALLED by selecting the number of Ultrasounds to
install as zero.
*** IMPORTANT STEP #3 (NEW) ***
If you have previously installed an earlier version of this driver since
installing your current system, you must read this step carefully and follow
all instructions. There is a limitation in the MMOS2 installation program
which forces the user to manually edit the CONFIG.SYS. After installing this
software, search for a line containing the token "AUDIOVDD" such as the
following:
DEVICE=<drive>:\MMOS2\AUDIOVDD.SYS ULTRA1$
If this line is present as shown here, comment it out with a REM statement at
the beginning. If you have another OS/2 supported soundcard installed and
this line contains other tokens (e.g. "PAS161$"), try these two things in
order of preference:
1. delete just the "ULTRA1$" token from this line and install
2. after installing this software and experiencing problems with
GUS sound in DOS boxes, put back the "ULTRA1$" token and REM
out the ULTRAVDD.SYS line. Sorry, no emulations for you.
If I had more than one soundcard installed, I could check this but I don't :(.
HARDWARE EMULATIONS
In addition to virtualizing the Ultrasound I/O ports to DOS sessions, the
supplied OS/2 virtual device driver (VDD) ULTRAVDD.SYS also emulates the
following devices when selected in the AUDIO_ADAPTER_EMULATION DOS setting:
- Roland MPU-401 MIDI interface in UART mode (e.g. Windows).
Select I/O address of 0x330 and IRQ of 2/9 (not used yet).
MIDI is re-routed through the GUS MIDI port to an external synth
(not played natively as in MegaEm).
**** NOTE: native DOS GM emulation is now done! (like MegaEm for OS/2)
**** Register this software and get the files required to enable this
**** functionality by e-mail or if neccessary, ground mail
Future directions are to add Sound Blaster and enhance Roland emulation.
Please note that neither SBOS or MegaEm should be run under an OS/2 DOS
box. These programs require features of the 386 that cannot be granted
to a VDM under a protect mode OS without comprimising system integrity.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD SBOS or MEGAEM BE RUN!
WinOS2 CONFIGURATION
It is recommended that all WinOS2 users keep a separate copy of their
SYSTEM.INI and CONTROL.INI files for real Windows and WinOS2. Doing this
will allow the Gravis supplied Windows drivers to work while under real
Windows and these drivers to provide MPU-401 emulation under WinOS2. A
good system to use is to copy each of these files to another with the same
filename root but with the extension ".DOS" after a successful run of real
Windows. Do the same with the extension ".OS2" after running this
setup without problems. Before starting either system, copy the OS specific
versions over their proper files. PLEASE BE CAREFUL with this and take the
time to understand what you are actually doing!
These are the lines in your real Windows SYSTEM.INI to comment out with a
';' character at the beginning to disable Gravis' drivers and avoid that
stupid error message listed in the QUESTIONS section below:
device=grvsultr.386
midi=ultrasnd.drv
...
midi1=ultmport.drv
wave=ultrasnd.drv
AUX=ultrasnd.drv
mixer=ultrasnd.drv
These are the lines in your CONTROL.INI file to do the same with:
ultmport.drv=UltraSound MIDI Port
ultrasnd.drv=Ultra Wave and MIDI Synth
...
midi=ultrasnd.drv
midi1=ultmport.drv
wave=ultrasnd.drv
AUX=ultrasnd.drv
After installing the Roland drivers (inside WinOS2), create a new MIDI
Mapper setup called "UltraVDD" by selecting "New" inside that application.
Now select the newly installed Roland MPU-401 device as the destination
port for all MIDI channels and then click on "OK" to complete the setup.
If you are running full OS/2 (with IBM's WinOS2), you may wish to copy
the TIMER.DRV from your real Windows SYSTEM directory to the equivalent
WinOS2 directory after renaming the original. This driver seems to give
more accurate MIDI timing for Windows based MIDI sequencers.
KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS
- moving Ultimotion window can generate noise or loss of sound
(this seems to be fixed in Warp)
- the Digital Audio, MIDI, and Digital Video icons in the multimedia folder
are replaced with incorrect versions (these can be easily changed back
manually)
- the installation program is lacking in functionality (see STEP #3 in the
INSTALLATION section)
- MPU-401 interrupt driven recording isn't working yet (booo, hiss)
- no text in Description field for AUDIO_ADAPTER_EMULATION property
(this is a VDM limitation of OS/2 on Intel platform)
MOST COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q. Why don't I hear anything when using the MIDI applet?
A. If you don't have a MIDI synth connected, you won't.
A. Why don't I hear anything when using WinOS2 MIDI applications?
A. If you don't have a MIDI synth connected, you won't.
A. If you do, check the WinOS2 CONFIGURATION section above.
Q. Why is there a delay before hearing a system sound?
A. OS/2 must swap out blocks of memory to give the MMOS2 subsystem the
storage that it needs for holding the sound sample. When enough memory
is already free (such as immediately after a system sound), the delay
should be almost unnoticeable.
Q. Why do I get the error message "The Ultrasound driver requires enhanced
mode to run" when trying to start a full-screen WinOS2 session?
A. Gravis' drivers include a Windows Virtual Device Driver (VxD != OS/2 VDD)
which cannot be loaded by OS/2 for system integrity reasons. When the
load fails, WinOS2 (and Windows) interpret this error as the system not
running in 386 enhanced mode since that is the mode required for loading
and using VxDs.
Q. Why do my seamless WinOS2 sessions just sit there and never start?
A. See Q and A above. When the VxD load fails, WinOS2 can't continue nor
can it properly exit. Use a session killer like Watchcat to kill it.
Q. Why doesn't SBOS or MegaEm work?
A. Please read the HARDWARE EMULATIONS section.
LEGALESE
This software is provided AS IS. No warranty of any kind, expressed or
implied, is granted including any warranties of quality or fitness for
a particular purpose. Under no circumstances will either Robert J. Manley
or Multi-Player Computer Adventures be held responsible for any damage
that results directly or indirectly from the use of this product.
REGISTRATION
Please fill in the following information and send it along with a cheque
or money order for $25.00 US or CAN (we need the break) to:
Multi-Player Computer Adventures
14845-6 Yonge Street, Box 314
Aurora, Ontario, Canada
L4G 6H8
Name: __________________________________________________
Company: __________________________________________________
Address: __________________________________________________
: __________________________________________________
: __________________________________________________
e-mail: __________________________________________________
phone: __________________________________________________
Price includes 7% GST for Canadians and 8% PST for residents of Ontario.
Some future versions of this product may only be distributed commercially
but will be sent free to all registered users.
BUG REPORTS
Please send all bug reports, gratuitous worship, whatever, to me through
e-mail at: rjm@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca. I enjoy hearing from all users.
Problem symptom: _____________________________________________
Fix or workaround: _____________________________________________
OS/2 version: ______
GUS hardware revision: ___
Daughtercard? (y/n): _
External MIDI? (y/n): _
GUS memory: ____ K
System memory: __ M
WHAT'S NEXT
- Roland GM emulation to DOS sessions
- Sound Blaster emulation to DOS sessions
- MIDI synth
- Digital Audio recording
- multi-track mod support at the driver level (need help here)
- getting Advanced Gravis to licence this software from me
FINALLY
I cannot emphasize enough my thanks to Brent Davis and especially Linden
deCarmo who have provided invaluable information when I needed it most.
Enjoy. Robert.