Re: [Freedos-user] Getting sound to work in FreeDOS on Modern systems.

[Eric A. <e....@jp...>]

Hi pcdos2k,

> i recommend esstech pci cards (solo, maestro, allegro). they are now
> discontinued but they should still be around in surplus stores. they
> are the easiest to work with in DOS; one file goes in the config.sys,
> another in autoexec. no need for emm386exe/himem.sys. in my
> experience, if they fail on the mobo, it would be near impossible to
> use other/newer pci cards on the same mobo -- at least you can tell
> early if you want to push through with your setup.

A forum mentions the following:

- ESS ES1978 Maestro-2E, with AC97
- ES1989 Allegro
- Aureal Vortex 2 (needs no DDMA, has only SBPro emu)
- SB Live etc might all need DDMA and NMI and EMM386
- for example nForce chipsets do not support DDMA
- Audigy might need NMI, too

This sounds as if Aureal Vortex is same category as the
ForteMedia and CMedia chips - both offer a number of
ways to give DOS the impression that there is DMA, and
both do so in ways which need "almost no drivers"...
Unfortunately, they also do NOT work on nForce for me,
only the Adlib / OPL3 part works in games without DMA.



PCI Soundcards for Ultima 7, www.it-he.org/sound.htm lists:

Aureal Vortex 1 with cheap OPL2 clone, not very stable
Aureal Vortex 2 with cheap OPL2 clone, SB2 stable, SBPro shaky
  (also has some problem with CWSDPMI but works with PMODETSR)

Crystal Semi CS462x / CS4280

EMU10k / SB Live! (needs EMM386 but no DDMA - may need NMI?)
SB 16 PCI (needs EMM386, bad OPL3 simulation via wavetable)

ESS Maestro-1
Maestro-2 / Terratec DMX (works well, mediocre OPL3 clone)
  (I guess it uses TDMA or sth else which fails on new mainboards)

Trident 4D DX/NX (SB 2 mono 8 bit only, bad OPL3 simulation)

Yamaha YMF724 (genuine OPL3 but needs DDMA, not on VIA MVP3)
  (I remember FM801 (TDMA?) did work on MVP3 but fails on nForce)

http://members.iinet.net.au/~rsd/U7inWindows.html
  (Win9x trick which patches the game apparently)
VDMSound for WinNT/2k/XP
Other emulators...

The Ultima 7 problem is that this game is not compatible
with EMM386 or Dosemu or other fast emulators, so you
need slow full emulators or real hardware for this :-p



http://support.packardbell.com/es/item/index.php?i=spec_es1968s&pi=platform_c2
http://support.packardbell.com/it/item/index.php?i=spec_es1978&pi=platform_B3H

Mentions that the ESS Maestro 2E ES1978S supports DDMA
(distributed DMA) TDMA (transparent DMA) and PC/PCI
(I think that is something with extra cables?). This
page also says that TDMA is most compatible and works
"over the standard PCI 2.1 bus without the additional
sideband signals".



> i ripped the esstech dos drivers from the win9x vxd drivers, which
> requires win9x to install: www.mediafire.com/file/yzzjnizmktw/ESSPCI.ZIP

Other drivers:

ftp://ftp.terratec.com/Audio/
ftp://ftp.terratec.com/Audio/DMX/Update/
http://easymamecab.mameworld.info/
http://vsynchmame.mameworld.info/
http://easymamecab.mameworld.info/html/snddosdr.htm

Eric