Unofficial Advanced Gravis Ultrasound Drivers #2 ("Manley Drivers") Copyright 1994 Robert J. Manley and Multi-Player Computer Adventures Version 0.5d - 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!) - absolute lowest system overhead possible - rigorous testing Here is what it has been tested and known to work with: - OS/2 2.1 with MMPM CSD, OS/2 2.11 (with its MMPM CSD), and Beta II of Personal OS/2 (aka WARP II) - 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 Beta I or Beta II MMPM - OS/2 2.11 MMPM (from OS/2 2.1 Service Pack) - OS/2 2.1 MMPM + November '93 MMPM CSD (ftp-os2 in pub/os2/ibm/os2fixes as MMPMCS.DSK) If neither of these versions of MMPM can be found, the installation will fail and nothing will be added to your CONFIG.SYS. *** STEP #2 *** Unzip ULTRA05D.ZIP to a subdirectory or floppy. Run MINSTALL and select that directory as the source and then follow the directions. Note that MINSTALL will modify your CONFIG.SYS to append the driver line. This shouldn't be a problem as I have done it numerous times without a glitch. 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=c:\MMOS2\AUDIOVDD.SYS ULTRA1$ where "c:" is the drive MMOS2 has been installed on. If this line is present as shown here, comment it out with a REM statement at the beginning. If you have other devices also listed on this line (e.g. "PAS16$"), just delete the "ULTRA1$" token. 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. MIDI is re-routed through the GUS MIDI port to an external synth (not played natively as in MegaEm). Future directions are to add Sound Blaster emulation and implement Roland GM natively on the GUS (without requiring an external synth). WinOS2 TIPS It is recommended that all WinOS2 users keep a separate copy of their SYSTEM.INI file 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. 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 - 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) - some people experience a problem with starting DOS sessions as a side-effect of ULTRAVDD.SYS. If you are experiencing this problem, replace "...ULTRAVDD.SYS" with "...AUDIOVDD.SYS ULTRA1$" in your config.sys - please let me know if you do 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. Q. Why is there a delay before hearing a system sound? A. OS/2 must swap out blocks of memory to give the MMPM 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. 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 - Europe for the month of September! - Sound Blaster emulation to DOS sessions - MIDI synth - Roland GM emulation to DOS sessions - 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.