NEW Ensoniq Soundscape Driver v1.30.00
Dave Potts
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THE SOUNDSCAPE SOFTWARE!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THE SOUNDSCAPE SOFTWARE!
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VERSION 1.30.00 (BETA) VERSION 1.30.00 (BETA)
VERSION 1.30.00 (BETA) VERSION 1.30.00 (BETA)
VERSION 1.30.00 (BETA) VERSION 1.30.00 (BETA)
VERSION 1.30.00 (BETA) VERSION 1.30.00 (BETA)
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Soundscape S-2000 Release Notes
**ENHANCEMENTS**
- Sound blaster 2.0 emulation (Fix for Cyberia, Rebel Assult)
- New Windows drivers (Fixes STNG, Adam, 4 Paws of the Crab)
- OS/2 Support (Business Audio only)
- Works with ALL Reveal and Spea cards (YES, REV A!)
- See below for more Details
**FILES**
- S2K0314A.EXE - Self-extracting Disk #A
- S2K0314B.EXE - Self-extracting Disk #B
**LOCATIONS**
- ENSONIQ'S BBS - 610-647-3195
- thunder.cso.uiuc.edu /usr/homes/ensoniq
- wuarchive.wustl.edu /pub/msdos_uploads/ensoniq
- oak.oakland.edu /simtel/msdos/sound
Date: 03/12/95
Version: 1.30.00 (BETA)
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*****
* NOTICE: THIS SOFTWARE IS BETA AND IS NOT CURRENTLY SUPPORTED BY
ENSONIQ. *
* If you have any problems installing or using this software
please *
* send e-mail to soundsc...@ensoniq.com. We will not be
taking*
* phone calls to support this version until it is released. Be
sure*
* to include copies of any relevant files (AUTOEXEC, CONFIG.SYS,
*
* SYSTEM.INI
*
*
*
*************************************************************************
*****
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Troubleshooting Information
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For up-to-date automated troubleshooting assistance, please call
Ensoniq's
Fax-on-Demand service at 1-800-257-1439 from a touch-tone telephone.
This service requires that you have access to a FAX machine. Please
request
document #7255 (Trouble Shooting Manual).
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v 1.30.00 BETA
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**Installation**
The uninstall program will now check for the SNDSCAPE environment
variable
before running. If it is not present, the uninstall will not run. This
will prevent the program inadvertently deleting files.
The Windows directory is now copied to your SNDSCAPE.INI file.
**SSInit**
SSInit now needs to know where your Windows directory is located. If it
can
not find it, SSInit will prompt you to enter your current Windows
directory.
**SSCD.SYS**
The SSCD program uses new command line arguments. The previous version
uses
the Port= argument to find the Soundscape base address. The new version
uses
/B:<base address>. This is the only argument in SSCD.
**Makeboot**
There is a generic makeboot utility that will create a boot disk to
initialize
the Soundscape card. If you need to create a boot disk it is recommended
that
you use this utility.
**Windows**
There is a new Windows driver included in this release. This new driver
allows
DOS games to run in a DOS Box under Windows, it will also fix any
problems
associated with application authored with the Director.
The driver has an on-line help associated with it. Please consult the
on-line
help for questions regarding configuring the driver.
To access the driver setup, Open the Control Panel and double click the
Soundscape icon.
**Audiostation**
Their is a new version of Audiostation (1.78) that fixes
incompatibilities
with some CD-ROM brands.
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v 1.25.00
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**OS/2 Support**
OS/2 Support has been implemented in this release. The OS/2 drivers as
well
as a README can be found on disk 2.
**Installation**
**Firmware**
The Sound Blaster emulation is now 2.0 compatible. This fixes games that
only
support SoundBlaster 2.0 or higher (Cyberia, Creature Shock). It also
will
clean up games that try to simulate the auto-restart capabilities of a
Sound
Blaster 2.0 on earlier Sound Blaster models (i.e., Rebel Assault). In
some
games, it may be necessary to select Sound Blaster Pro to take advantage
of
the additional 2.0 functions.
**SSInit**
The SSInit Exit dialog is more intuitive . Now, the only choices in the
Exit
dialog are Accept or Discard changes. In previous versions, when
invoked,
SSInit would read in the current settings from the card and display the
Quick Setup dialog. Then if the user selected Advanced it would discard
any
changes made on this dialog and reload all the values from the
SNDSCAPE.INI
file. This has been a source of confusion for our customers. In this
version,
all settings are obtained from the SNDSCAPE.INI file and if the user
selects
"Accept", upon exit the changes are written back out to the INI file. If
the
user selects "Discard," no changes are saved and the Soundscape card will
be
left in the same state as when SSInit was invoked.
Detection of the Wave Port and Base Port is now done when SSInit is
invoked OR
anytime you exit the Hardware settings page. If either port fails
detection,
SSInit will put the user back into the Hardware page. The user can then
change
the Port and select OK or select Cancel to abort any changes.
**MT32 Utility**
The MT32 program will now set the Soundscape card to MT32 mode when
invoked
without any arguments.
Example:
MT32 <- Sets the Soundscape card to MT32 mode
MT32 ON <- Sets the Soundscape card to MT32 mode
MT32 OFF <- Sets the Soundscape card back into the default (General
MIDI)
mode.
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v 1.20.04
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**Installation**
Added a test for the PCI bus that will detect when the installation
program is
first run if a PCI bus is installed in the system. If a PCI bus is
detected,
the installation program will ask the user if they wish to reconfigure
their
interrupts to facilitate the PCI bus. (See Installation Notes 1.20.03
below).
**Firmware**
The Soundscape firmware files SNDSCAPE.CO0 and SNDSCAPE.CO1 are now
generic. This means that they can be used with all OEM versions of
Ensoniq
Soundscape. The impact of the generic firmware on the original OEM
boards is
that use of the TDA8421 tone controller chip has been disabled. This was
done
because of increased code space as well as to facilitate faster
development.
**SSInit**
The SSInit interface is now the same for all Soundscape OEM boards. This
can
be seen by bringing up the mixer.
The DMA test failed on some systems in v1.20.03. It has been fixed in
this
release.
**VSB**
Because of our changes in our Sound Blaster emulation code the following
files are no longer needed:
VSB_EMM.COM
EMM386.EXE
MAKEBOOT.EXE
These can be removed from your Soundscape directory.
**Windows Drivers**
The Windows Driver is now generic. To use it with OEM boards with the
TDA8421,
you must insert the line IsDvb=1 in the [sndscape.drv] section of your
SYSTEM.INI file. If necessary, this is done at boot time.
The compatibility problem with programs authored with the Directory v4.x
has been fixed.
Brad Murray
: How about NT drivers? Can they be found anywhere/do they exist ?
Not yet. The last date I heard was July.
Brad
_______________________________________________________________________
Bradley S. Murray Princeton Computer Consulting (609) 799-5300
bmu...@pluto.njcc.com Princeton, NJ 08543-7345 Fax: 275-5651