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Topic: MPXplay, DOS, and a Thinkpad T22. (Read 19042 times) previous topic - next topic
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MPXplay, DOS, and a Thinkpad T22.

The IBM Thinkpad T22 (as well as the T20 and T21) are getting tired, but will run MPXplay very nice under DOS. Using an emulator (such as DOSbox) is way too slow. Flat out, MPXplay will only go at half speed. That is, the audio is broken into chunks of sound and silence, and MPXplay looses time (the play time is much slower than real time).

The T20, T21 and T22 use a sound chip that is not that common. Not only that, the vendor (of the chip) only released windoze '98 (and above) drivers. Fortunately, the chip supports legacy soundblaster pro. However, getting the useful drivers out of the windoze driver pack (10 megs) is a challenge.

Chip : Cirrus Logic, Crystal Clear Sound Fusion CS4624 (Vendor ID=1013, Product ID=6003)

To get sound under DOS, only 3 files are required (the ZIP is ~10MByte!). The CS4624 will emulate a Soundblaster Pro.
\CWCDATA\CWCDOS.EXE   57,939   - Required.
\CWCDATA\CWCAUDIO.WCM       6   - Required. Created when windows 98 installs the PV2885.ZIP drivers. It is not in the ZIP!
\CWCDATA\CWCDDMA.OSP   44,380   - Optional. Used if the command line option /P is used.
\CWCDATA\CWCPCPCI.OSP   45,108   - Optional. Used if no command line option is specified.
\CWCDATA\CWCDGAME.OSP   44,756   - Optional. Used if the command line option /L or /X is used.

CWCAUDIO.WCM (on my laptop) contains (in HEX)...
20 02 88 03 05 01

AUTOEXEC.BAT needs to contain at a minimum...
\CWCDATA\CWCDOS


Options : The CWCDOS.EXE executable can have some additional options.
/C   : Unknown, but it complains about the format
/G   : Unknown. Seems to just check if the chip is there.
/H   : Help file (note this information is wrong!)
/L   : Uses CCLS support, loads the CWCDGAME 'game' file
/P   : Uses DDMA support, loads the CWCDDMA 'game' file
/V   : Verbose output as the sound chip is being initialised
/X   : Uses CCLX support, loads the CWCDGAME 'game' file
/?   : Help file (note this information is wrong!)
   : Uses PCPCI support, loads the CWCPCPCI 'game' file


Other : Using MPXplay...

* USB1 data rates are OK for playing MP3 using the Panasonic USB driver & NOVAC (mhairu) drive letter assignment driver.
* The AUTOEXEC.BAT does *not* need to contain a "SET BLASTER..." command for MPXplay to work correctly.
* \CWCDATA\CWCDOS /X : Gives garbled output. The audio speed is too high, and probably misses chunks too.
* \CWCDATA\CWCDOS /L : Locks up after the first chunk (audio buffer). Needs a hard reset.
* \CWCDATA\CWCDOS    : Works OK.
* \CWCDATA\CWCDOS /P : Works OK.


Of course these files are also relevant for people who want to play DOS Real Mode games (eg: DOOM). The exact parameters may need a bit of trial & error, and the AUTOEXEC might need SET BLASTER...

I hope this is of use to someone out there!

Cheers,
MM.

 

MPXplay, DOS, and a Thinkpad T22.

Reply #1
Have you considered using VDMSound?  It works on NT/2K/XP and emulates a soundblaster 16 for windows console.

The only problem that you might have is problems with the display, but most of the time it should be a workable solution.

MPXplay, DOS, and a Thinkpad T22.

Reply #2
You might see better performance if you loadhigh lbacache.com from freedos.