Re: ZVG Experience - Proper place to post?

I created some config files to hopefully help someone get it going. I
included the various drivers I used in addition to the MS-DOS 6.22 and
the current DVMAME folder from the support CD (& ROMS of course). My
hardware is a Soundblaster Live PCI card on a P4 based Gateway
computer. Instructions are included.

Download from http://www.alsarcade.com/stuff/DVMCNFIG.ZIP

Feel free to ask me anything about this config.

-Al-

On 9/10/2011 6:08 PM, Al Warner wrote:
> The computer I used is a 2.8GHz Gateway Pentium 4 with 4GB of RAM and
> an 80GB drive, floppy, and a DVD Burner. A friend gave me a Sound
> Blaster Live PCI card. I found DOS drivers from a link on this page:
>
> http://easymamecab.mameworld.info/html/snddosdr.htm
>
> I loaded FreeDOS and was unable to get the soundblaster card to
> install properly. Having not invested a lot of time in the install I
> figured it might be best to try regular MS-DOS. MSDN still has 6.0
> and 6.22 available for download but none of the 95s, 98s, or ME
> because of some licensing issue. I decided to try 6.22. Getting the
> OS installed was a little tricky. I copied the disk images over to a
> CD and booted FreeDOS as a "Live CD". Then I copied the files to the
> hard disk and made the diskettes with the included utility. Then I
> installed DOS after deleting the "Non-DOS" partition with FDISK. The
> way the BIOS was reporting only let me create and format a 500MB
> partition, but I decided that it really isn't a problem because the
> machine won't need much space anyway.
>
> Getting drivers loaded would have been easier if I had a floppy drive
> to copy things with but every driver I got had to be loaded onto a CD
> (I used re-writable discs) but since I hadn't gotten the CD working
> yet, I used the FreeDOS LIVE-CD trick to copy stuff.
>
> Since most people seem to have problems with sound, I tried the
> Soundblaster drivers first. This time it worked great. A standard
> install seemed to load perfectly.
>
> Next was CD support. I found the OAKCDROM.SYS driver at:
> http://www.computerhope.com/download/hardware.htm and instructions on
> loading them at: http://www.computerhope.com/cdromd.htm .
>
> I figured I was in the home stretch. I loaded the VectorMAME software
> on, loaded some ROMS into the ROMS folder and attempted to start STAR
> WARS (one of the games I own a real game of). It was then that I got
> this mysterious error:
>
> Load Error: no DPMI - Get csdpmi*b.zip
>
> What? All of the programs in the folder seemed to be doing this.
> Wait. I never set the ZVG port variable. OK - I do that and... No
> Love. Still the same error.
>
> A Google search takes me to:
> http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=8586.0 and that leads
> me to download csdpmi5b.zip from
> http://www.delorie.com/pub/djgpp/current/v2misc/ .
>
> I copy the EXEs from the ZIP into the same folder with VectorMAME and
> load Star Wars. It comes up with sound and pressing the right keys
> starts a game. I wanted to see if the Menu would load but it needed
> the ZVG attached. I attached it and It seemed like it was running.
> Without a vector monitor, this was where I stopped. I'll hook it up
> to my Tempest monitor and see what happens. I have to move stuff
> around for this step.
>
> I'm sure that if I wanted to spend more time on it, I could get this
> working better, but it should be fine for the intended use. Now all I
> need is an Amplifone picture tube and my boards repaired and a cabinet
> to put this in.
>
> -Al-
>
> On 9/10/2011 9:27 AM, Al Warner wrote:
>> I have been working on the PC side of getting a ZVG card working. I
>> think I'm ready to try it with a vector monitor. I've had some
>> interesting problems getting the software to run on my Pentium 4
>> under DOS. It appears that newer PCs left DOS behind and didn't look
>> back. I guess my question is, where would be the best place to
>> document the issues I had so that others might benefit? I have been
>> an IT guy for 25+ years now but this was an interesting challenge to
>> get working. If this is the right place, I'll submit a detailed post.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> -Al-
>>
>> PS - I hit issues I can't find references to in relation to MAME.
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
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>> ** Please direct other questions, comments, or problems to
>> chris@westnet.com
>>
>
>

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