Thanks for all your answers.
>From all your mail, I understood this:
- There is not such thing as "VESA audio"
- SoundBlasters, especially SB16, are the common "de facto" for DOS
system (I used to have an ISA one, so I won't be able to use it anymore,
besides I think my parents threw away my 1995 computer after I moved).
- Right now, there is not emulation software for it. (VDMsound is for
windows).
So I have three possibilities:
1. Use VMware or Dosbox.
2. Buy an old SoundBlaster 16 PCI card.
3. Start a project to make my card work under FreeDOS/MS-DOS.
1. I don't want to use emulation software. I want real 16-bit DOS. That's
why I started the thread in the first place.. Actually, it is working very
well with my old software. The only problem is that I can't make sound work.
2. I've found in eBay some used SB16 PCI cards. I think I will find the DOS
drivers almost everwhere, except for the Creative driver page. I am not
trying to make it work under WinXP or Vista. They'll be un-configured
there. Do you think they will work with my 3-year-old P4 system? Are old
PCI slots compatible with the new ones?
3. I was thinking that a new project would be very interesting. However, I
have neither enough technnical skills nor enough money to fund a new
project. I know some programming, though. I could (a) Adapt my sound card to
FreeDOS. (b) Create an ALSA DOS-wrapper to make to convert SB calls to sound
cards calls.
Approach (b) has this PROS:
- Wrapper performance issues won't be a problem because today PC's should
handle DOS programs very well.
- ALSA's broader compatibility with sound cards. And they are always
adding new cards too!
- ALSA (how software communicate with a sound card) and DOSbox (how games
& programs communicate with a SB card) are free so you can start a new
project using source code of both of them.
I don't have much time or enough technnical knowledge right now. But I am
sure all the information I need is out there on the net!
Regards,
Santiago
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