OrangePC Card on IIfx

[Concorde1993]

My OrangePC card arrived today in the mail. The card itself is in perfect working order (pics to come soon). The only significant problem I'm having at the moment is getting the OrangePC mouse driver to work in Windows 3.1 (the driver is fine in DOS 6.1 and I can toggle between Mac or PC mouse using Command-M). I was reading through the Orange386 instruction manual on how to tell Windows to access and accept the OrangePC mouse driver on Page 90, however I keep getting the following error:

Not sure why Windows is asking for OEMSETUP.INF when the Orange386 manual states that the mouse driver is located in C: drive. Unless something changed when the Orange386 manual was written.

There's some other minor things as well. I can't access the BIOS now that DOS 6.1 is installed for some reason (I still get a keyboard error even though my Mac keyboard works perfectly in both DOS and Windows). Sound doesn't seem to be working in Windows. Also the Apple PC 5.25" drive doesn't communicate with the OrangePC card - I guess I need the breakout cable/peripheral kit for that to work with the card.

 

[Concorde1993]

Fixed the mouse error. Went into Setup and changed the driver to Microsoft Mouse.

Tried installing Sound Blaster 16 from my Apple DOS install disk to fix the sound issue. Driver doesn't work - I guess Sound Blaster isn't supported with OrangePC cards? The 386 manual states on Page 46 that PC Speaker can be enabled from the Misc menu. That doesn't seem to be a feature in 3.8.2

At least Solitaire is working lol.

 

[MrFahrenheit]

Fixed the mouse error. Went into Setup and changed the driver to Microsoft Mouse.

Tried installing Sound Blaster 16 from my Apple DOS install disk to fix the sound issue. Driver doesn't work - I guess Sound Blaster isn't supported with OrangePC cards? The 386 manual states on Page 46 that PC Speaker can be enabled from the Misc menu. That doesn't seem to be a feature in 3.8.2

At least Solitaire is working lol.

Sound Blaster, and PC speaker, are two different things. I could be wrong, but I don’t think that OrangePC card has a sound blaster.

 

[Byrd]

Glad you got this awesome card - have you plugged the Sound Blaster into the ISA slot - best check is it only 8bit or 16 bit cards that work? Also try these utilities to enable the cache for the Cyrix 4x86:

Cyrix 486DLC

This page is dedicated to the Cyrix 486DLC chips. They go into 386 socket motherboards (PGA-132) and offer higher performance than the AMD Am386DX-40. The highlight of this chip is the 1 KB of...

www.philscomputerlab.com

 

[Concorde1993]

Sound Blaster, and PC speaker, are two different things.

I know. I'm just trying to get sound - any sound - to work with the card. The 386 manual made reference to PC Speaker but I can't enable it due to differences in the menu listings.

Glad you got this awesome card

Thanks. It's definitely interesting.

Have you plugged the Sound Blaster into the ISA slot

I haven't plugged in anything directly to the card. I doubt I have a Sound Blaster card lying around. I'd have to check my Commodore PC 10-III or one of my Amigas. I was hoping Sound Blaster would have been integrated with the OrangePC card since it's basically a 486 PC.

 

[Byrd]

It definitely doesn't have digitized sound on board - this thing was made for business not consumer use - do you see any little piezo speaker on the board - alternately maybe it pipes PC speaker sound through the Mac itself?

In terms of what ISA sound card, considering the tight tolerances a branded Sound Blaster would be too big, but something like a later model generic ESS or Crystal chipset ISA sound card would fit quite nicely inside with some work.

Does the card work well with 32-bit addressing on the IIfx? I've got the really basic two slot AST 286 board but could never get it playing nicely on my IIfx for both 24 or 32bit addressing enabled. The card needs a II or IIx I think.

 

[Concorde1993]

It definitely doesn't have digitized sound on board

I'm thinking more along the lines of Apple's DOS compatibility card for the 6100.

Alternately maybe it pipes PC speaker sound through the Mac itself?

I'm guessing it does. The 386 manual is a little vague.

Considering the tight tolerances a branded Sound Blaster would be too big

Well I could always run the IIfx with the cover off (yeah, right).

Does the card work well with 32-bit addressing on the IIfx?

Thus far everything seems to be working fine. I had no issues installing DOS 6.1 and Windows 3.1 - both seem to run OK and 3.1 runs much faster on the OrangePC card than in SoftWindows. I haven't installed any software directly into DOS or Windows besides Sound Blaster 16 since the majority of my DOS programs are on 5.25" disks and as aforementioned my Apple 5.25" drive is not seen by the OrangePC card. I think I have a boxed copy of WordPerfect DOS on 3.5" disks - I can try that and see how it goes. I will say that the mouse for some reason gets "jumpy" when playing Solitaire. Adjusting the speed settings for the mouse hasn't made much difference.

 

[Concorde1993]

Bought a Sound Blaster AWE64 (CT4500) "value" card from eBay. It's just the card - no drivers or accessories - but Creative Labs still has drivers on their website so I should be OK. Will be interesting to mount to the OrangePC card without a bracket. If all else fails, I can just use it with my Commodore PC 10-III.

I remembered that my ADB trackball mouse was made by Logitech, so I switched the mouse driver from Microsoft Mouse to Logitech. It's still a little jumpy depending on the application (Solitaire is somewhat better with the Logitech driver).

Speaking of applications, I installed WordPerfect Presentations Version 2.0 through Windows 3.1 since it's one of the few DOS programs I have on 3.5" disks. Installation was a breeze - it was very quick (considering there were about 7 disks to go through), nothing crashed or hung, and the program ran very smoothly both in DOS and Windows (minus the sometimes jumpy mouse).

For some reason, when I exit out of Windows and return to DOS 6.1, my cursor disappears. This happened with both mouse drivers. Not sure why it does this - the only fix I have at the moment is to reset the OrangePC application. Once DOS 6.1 reloads the cursor returns. Thoughts?

 

[Concorde1993]

My AWE64 Sound Blaster card arrived yesterday. I was able to download some Win 3.1 drivers directly from Creative Labs. As the pics show, the card is detected by DOS 6.1 - only problem is I can't hear anything. Do I need to connect an internal speaker directly to the Sound Blaster card or run a wire to a set of external speakers through one of the Line Output jacks?

Also, another odd problem has developed. Since installing the Sound Blaster drivers, If I type in "Win" using File-Run in DOS 6.1, Win 3.1 hangs indefinitely at the splash screen. If I use Command Prompt in DOS 6.1 and type "Win" at C:\ it boots normally. CHKDSK and Bootlog.txt don't reveal any faults. Did I silently corrupt something and its simply not being detected by DOS?

Anyway, pics:

 

[ArmorAlley]

That ISA-slot looks like a very poor design.
It blocks 4 NuBus slots and all of the ports on the ISA card are inside the Mac.
What this needs is a breakout box and an ISA-cable to go to it.

 

[Concorde1993]

That ISA-slot looks like a very poor design.

It is (and that's without the fancy PC board bracket). I even had to remove the big plastic cover support in order for the IIfx lid to close and not make contact with the Sound Blaster card.

I was hoping the OrangePC card would have had sound integrated, sort of like the DOS card for the 6100. Alas, it was not meant to be.

 

[ArmorAlley]

I wonder if someone would build you (or do it yourself, if you have the skills) an ISA-extender along the lines of the cable that connects a Sonnet Crescendo accelerator to the HPV card (I still have figured out the connection between video on the PM 8100/80 and the Human Papilloma Virus. I'm sure the Great and the Good in Apple knew what they were doing).
It looks something like this:

 

[Concorde1993]

I connected a pair of Labtec Spin-75 speakers to the AWE64’s speaker out port. Sound works perfectly - I can hear the Win 3.1 “Tada” chime on startup and I can play with various musical instruments in the MIDI control panel.

Things that still need fixing:
(1) I need to find the optional PC card bracket to properly secure the Sound Blaster Card and peripheral cable in order to get my Apple PC 5.25” to communicate with the OrangePC card. Any leads would be most helpful.
(2) Mouse cursor disappearing in DOS 6.1 after exiting Windows - not the end of the world, but I’d still like to find the root cause of this problem. Using an Apple ADB mouse instead of my Logitech trackball hasn’t cured this
(3) Win 3.1 freezing on startup when using File-Run command in DOS
(4) Can’t open Color palette in Option menu in DOS - it worked before, now I just get a beep sound from the Mac speaker when I click on it

 

[Byrd]

1) Your chance of finding the bracket would be slim! Unless you can find a picture and try to replicate it. From what I've seen a flexible riser for ISA card doesn't exist but there are many options for right angle adapters, particularly those made for industrial use - you might find a good match looking around.

2) Is your DOS mouse driver installed? See CTMOUSE

3) Try different video card drivers for Windows

4) Don't know, is this an OrangePC option?

JB

 

[Concorde1993]

2) Is your DOS mouse driver installed? See CTMOUSE

Will have to double-check. I have Microsoft Mouse and Logitech drivers installed on the Windows side.

3) Try different video card drivers for Windows

Will do. It's just odd that Windows started hanging after I installed my Sound Blaster drivers for the AWE64. It's fine if I use Command Prompt and type in "Win" at C:\>

4) Don't know, is this an OrangePC option?

Color Palette is accessible in DOS 6.1 - it's under the Option menu and it basically changes the background color of the DOS shell. It worked when I first installed DOS 6.1 - now I just get a beep from the IIfx's speaker when I click on it.

 

[Byrd]

Consider that you're probably five years ahead in terms of tech with the AWE64, it is a much later era sound card best suited for a Pentium 1, Windows 95/98 era over a DOS/Windows 3.1 386-era machine. The drivers are pretty complex compared to older Sound Blaster cards.

 

[Concorde1993]

I checked the C:\DOS directory - I have mouse.com enabled and I’m currently running Version 8.20 of the Microsoft Mouse driver.

Perhaps there’s a bug somewhere in DOS 6.1 where the mouse cursor likes to randomly disappear or there’s some compatibility issue between DOS and the OrangePC card or my current driver simply sucks. I’m all out of ideas on this one.

 

[Concorde1993]

Tried different video drivers. The only other one that works reliably is VGA (Version 3.0). Still doesn’t fix the freezing issue I have when I open Windows using File-Run in DOS.

 

[Jamieson]

Very cool, nice to see my OrangePC card has gone to a good home!

 

[Concorde1993]

Despite some shortcomings, it’s definitely one of the better NuBus cards to splurge money on. If I can find the peripheral kit and bracket I’ll be one step closer to perfection.