Hey Everyone -
I hope that you all had a good holiday.
In follow-up to the problem that I'm having in achieving consistent stereo sound output from my IIgs ROM 3's CPU (which I explain in detail in my 11/13/2011 entry within the AppleFritter.com Apple II Forum), I found the following Apple IIgs sound card currently listed on eBay for sale.
I'm unfamiliar with this eBay card's brand, and I'm not sure based on its accompanying eBay description (or any other information about it that I was able to find on the Internet), that this sound card would be any more effective than the partially-working Apple //e Enhanced-designed 1986 Mockingboard stereo sound and speech output card that I currently have inserted in Slot 4 my IIgs ROM 3's motherboard (which works and produces stereo (different sound to the external Mockingboard card port-attached left and right external speakers) sound only for my //e Enhanced-specific Music Construction Set software.
But then, the IIgs ROM 3's CPU automatically switches its sound output from this inserted Mockingboard solely to its non-split-sound (identical sound sent to both a left and a right externally-attached to this built-in 3.5 mm earphones/external speakers CPU port), when I use IIgs-designed Music Construction Set software (loaded from [virtual] Slot 5 via a 3.5" floppy, directly upon powering on the IIgs), and also when I use all other music creation software that I have that I've tested by running it (stored on a hard drive) after having first loaded (from that same hard drive) GS/OS 6.0.1.
The eBay Listing for this IIgs sound card that I found is: 320722692829.
I'd really appreciate any information that any of you AppleFritter Members might be able to offer! (Including, if you think that this particular sound card that I found on eBay will not solve this problem, any other currently-for-sale IIgs sound card Internet for sale listing[s] that you may know about on eBay or other Web site[s].)
Thanks very much!
Best Regards -
Hello,
I´ll just asume up to this point several thoughts up to that card:
It does not have an own true soundchip - but instead seems just to take the sound from the board an amplifies it;
so there will be no speech and - depending from the soundcapabilities of the board the sound will be rather poor
especially in the IIGS - where the problems with disturbing noise is well known to be generated from the layout of the bourd itself - second it seems to be claimed only to work in the II+ and IIe series....
so I sugest it won´t solve your issues
if you take a look to the other board in ebay listed: 180758790286
it won´t solve your issues neither :
it is to be claimed that this card is designed to be used in the IIe but not at the IIGS...
this will be - as I sugested in the other thread to the fact that the firmware was not designed to the entryjumppoints in the IIGS which are not the same like in the IIe ( see explanations I´ve made in the other thread ) - at the other hand this card has at least its own real soundchips ( but not those for generation of speech ) so probabaly its a risky try... it can work but it probably might fail too....
as explained in the other thread my best consideration would be, to find somebody here in the applefritter, who has a true mockingboard, that was realy designed for the IIGS and who probably is able to readout the eprom on that card and who might send you the binary data file of that eprom - you pick that up and get somebody at your location to burn an eprom with that datafile, change the firmware and hopefully that might get your card run without mistakes and bad issues....
Hi speedyG -
Thanks very much for the information. I just read your message, and immediately afterwards I checked the eBay Item Number that you were kind enough to list for me. The Item already had been sold! I was so bummed! But, as you mentioned, it would be a risk as to whether it would work.
It sounds from your comments as though, in addition to not having a speech capability (which I don't think I absolutely need, but I'd definitely like to have included within a card that I'd be buying primarily to achieve external speaker true stereo [differing left/right audio output] sound from the IIgs). Sound whose underlying specialized Ensoniq dedicated sound chip apparently was sufficiently attention-catching when first released to have triggered another company's plaintiff's suit against our beloved defendant company, it seems a shame to be unable to appreciate - at least through IIgs true stereo sound output!
This now-sold eBay card is listed as a Mockingboard card of some version. So I'm assuming, from your above comments, that this card is not a genuine Mockingboard card and, even more certainly and importantly, not a Mockingboard card with any great likelihood of producing the side effect-free, functionality-maximizing compatibility specifically with the IIgs model of the Apple II line!
So, I guess the thing for me to do next is to post on the AppleFritter Forum for this kind of request a Want to Buy listing for a IIgs-Specific Mockingboard or other well-regarded IIgs-Specific Sound Card (one that includes, ideally, speech capability). I've been checking for a while, and I haven't seen such a specialized Apple IIgs sound card appear on eBay.
Thanks again for the time and thought put into these helpful reply comments. Assisted by this information, I believe that sooner or later I'll find a stereo sound (ideally plus speech) card that's designed for this awesome IIgs-specific fit that you described!
Best Regards -
hello redustair,
i´d just like to finish the explanations in a kind of way not to leave you without some ideas how to solve the problem.... a WTB in fritter might be usefull, but it might take more time than you expect... so therefor some hints:
in various apple archives specially dedicated to the IIGS ( for example in new zealand and france ) they have expanded libs with disks entirely filled up with soundfiles from songs, tv themes and records that are dedicated to be running on the IIGS due to the fact that in the 80´s lots of people where playing around with that cabability of the IIGS ( also some so called educationel software companies like little bear ).
So it might be useful to do some research to bookmark those platforms too and to publish a WTB post there too... I guess that the most IIGS users that hangup to the audio-using-cababilities would be rather linked in those boxes and can be traced there easier by the soundfiles dropped in the archives. Usually reminding my "old days in the user club" these users had quite close relations under each other by exchanging the files related to the audio stuff as a result that it had been a smaller group within the larger user groups.... the fact that these guys know eachother and know their hardware might be usefull in tracing somebody who would probably sell some of his hardware off the shelf.... therefor i´ld trace the soundfiles and soundarchives and take a closer look to those who released them to the archive and try to hunt for their membernames and get in contact with them.... this might be leading up faster to some kind of result - specialy bearing in mind that they might be able to explain by own exprience for what kind of hardware your looking for ( or which kind of cards they are using by theirselves ).... probably they might be able to explain detailed knowledge to solve even the issue with your own card with some kind of modification or trick....
wish you good sucess in the hunt .... speedyG