u/GlitchExterminator

▲ 2 r/dosgaming+1 crossposts

Help with MIDI Setup on an HP Window 98 machine

Howdy!

I've been trying to set up a Windows 98 Hewlett-Packard Pavilion to play DOS games, but I've seemed to run into a wall when it comes to MIDI.

The HP has the (infamous) CS4235 Soundcard, which I've hooked a gameport-to-MIDI adapter to, which I have hooked up to a female-to-female MIDI adapter, which finally leads to a MIDI-to-USB adapter connected to my laptop, which has munt's MT-32 emulator and MIDIView to track any MIDI commands sent in.

I've been using Day of the Tentacle to test, with the game set to output via Gen. MIDI (though I have tested Roland as well) via port 330 (as per the soundcard's manual). Normally, it seems no commands are received/sent, as the MIDI-to-USB cable's MIDI-in light does not light up. However, when I first plug the MIDI-to-USB cable into the MIDI female-to-female converter while the MIDI out from the HP is plugged in, the cable briefly lights up and MIDIView detects a command (Usually an out meta event of channel 0, hex ff), though this seems to happen when DOTT is set to output via the 332 as well.

Frankly, I'm at a loss as to where in the chain of converters the issue may be occurring, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

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u/GlitchExterminator — 8 days ago

Howdy! I just got my first vintage computers, a pair of Zenith Supersport SX laptops, at an estate sale over the weekend, and have been slowly trying to set one up for DOS Gaming.
After a few hiccups, I managed to install DOS 6.22 alongside supplemental disk programs and have gotten a handful of games running.

Unfortunately, I've been having trouble getting the CDR Drive that came with the devices to work, as none of the drivers I've installed have recognized it. The CDR Drive is branded as "The Gator" and doesn't seem to have any information online. Inside, it has an ESS Audiodrive chip and branding on the board, while the drive itself is labeled "8X Digital CD ROM DRIVE MODEL. No E2820", and plugs into the parallel port on the Zenith.

If anyone knows how I can get this CDR Drive (or a mouse, since the Zenith has no PS/2 port) working, that'd be a huge help!

u/GlitchExterminator — 4 months ago