ES1878 AudioDrive OS/2 Driver Version 2.15 Software Release Notes February 28, 1998 About This Release ESS Technology is providing updated OS/2 drivers for the ES1878 AudioDrive chip in this Software Release. These drivers are complete updates to prior ESS releases for both OS/2 Warp 4.0 and OS/2 Warp 3.0. This document provides: - a description of the changes to the drivers - installation notes Please read this document completely before you upgrade your system, and follow the instructions carefully. Release Information Product: ES1878 AudioDrive OS/2 Device Driver, Version 2.15 Drivers: ES1878 (with ESFM and wavetable) OS: OS/2 Warp 4.0 and OS/2 Warp 3.0 Release Date: February 28, 1998 Release Description The ES1878 AudioDrive OS/2 Driver Software Release incorporates new changes done to the previous release, Version 2.13. Version 2.15 Changes 1. The WIN-OS/2 driver is corrected to avoid DMA contention problem so that multiple WIN-OS/2 sessions can be opened. 2. The OS/2 driver gets system information pointer correctly. Version 2.13 Changes 1. The 3D Controls program, ES938.EXE, is replaced with SPATIAL.EXE. 2. ES1878 is put into local power mode when all the audio streams are closed. ES938 is also powered down upon receiving Suspend message. 3. The OS/2 driver supports 16-bit DMA in second playing channel. 4. The hardware volume control program, ESDAEMON.EXE, will save volume settings and restore them on startup. Version 2.07 Changes 1. The OS/2 driver has been modified to run correctly in OS/2 Warp 4.0. Version 1.05 Changes 1. Advanced Power Management (APM) code is fixed. 2. A problem with MIDI opening is fixed. Version 1.04 Changes BIOS audio volume control support The driver checks the master volume before changing it in case the BIOS or other application has modified it. ES938 support An application, ES938.EXE, is provided to control ES938 3D Stereo Processor. Limited Zoom Video support The driver activates Zoom Video port on startup. Known Problems 1. For OS/2 Warp 3.0, opening too many MIDI files makes the OS/2 system unstable. This problem is related to MMPM/2 and depends on system resource. On systems with 8 Mbs memory, the limit is 3; 16 Mbs, 6. 2. Tempo in MIDI files may not be 100% accurate due to timing delay and MMPM/2 architecture. 3. For OS/2 Warp 3.0, running MCI commands "seek wave to #" and then "play wave" to a 16-bit wave file sometimes generates very loud static noise. Likewise using "record wave from #" to record a 16-bit wave file may generate wrong file. It all depends on the seek position. 4. To be able to play and record wave files at the same time, the enforcement of only one active wave file by MMPM/2 is relaxed. Therefore, some problems or erratic behaviors may pop up if two wave files are played. To achieve full duplex operation in ES1878, the sample rates of the wave files used in playback and record must be the same. The wave files must be in Mono mode. 5. The OS/2 driver allows sharing of audio and MPU-401 interrupts, but it is not recommended. If both are shared, occasionally too much MIDI in data will lock up AudioDrive's interrupt processing when a wave file is played or recorded. To get out of this situation, stop the wave file, stop the MIDI in source, close all MIDI files, and restart the wave file to re-initialize AudioDrive's interrupt processing. 6. Due to the nature of MIDI music, turning MIDI in on while the MIDI in data are coming may not generate the right sounds. It is recommended to stop the MIDI in source first before enable MIDI in. 7. Some older ES938 chips have problem after powered down. In this case, add /T parameter to the device driver line in CONFIG.SYS to disable ES938 power down. Installation Notes To install the new drivers successfully the following steps must be taken: 1. Open an OS/2 Window and run the EINSTALL.EXE program on the installation disk by typing "A:\EINSTALL." The program first runs ESDETECT.EXE to auto-detect the chip, then calls ESUNINST.EXE to remove old drivers. That program will create a backup of CONFIG.SYS named CONFIG.ESS and remove the audio device lines from CONFIG.SYS. It also creates a backup of MMPM2.INI named MMPM2.ESS and removes the audio drivers information from MMPM2.INI. In addition, it removes any other ESS driver information in COMPLIST.INI. After then, the installation program calls Multimedia Application Install program, MINSTALL.EXE. After it finishes, another program, ESCONFIG.EXE, will be called to update CONFIG.SYS if necessary. 2. When Multimedia Application Install program brings up, a check mark beside ES1878 AudioDrive means that item is already selected. To toggle selection, click the mouse on the item. Click the Install button to start the installation. Once the drivers are installed, shutdown OS/2 and reset the computer for the new ES1878 drivers to take effect. 3. If the installation cannot be completed, read the logs EINSTALL.LOG in \MMOS2\INSTALL subdirectory and MINSTALL.LOG in \MMOS2\INSTALL subdirectory or root directory to find out the problem. 4. If during the installation an error saying the audio device is already in use by another application comes up, make sure all applications that utilize audio have been closed. If this is caused by system sounds not closing the audio device, you have three options to remedy this situation: A. Remove the audio driver by running ESUNINST.EXE. B. Go to Sounds object in System Setup folder and uncheck Enable system sounds option. After the driver is installed properly, check the option to enable system sounds. C. Run DINSTSND.CMD in d:\MMOS2\INSTALL subdirectory. After the driver is installed properly, run INSTSND.CMD d: to enable system sounds. Perform one of these operations and reboot to disable system sounds. Install the drivers again. 5. If WIN-OS/2 is installed in the system, start WIN-OS/2 and run "A:\SETUP" to install WIN-OS/2 drivers. Change the WIN-OS/2 settings to the following if necessary: AUDIO_ADAPTER_SHARING = Required INT_DURING_IO = On 6. Since OS/2 Warp 3.0 MINSTALL.EXE changes the icons of MIDI player and Digital Video player to that of Digital Audio player in the Multimedia folder, you may want to change them back to the originals. To change the icon of MIDI player, right click MIDI player to bring up the menu. Select Settings, select General, and click the Find... button. In the Start Folder window, enter \MMOS2\INSTALL. Click the Find button and a window of all found icons appears. Select MIDIPLAY.ICO and click OK. Close the MIDI player Settings notebook. For Digital Video player, repeat the above steps but select VIDPLAY.ICO instead. 7. If the MIDI plays are not smooth in WIN-OS/2, you need to change the timer resolution. Edit SYSTEM.INI in your Windows directory. Under [timer.drv] are TIMERMax386Res and TIMERMax286Res. You need to change the values to less than 8 from the default of 10. Since ES1878 is a plug and play board, in a system with plug and play support the optimal settings will be used instead of the settings specified in CONFIG.SYS. If you change the ES1878 settings in a system with no plug and play support, be sure to reset the computer for ES1878 to forget its previous settings. These are the files copied to your hard disk: \MMOS2 ES1878DD.SYS VAUDDRV.SYS ESDAEMON.EXE SPATIAL.EXE \MMOS2\DLL CARDINFO.DLL ESSVSD88.DLL \MMOS2\HELP ES1878IN.HLP \OS2\BOOT CLOCK01.SYS CLOCK02.SYS TIMER0.SYSDownload Driver Pack
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