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Check out this awesome talk on how he reversed the Sound Blaster including never having one in person and how he got inside the 'DSP' chip to read out the ROM.

by djmips 6y ago

Check out this awesome talk on how he reversed the Sound Blaster including never having one in person and how he got inside the 'DSP' chip to read out the ROM. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyged8Vk8uk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyged8Vk8uk

rasz 6y ago
Sadly extracted firmware was never published :( There is another project, with reverse engineered firmware rewritten to ATmega328P (of arduino fame): "BLASTERBOARD : A new SB 2.0-compatible ISA sound card" https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=61098 https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=61098 Offers vastly improved sound quality "idle noise level is around -94dB RMS". Firmware is available for download, but in binary only form.
- mmastrac 6y ago
  Isn't it just this? https://github.com/schlae/snark-barker/blob/master/firmware/sb.hex https://github.com/schlae/snark-barker/blob/master/firmware/... EDIT: I think this is the Chinese ROM. It doesn't match the disassembly snippets from his video.
  - rasz 6y ago
    Its in Intel HEX format so you cant see clearly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_HEX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_HEX You have to convert to binary first xxd -r -p sb.hex > sb.bin and then look at strings strings sb.bin lot of garbage (C)19k 92 Anchor Electronics Co., This is some Taiwanese clone schlae is talking about in his presentation. There is another SB 1.5 clone firmware floating around for "ATI Stereo F/X ISA Sound Card" dumped by MAME people https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=82634&page=4 https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Num... https://archive.org/download/MESS-0.151.BIOS.ROMs/MESS-0.151.BIOS.ROMs.zip/MESS%200.151%20ROMs%2Fstereo_fx.zip https://archive.org/download/MESS-0.151.BIOS.ROMs/MESS-0.151... MAME guys also dumped SB16 firmware and its available (ct1741_v413), but afaik there are no public Creative SB/SBPro dumps.
2sk21 6y ago
Fascinating video that answered my question about why bother replicating 30 year old hardware. I had no idea that vintage hardware was going for such high prices. This is becoming similar to the classic car market. I see an analogy with companies that are making car bodies that are replicas of famous historical cars. For example, there are numerous companies making body shells similar to the Porsche 356: https://www.kitcarlist.com/porsche356.html https://www.kitcarlist.com/porsche356.html
- cure 6y ago
  > Fascinating video that answered my question about why bother replicating 30 year old hardware. I had no idea that vintage hardware was going for such high prices. I guess it depends on exactly which hardware. Looks like a SB16 can be had for $20 on ebay, or $40 'new' in shrink wrapped box.
  - csharptwdec19 6y ago
    SB16s were fairly common so I'm not surprised about that. The Niche cards or later ISA SBs (thinking AWE) tend to be a bit more valuable. It's been a while since I looked at the market, but I know that Gravis and Ensoniq cards tend to be a bit more valued since they were less common but in many ways superior to the SB offerings.
  - tssva 6y ago
    The hardware of different SB16 cards can vary significantly. For example the earliest versions used a Yamaha OPL3 chip and later ones used software emulation. This is why on ebay SB16 listings generally contain the specific board model number and not just Sound Blaster 16. Differing models have differing values. Some fairly cheap and rarer models more expensive.
- slowhand09 6y ago
  You wanna get real with that? Look up the Bill Thomas Cheetah, or the Ferrari 250 GTO. Bodies may/may not be available. Actually, until a couple of years ago you could buy a 1970 Dodge Challenger body and a 1951-3 Chevrolet Pickup body, new reproduction.
bantunes 6y ago
Great talk, thanks for the link!
ComputerGuru 6y ago
I really hate to be that guy, but do you know if there is a transcript, companion slides, or better yet, a blog post?

by djmips 6y ago

rasz 6y ago

Sadly extracted firmware was never published :( There is another project, with reverse engineered firmware rewritten to ATmega328P (of arduino fame): "BLASTERBOARD : A new SB 2.0-compatible ISA sound card" https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=61098 https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=61098 Offers vastly improved sound quality "idle noise level is around -94dB RMS". Firmware is available for download, but in binary only form.

mmastrac 6y ago
Isn't it just this? https://github.com/schlae/snark-barker/blob/master/firmware/sb.hex https://github.com/schlae/snark-barker/blob/master/firmware/... EDIT: I think this is the Chinese ROM. It doesn't match the disassembly snippets from his video.
- rasz 6y ago
  Its in Intel HEX format so you cant see clearly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_HEX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_HEX You have to convert to binary first xxd -r -p sb.hex > sb.bin and then look at strings strings sb.bin lot of garbage (C)19k 92 Anchor Electronics Co., This is some Taiwanese clone schlae is talking about in his presentation. There is another SB 1.5 clone firmware floating around for "ATI Stereo F/X ISA Sound Card" dumped by MAME people https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=82634&page=4 https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Num... https://archive.org/download/MESS-0.151.BIOS.ROMs/MESS-0.151.BIOS.ROMs.zip/MESS%200.151%20ROMs%2Fstereo_fx.zip https://archive.org/download/MESS-0.151.BIOS.ROMs/MESS-0.151... MAME guys also dumped SB16 firmware and its available (ct1741_v413), but afaik there are no public Creative SB/SBPro dumps.

2sk21 6y ago

Fascinating video that answered my question about why bother replicating 30 year old hardware. I had no idea that vintage hardware was going for such high prices. This is becoming similar to the classic car market. I see an analogy with companies that are making car bodies that are replicas of famous historical cars. For example, there are numerous companies making body shells similar to the Porsche 356: https://www.kitcarlist.com/porsche356.html https://www.kitcarlist.com/porsche356.html

cure 6y ago
> Fascinating video that answered my question about why bother replicating 30 year old hardware. I had no idea that vintage hardware was going for such high prices. I guess it depends on exactly which hardware. Looks like a SB16 can be had for $20 on ebay, or $40 'new' in shrink wrapped box.
- csharptwdec19 6y ago
  SB16s were fairly common so I'm not surprised about that. The Niche cards or later ISA SBs (thinking AWE) tend to be a bit more valuable. It's been a while since I looked at the market, but I know that Gravis and Ensoniq cards tend to be a bit more valued since they were less common but in many ways superior to the SB offerings.
- tssva 6y ago
  The hardware of different SB16 cards can vary significantly. For example the earliest versions used a Yamaha OPL3 chip and later ones used software emulation. This is why on ebay SB16 listings generally contain the specific board model number and not just Sound Blaster 16. Differing models have differing values. Some fairly cheap and rarer models more expensive.
slowhand09 6y ago
You wanna get real with that? Look up the Bill Thomas Cheetah, or the Ferrari 250 GTO. Bodies may/may not be available. Actually, until a couple of years ago you could buy a 1970 Dodge Challenger body and a 1951-3 Chevrolet Pickup body, new reproduction.

bantunes 6y ago

Great talk, thanks for the link!

ComputerGuru 6y ago

I really hate to be that guy, but do you know if there is a transcript, companion slides, or better yet, a blog post?