2 ms·

Some people might remember from really old DOS games, but... You can even use the PC speaker as a "soundcard" (Actually as a 1-bit DAC. Here's the function cal

by cnvogel 12y ago

Some people might remember from really old DOS games, but... You can even use the PC speaker as a "soundcard" (Actually as a 1-bit DAC. Here's the function called a few thousand times per second when using the Linux audio subsystem, updating the 1-bit output to the speaker (timer control of this output is disabled in this operation mode, kernel config is CONFIG_SND_PCSP). http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source/sound/drivers/pcsp/pcsp_lib.c http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source/sound/drivers/pcsp/pcsp... "Say N if you have a sound card. Say M if you don't. Say Y only if you really know what you do."

dalke 12y ago
It was also possible to record by sampling one of the parallel port pins. Lousy sound quality, but we manged to record a song and play it back over the speaker, and have it be recognizable.
- TheLoneWolfling 12y ago
  If you're going to use a parallel port, use a resistor ladder and make a crude DAC out of it.
  - dalke 12y ago
    Great suggestion, but a little late. :) At 19, no EE experience, and only a few months of experience with C, we barely knew what we were doing. We also managed to fry one computer by turning up the amplifier too high.
techrat 12y ago
There was this one game I picked up off the shelf at Target wayyyyyyyy back in the day (likely around 1990-1992) that had printed on the box a selling point that you could hear music without a sound card. It used the pc speaker. And sounded horrendous. Still can't remember what the name of the game was and had been trying to track it down the last few years to see if it was as bad as I remembered. I just remember high color (S?)VGA rendered/scanned in graphics, a man who was visiting alien planets and battling monsters. My 386 at the time was too underpowered to make the game remotely playable.
- bentcorner 12y ago
  It likely used this technology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RealSound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RealSound I played "Mean Streets" back in the day and was blown away by the sound. I later saved up enough allowance/birthday money to buy a Sound Blaster Pro - several hundred dollars for a card that is probably < $10 today. Christ.
cbd1984 12y ago
> Say Y only if you really know what you do. Ah, yes, the "Take off every Zig" option.

by cnvogel 12y ago

dalke 12y ago

It was also possible to record by sampling one of the parallel port pins. Lousy sound quality, but we manged to record a song and play it back over the speaker, and have it be recognizable.

TheLoneWolfling 12y ago
If you're going to use a parallel port, use a resistor ladder and make a crude DAC out of it.
- dalke 12y ago
  Great suggestion, but a little late. :) At 19, no EE experience, and only a few months of experience with C, we barely knew what we were doing. We also managed to fry one computer by turning up the amplifier too high.

techrat 12y ago

There was this one game I picked up off the shelf at Target wayyyyyyyy back in the day (likely around 1990-1992) that had printed on the box a selling point that you could hear music without a sound card. It used the pc speaker. And sounded horrendous. Still can't remember what the name of the game was and had been trying to track it down the last few years to see if it was as bad as I remembered. I just remember high color (S?)VGA rendered/scanned in graphics, a man who was visiting alien planets and battling monsters. My 386 at the time was too underpowered to make the game remotely playable.

bentcorner 12y ago
It likely used this technology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RealSound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RealSound I played "Mean Streets" back in the day and was blown away by the sound. I later saved up enough allowance/birthday money to buy a Sound Blaster Pro - several hundred dollars for a card that is probably < $10 today. Christ.

cbd1984 12y ago

> Say Y only if you really know what you do. Ah, yes, the "Take off every Zig" option.