All-
I've received one reply already, regarding my question about audio and
alpha clone motherboards/systems. As usual, Tom Blinn <tpb_at_zk3.dec.com> gave
a thorough response, so I think it's pretty safe to summarize already.
I'll include the most important peices of his response, below.
Tim
My original query:
> All-
>
> It's time for my AlphaStation 4/166 to be replaced, and after getting price
> quotes from several Digital resellers and Alpha clone vendors, we selected
> a clone vendor, based on price. Reports on this list of good luck with
> various clones bolstered my confidence, though I was still a bit hesitant
> to go with a clone.
>
> The maker of the clone has recently been in touch with me to indicate that
> they've run into a potential problem. The problem is that they can't get
> audio to work under Digital Unix.
>
> According to them, the motherboards that are used in the Digital Personal
> Workstation au series have sound capabilities right on the motherboard. The
> various clone boards (or at least the one they had planned on selling me, which
> is a "Durango II") do not have audio on the motherboard, so it would have to
> be provided by a sound card.
>
> The problem apparently is that multimedia services doesn't recognize any of
> the sound cards that they've tried installing.
>
> This leads me to the question -- can I get multimedia services to work on
> an alpha clone at all, or is it simply not possible? If it's possible, what
> special tricks would they (or I) need to investigate? Is it simply a matter
> of using the right audio board, and if so which one?
>
> As a last ditch effort, would pulling the sound card that's in my AlphaStation
> 200 4/166 and putting it in the clone work? Once my AlphaStation is off my
> desk it won't need sound capabilities any more, so yanking the card is an
> option if that's the only way I can easily get a supported sound card.
Tom's response:
>Hi, Tim. I'm sure you're talking about Aspen Systems, since we've had many
>conversations about exactly the kind of problem you report. They are trying
>very hard to find a good solution, since many of their customers do seem to
>want the sound support
[elided]
>The sound card from your old AlphaStation 4/166 should plug right in to the
>Aspen Durango II, and it *should* work, provided (a) you make sure that if
>it is an ISA option, you've written down all the ISA configuration data, as
>reported by the "isacfg" utility in the console, so you can restore it into
>the new system (so the card will be recognized), and (b) you install all of
>the correct MME software subsets and configure them (especially the driver
>for your particular sound card).
>
>I believe the MicroSoft compatible sound card works fine; we've never seen
>most of the other sound card options that are supposed to work with the MME
>software, as Aspen notes the latest option is wired to the motherboard, not
>on an option card, and you can't find an option card in the market that has
>the chip and can be configured.
[elided]
>So, to summarize, what you're hearing from Aspen is correct, the card you've
>got SHOULD work in your new system, no one will really know until someone
>has done it, but I bet there are a bunch of the older AlphaStation systems
>sitting around with functional sound cards just waiting for a new system to
>be their home.
>
>I'd say give it a shot, but there are no guarantees until you try it. Maybe
>Aspen can find a scrap AlphaStation 4/166 with a working sound card to try
>before they ship you the system.
Received on Tue Jul 14 1998 - 01:29:57 NZST