OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical > Multimedia
PC Speaker output to sound card?
Greg Barrett:
Background: I am working with medical device software running in eComStation 2.1 on a virtual machine (currently VirtualBox 6.1). The host OS is Windows 10. The software uses the dosbeep API call to generate its audible alarms (which, as you can imagine for a medical device, are important). Unfortunately, VirtualBox does not support PC speaker output for OS/2 family operating systems.
Is there any way, at the OS level, to redirect PC speaker output (or even just dosbeep specifically) to the sound card?
Martin Iturbide:
Hi Gregg. Welcome to the forum.
For what I read, running Windows 10 as host on VirtualBox, there is no support to pass the beeps of the Guest OS to the host machine. There is something experimental that VirtualBox has, but it only works on a Linux host and it may not work depending on the distro. (Here it is the source)
I also had tried a program (rhythm.zip) that uses the PC speaker on a ArcaOS VM (Guest) running on VirtualBox Windows 10 (host). And I confirm that it does not beep.
I'm not sure if there is something, like a driver that pass through the pc sepaker to the sound blaster or Uniaud audio driver. Maybe someone else has a different idea for a solution. You don't have the source code for the medical software on the device, right?
Regards
David Graser:
There is an old pc speaker driver for OS/2. However, don't know if it would work, especially using a virtual machine.
https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/system/drivers/sound/IBM_Speaker_1-0-9.zip
This is the readme:
--- Code: ---
IBM Multimedia Presentation Manager/2
Speaker Audio DD
Version 1.1
(C) Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 1993 All Rights Reserved.
IBM is a registered trademark of the
International Business Machines Corporation
U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or disclosure
restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.
Introduction
The Speaker audio device driver provide support for playing digital
audio waveform files on the standard PC speaker by using the
MMPM/2 audio system. This support is important because it allows
non-multimedia enabled systems to play short sound effects and other
short digitized sound through the PC speaker.
The speaker driver provides support for PCM waveform files that
are (8-bit/16-bit, stereo/mono, 11Khz-44khz).
This driver is intended for use under OS/2 2.1 or greater.
The quality of sound produced from the speaker device is low
compared to a real audio card, and will vary from machine to
machine.
Caveat
The standard PC speaker was not intended to play digitized waveform
sound. In order to produce a reasonable approximation of the
sound contained in .WAV files, the device driver requires
exclusive use of the CPU for an extended period of time. This
may have undersirable effects on performance critical multitasking
such as communications, modem transfers, networking, etc.
We do not recommend that this software be used in conjunction with
communications software, time critical, or mission critical application.
This may include printing and mouse operation during sound generation.
If you experience problems, you should discontinue use of the
speaker device driver.
Interrupts are enabled while the speaker is being operated, however
multitasking operation is suspended.
This software is not supported by IBM technical support channels.
License
IBM grants the right to use, reproduce, and distribute this
speaker driver software provided that (1) it is not distributed for
profit, (2) it is used only with licensed copies of OS/2 2.1,
(3) the software is not modified, (4) all copyright notices
remain with the software, (5) the end user agrees to the license.
This speaker driver is provided in 'as is' condition without
warranty of any kind and no support will be provided.
IBM and its vendors takes no responibility and is not liable for
any consequences or damages of any kind resulting from the
use or existence of this software.
IBM does not guarantee that the speaker driver software will run
on all machines. IBM is not obligated to provide any updates to
this software.
Installation
1) Install the MMPM/2 base. The MINSTALL program requires you
to select one of the subsystems in order to do an install. If
you don't already have a audio card, or CD-ROM, then you
can select Software Motion Video which doesn't require any special
hardware other than the monitor.
Reboot after this installation.
2) Place the files from the SPKRDD package into a subdirectory (i.e. \spkrdd)
3) Use the MINSTALL installation program from the MMPM/2 folder to
select the \spkrdd directory. Install the Speaker Driver
package by selecting the speaker driver object and pressing Install.
4) After install is complete, a reboot is required.
Configuration
The speed and volume of the sound produced by the speaker device
driver must be configured on a machine by machine basis.
1) Select the Multimedia Setup program in the MMPM/2 folder.
2) Select the speaker settings page, to customize the speed and
volume of speaker. The speaker push button will place a test
sound, that will give you some feedback on the speed and volume
adjustments.
Uninstall
If you experience problems with the speaker device driver and wish to
un-install it.
1) Edit you config.sys, and comment out the device driver line:
REM DEVICE=D:\MMOS2\SPKRDD.SYS
2) Edit MMPM2.INI and remove PCSPEAKER and SPKRDDAMP and any references
to these names.
Notes:
1) If you install only Software Motion Video support, and then the speaker
device driver, the Software Motion Video support will run without
audio support. This is preferable, since both software video and
the speaker driver compete for the CPU.
If however you want to try, running them both together, the
MMPM2.INI can be updated as follows. This will also cause the
audio and video to be out of sync.
[ibmdigvidplayer01]
CONNECTORS=1,3,SPKRDDAMP,1
2) The system sounds support, for which the speaker driver is intended for,
will be installed automatically by the install of MMPM/2 base. System
sounds plays on the default device. If you install support for
another audio card first, then install the speaker device driver, the
other audio card will be the default. The default can be changed
in the Multimedia Setup Program.
Fixes:
1) The internal design of the drive has been modified to use a time
critical thread rather than a timer.
2) A defect causing problems with interrupt driven devices has been
fixed. It most commonly caused the mouse to lock up, but has
also caused printing problems.
--- End code ---
Greg Barrett:
Thanks for the reply, but this is basically the opposite of what I'm hoping for. I need audio intended for the PC speaker to play through the sound card instead.
--- Quote from: David Graser on April 02, 2020, 09:06:54 pm ---There is an old pc speaker driver for OS/2. However, don't know if it would work, especially using a virtual machine.
https://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/system/drivers/sound/IBM_Speaker_1-0-9.zip
This is the readme:...
--- End quote ---
Martin Iturbide:
Hi Gregg
Can you try to specify the medical device and the software that is running there? Maybe some other solution can be thought, or maybe someone already had worked with that device and software.
You don't have the source code of the OS/2 medical application, right?
Regards
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