#Sound card on IRQ10
2 messages in this thread
I have a Mitsumi CDrom drive (the new internal one) on my 386 computer. I'm
thinking of getting a sound card.
I'm already up to my ears in IRQ conflicts. IRQ 3 and 4 are occupied (IRQ3 is
shared, inappropriately), and I may be about to occupy IRQ5 (possibly for a bus
mouse or a parallel cable between two coputers. I called Creative Labs today,
and found out that the Soundblaster models which work with CD-ROM's can all be
used on IRQ10.
Is there any reason that I shouldn't put a sound card on IRQ10?
I have two children, ages 7 and 14. I was thinking of using the sound card
partly for educational, multimedia programs.
My hunch is that IRQ10 will work fine for Multimedia CDroms – but that it won't
work with old software (not CDROM) that was designed for earlier models of
sound cards – since these probably were written before IRQ 10 was available.
Am I guessing right? If I'm correct about this, does it make sense to avoid
the IRQ conflicts and go with IRQ 10 anyway, and simply assume that getting
sound to work on the older games and educational software isn't worth bothering
with?
What about the other popular sound cards? What IRQ's do they work on?
Thanks. Harriet
You can certainly tinker with IRQ10 (or 11, 12, or 15 also in the cascade), but
most DOS programs (per Media Vision, the mfgrs of the Pro Audio line of sound
boards) can only recognize IRQs 2 (but used for the cascade in AT class
machines), 3, 5, and 7. IRQ7 is LPT1: (PRN) and can usually be shared with a
sound board. If you're loaded, you may also want to be careful of DMA channel
conflicts too. Usually you're restricted by DOS programs to DMA 1 or 3 but 1
is SDLC, so…
If you have some combinable functions, e.g. both a modem card AND a fax card,
you can invest in a fax/modem and use a single IRQ (and save a slot). Likewise
you may have duplicating I/O boards, e.g. a controller with a serial port and
an additional I/O board with the same serial assignment (tho' maybe unused),
you can consolidate and reduce conflicts.
Good luck!