Computer for digital modes

[WA9SVD]

OK. I know some here will violently object to using anything except the newest, bestest computer hardware, BUT...

I'm assembling a "Frankenstein" for dedicated station use. (Parts from several computers.) Intended use will be rig control, VHF Packet, and sound-card based digital modes.

Here's the line up:

FIC VA-503+ Super 7 Motherboard; 1 MB external L2 cache
AMD K6-2/450 MHz Processor
128 MB PC-100 SDRAM
20 GB and 13 GB Maxtor Hard Drives; (7200 RPM)
48/24/48 CD-R/W Drive
1.44 MB Floppy
ATI Rage Pro AGP Video Card; (1024x768 @ 24 bit color)
USB Zip 250 MB Drive (when needed)
H-P LaserJet 4P Printer (when needed)

Dual boot MS-DOS 6.22 with Win98SE
Symantec/Norton SystemWorks 2002.
Microshaft Office 97 Pro
Palm Pilot DeskTop
PaintShop Pro 5.01


OK, not the "latest and greatest," but not quite ready for the scrap heap yet, either. The computer will NOT be connected to the Internet on a routine basis; if necessary, (very rarely,) an external modem will be used. but most software will be downloaded and scanned on a seperate computer before installation.

A week of burn-in testing shows no instability with any Windoze utilities or accessories, SystemWorks functions properly, and MS Office 97 Pro has no problems.

My question:

I'm using a MediaVision Pro Audio Spectrum (16 Bit) Sound card; it worls perfectly under DOS and under Win95. Win 98SE has drivers for the sound card, but when playing .WAV files, there's annoying "clicking" sounds that accompany the sound; it's NOT present when playing .MIDI files or if playing audio CD's through the sound card.

The control panel has only a few tweaks for the sound card; I've tries the option of "using a 28 MHz clock" and changing the "wait states" in the sound card options, but these have no effects on the .WAV sound artifiact.

Any suggestions? (Since the sound card works perfectly under DOS and Win95, I doubt it's a defect in the card itself.)

[KA8NCR]

Is there an older Win95 driver you can try?

[AG3Y]

In your soundcard support files, is there any place in which you can set the number of buffers used by your card ? There might also be a "latency" setting that can be tweaked to make your card run better in Win98.

A 450 Mhz machine will run OK on most of the soundcard programs, but it is getting close to the edge when you are looking for ultimate performance. For instance, I used one to decode WinDRM files , but never had much success with it. Switching to a 3Ghz machine made a world of difference! However, you should be able to do analog SSTV, and almost any of the keyboard to keyboard digital programs should be expected to run just fine !

Good luck! Look for those buffers and latency settings ! 73, Jim

[WA9SVD]

Quote[/b] (AG3Y @ Nov. 13 2007,14:18)]In your soundcard support files, is there any place in which you can set the number of buffers used by your card ? There might also be a "latency" setting that can be tweaked to make your card run better in Win98.

A 450 Mhz machine will run OK on most of the soundcard programs, but it is getting close to the edge when you are looking for ultimate performance. For instance, I used one to decode WinDRM files , but never had much success with it. Switching to a 3Ghz machine made a world of difference! However, you should be able to do analog SSTV, and almost any of the keyboard to keyboard digital programs should be expected to run just fine !

Good luck! Look for those buffers and latency settings ! 73, Jim
There's not much that can be tweaked as I see it. I'm not sure what the "28 MHz Clock" selection will actually do, but it has no effect; "Wait states" also has no effect; default was 1 Wait State; even bumping that up to 8 Wait States still has no apparent effect.
I'll have to dig deeper into the registry to see if there are other tweaks.
Thanks for the suggestions.