need a joystick game add on card for windows 3.0/DOS 5.0

[MarinaS]

hi everyone!
I am building a 386 vintage computer for a client - namely, an IBM model 30. Well, i am close to done - i figured out how to overcome all the hardware issues so far... but now i have one last question (i think)... lol

i really appreciate your taking the time to respond too

the client let me know he had a joystick for this system - one of the older ones - an advanced gravis joystick for ibm or pc compatible systems... pretty spiffy... sooooo i am trying to find a joystick game add on card that will run on windows 3.0 and dos. i have looked and can't find one - could you make some recommendations on where i can buy one? I have it now - it's an older 15 pin connector...

again, this needs to run on WINDOWS 3.0 and DOS 5.0 - he wants all the bells and whistles of the old system he remembers :0 so none of this windows 7 stuff !!! lol

thanks,
marina

[kevman3d]

Most old ISA sound cards usually sported a 15-pin serial gameport on them. Soundblaster, Gravis, Yamaha, ESS, etc - I'd say that may be the route to consider going.

I see a lot on eBay that are cheap, though with eBay you often see people bumping up the cheap cost with sill amounts for shipping.
Perhaps someone on Trademe, or even here may have something?

[Clym5]

I'm super sure I have a few ISA soundcards with the joystick port on them. I'll have a look this evening. I'm pretty sure I have a old 15 pin gamepad lying around too

[Carcenomy]

Two ways. You can go the easy (and logical) route, install a sound card. I have a freakin' tub of 16-bit ISA soundcards. I'm sure most other PC guys are the same. The other route is to get a joystick adapter card. These come up from time to time, and are usually an 8-bit ISA card with a pair of gameports. I had one but I'm pretty sure I gave it away years ago.

[Clym5]

Sorry about the late reply. I haven't had time to check my pile, but I'm 90% sure I have a soundcard/joystick ISA card in there. I'll definitely be able to look on Monday.

[Swivel]

Just noticed this post,

is this any good ??

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =786074716

[MarinaS]

hi Guys,
Sorry for the slow response - I was down for the count for a week or two with food poisoning (first time ever). Wow was it not fun. But I am feeling better and back to working on this.

Ya, I did manage to find an old sound card (no way of knowing if it still works), it LOOKS like it should - nothing appears bad on it, but that doesn't mean anything I even lucked out and got the original drive CD with it.

This week I shall be plugging it into the vintage computer and seeing what happens... I copied the driver info to the hard drive via usb external drive hookup...

One problem tho - again, this is for a client and he wants an ORIGINAL vintage machine... which means he wants it to run dos 5.0 and windows 3.0... right. problem :0 will a windows 95 driver work on windows 3.0? can i tweak it to work?

i'll let you know know what happens! thanks!!!

[tezza]

One problem tho - again, this is for a client and he wants an ORIGINAL vintage machine... which means he wants it to run dos 5.0 and windows 3.0... right. problem :0 will a windows 95 driver work on windows 3.0? can i tweak it to work?

I'd be happy to be proved otherwise but I think it is highly unlikely it would work. DOS 5.0/Windows 3.0 is very different from Windows 95.

The best approach is to find a sound card which was put out around the same time as DOS 5/Windows 3.0 (or just a little later). This should have the drivers for the environment which you are going to run it in.

[Gibsaw]

One problem tho - again, this is for a client and he wants an ORIGINAL vintage machine... which means he wants it to run dos 5.0 and windows 3.0... right. problem :0 will a windows 95 driver work on windows 3.0? can i tweak it to work?

I'd be happy to be proved otherwise but I think it is highly unlikely it would work. DOS 5.0/Windows 3.0 is very different from Windows 95.

The best approach is to find a sound card which was put out around the same time as DOS 5/Windows 3.0 (or just a little later). This should have the drivers for the environment which you are going to run it in.

Well, in general that is true... but in this specific use case, it's fortunately a bit easier than that. Anything ISA that is SB compatible should be easy to use and will have it's game port sitting on port 330 where most DOS apps will expect it.

Just avoid anything that says ISA-PnP as that requires a PnP manager for DOS to configure the card's resources. An ISA PnP resource manager did exist for DOS, but it's a bit "version 1.0" if you know what I mean.

[MarinaS]

thanks for the info, it's useful to know!

well i have one last problem now...

Yesterday I copied all the games to the hard drive (about 2 gigs of games) thats going to go into the vintage computer... That way if something happens to all the game disks I made, the client does have the data to make more... I am oh so close to finishing this whole thing...

ANYWAY... I was closing up the case when I discovered -- the freakin' motherboard is about 1/4 inch to wide to fit into the case - the top case won't close!!! The reason I never noticed before was I never had all the pieces in the case before nor had I closed the case. GRRRR!!!

Well after some digging I found on amazon - this motherboard - wanted to get your opinion on it before i bought it. I called the guy whose selling it, he said it works, he does NOT have the driver cd/disk nor can I find drivers anywhere online for it (for 3.0 or 3.1). I also had him measure it, and it's small enough to fit in the case very nicely. From the digging I did on the internet - it's was made in the late 1990s so I am thinking it should work. It also has a GAME PORT on the motherboard. What do you think are my chances of windows having built in drivers that will work with it? It is made by IBM and from what I read reading it was built for an only slightly faster computer than the IBM model 30 was, so the era is good...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I3FOIXY/ref ... 9HFSJ1Z9XL

I'll tell ya, this whole endeavor has been one massive obstacle after another - but I am far to stubborn to give up now. I am sooo going to get this vintage computer running and running well :0 lol

[SpidersWeb]

With a processor installed, that motherboard would probably run Windows XP.
Completely different generation there, and would fit in to a modern ATX case. You won't find any Windows 3 or 3.1 drivers for that, but it will probably load it in 2-3 seconds!

Are you just using a generic case now? Or are you retrofitting the case? (If so, probably better to use a generic case than an IBM PS/2).

[Clym5]

And I still haven't been able to sort through my box of ISA hardware. I'm pretty sure I have a DOS compatible and a 3.1 compatible card somewhere though.

I've put a reminder on my hand with a felt pen this time, so I shouldn't forget..