Media Vision Thunderboard (PC/XT Sound Card)

I managed to get my hands on an 8-bit Media Vision Thunderboard, and was looking for drivers for it.

I have some basic windows 3.1 drivers to install, but there doesn't appear to be anything for dos that I 'need' to install. There are a few test applications (to make sure the card is installed properly), and a recorder, and software to set volume levels, but not really a memory resident driver.

Did these old sound cards require a driver to be resident to use, or were they just supposed to work? Also, does this card have sound blaster sound capability?

The only memory resident software I found was an "FM.com" file which supposedly makes it so that you can select and hear adlib sounds (says its a substitute for sound.com).

mojorific said:

Did these old sound cards require a driver to be resident to use, or were they just supposed to work? Also, does this card have sound blaster sound capability?.

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Yes they do. Read up on autoexec.bat "SET BLASTER = " entry. I had one in my 286/16 and it worked fine in Dos playing games.

mojorific said:

I managed to get my hands on an 8-bit Media Vision Thunderboard, and was looking for drivers for it.

Click to expand...

Nice find! The Thunderboard was Media Vision's lower-cost product meant to compete with the original Sound Blaster; as such, it performs like a Sound Blaster 1.0/1.5 and should not require any drivers.

I have some basic windows 3.1 drivers to install, but there doesn't appear to be anything for dos that I 'need' to install. There are a few test applications (to make sure the card is installed properly), and a recorder, and software to set volume levels, but not really a memory resident driver.

Click to expand...

That is normal for that card, and for regular Sound Blasters.

Can I persuade you to put the files from those disks online somewhere? I could use them for my sound card archive, and I'm sure they could help others if they find a loose board.

The only memory resident software I found was an "FM.com" file which supposedly makes it so that you can select and hear adlib sounds (says its a substitute for sound.com).

Click to expand...

SOUND.COM was a memory-resident driver that came with the original Adlib that was required for some games and music programs; it provided an API for programs that wanted to stuff notes into a buffer and have them play in the background. It is not required for most programs, and for those that do need it (Adlib software, Paragon games), SOUND.COM usually comes with the program.

Sound card drivers for many older cards can be located here/ with some digging. Helps if you know the exact model # of the card you are researching.

Thanks! I'll make sure I put a 'SET BLASTER' entry in the autoexec with the right IRQ settings.

Would be glad to provide the files I found. I'll update with a link tonight to a zip of the contents.

Cool. I've still got my old Thunderboard. I can't remember if when I bought it new it had any disks with it or not. Had a look through my old disk box but couldn't find anything relating to the card.

Here is a link to the files I have (zip with dos files and windows drivers).

http://www.mediafire.com/download/dbhndwvf6fvkndb/MediaVisionThunderboard.zip

Thanks!