I remember reading somewhere (maybe here) that Sound Blaster 16 can be used on XT systems. Of course only 8-bit features work so that would mean SB16 on XT is basically the same as Sound Blaster Pro 2.
Most interesting SB16 model in my opinion is CT2290. That is because it is the only non-PnP SB16 with real IDE interface. XTIDE Universal BIOS now has 8-bit mode for 16-bit IDE Controllers (only for Microdrives and CF cards) so that would make CT2290 best sound card for XT-systems. Good news: the IDE interface on CT2290 works. Bad news is that sound does not. That is because diagnose.exe freezes. Most likely it requires 286 instructions and does not work on 8088.
The oldest SB16 models (CT17xx) do not require diagnose.exe to initialize the card since all settings are set with jumpers. So I tried CT1740. There seemed to be some hardware conflict since XTIDE Universal BIOS did not find any drives (not from XT-CF or 16-bit Multi I/O card) when CT1740 was installed. I tried one by one all different ports, interrups and low DMA channels and the problem remained.
Finally I decided to remove high DMA channel jumpers completely. I didn't think those mattered since it was on 8-bit bus but it did. Without the high DMA jumpers everything finally worked, drive was detected and I could hear FM music and sound effects from Prince of Persia. CT1740 is definitely XT compatible.
But it is the CT2290 I'd like to get working. Is there 8088 compatible version of diagnose.exe or has someone made an alternative to it?
Most interesting SB16 model in my opinion is CT2290. That is because it is the only non-PnP SB16 with real IDE interface. XTIDE Universal BIOS now has 8-bit mode for 16-bit IDE Controllers (only for Microdrives and CF cards) so that would make CT2290 best sound card for XT-systems. Good news: the IDE interface on CT2290 works. Bad news is that sound does not. That is because diagnose.exe freezes. Most likely it requires 286 instructions and does not work on 8088.
The oldest SB16 models (CT17xx) do not require diagnose.exe to initialize the card since all settings are set with jumpers. So I tried CT1740. There seemed to be some hardware conflict since XTIDE Universal BIOS did not find any drives (not from XT-CF or 16-bit Multi I/O card) when CT1740 was installed. I tried one by one all different ports, interrups and low DMA channels and the problem remained.
Finally I decided to remove high DMA channel jumpers completely. I didn't think those mattered since it was on 8-bit bus but it did. Without the high DMA jumpers everything finally worked, drive was detected and I could hear FM music and sound effects from Prince of Persia. CT1740 is definitely XT compatible.
But it is the CT2290 I'd like to get working. Is there 8088 compatible version of diagnose.exe or has someone made an alternative to it?