Thinkpads Forum

I recently came across a sound card for TP 755C (FRU 84G4289) for like $5. I thought that it was very much possible that 360 series could have a necessary connector on mobo. And I was actually right. After a quick googling I found even an official IBM info on this - http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/ft ... tps140.txt
After installing the card and the drivers it worked! You can even connect the built-in speaker ti the card and get sound from it (PC speaker also works).
In DOS - Wolf3d - works fine, Doom - no (or not yet). Will do further experimenting in Windows.
Here are some pics:




There is a similar card for sale on ebay, but for a much higher price.

Nice! You're lucky that the two are physically and electrically compatible.

axur-delmeria wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:27 am

Nice! You're lucky that the two are physically and electrically compatible.

Well they're basically identical machines(and use the same FRU Mobo...so it being electrically compatible really isn't a surprise.

Thinkpad4by3 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:31 am

Well they're basically identical machines(and use the same FRU Mobo...so it being electrically compatible really isn't a surprise.

Never had access to ancient Thinkpad models save for the 760XD so this is new to me.

Reminds me of the interchangeable parts of the T4x and R5x series, especially the system board.

axur-delmeria wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:43 am

Reminds me of the interchangeable parts of the T4x and R5x series, especially the system board.

It is very much the same thing. The 3 series was the "R" series as the 7 series was the "T" series...came with lower end processors, less intelligent batteries and smaller displays that were usually DSTN instead of TFT...all while retaining a very similar form factor.

axur-delmeria wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:27 am

Nice! You're lucky that the two are physically and electrically compatible.

Basically no wonder that they are compatible. ThinkPad 755C and CS were similar to the ThinkPads 355x, 360x, 370C and 750x. And 755CE, CSE, CV, CX, CD, CDV differ in construction from all of them.

I have to admit that the audio chip in this card (CS4248) has very poor capabilities in DOS. There is no hardware SB emulation and the driver doesn't seem to work with 32-bit DOS extenders (dos4gw). So there is no chance to make it work in DOOM for example. While older games wokr okayish, but also not all of them.
Here are recomendations from IBM (sorry for the formatting):
4D Boxing Runs best if Roland mode is
selected


Alone in the May have problems if run repeatedly
Dark without rebooting the machine.
Please reboot the machine each
time the game is run. Also,
the FILES statement needs to
be set to a number greater than
FILES=10, 20 is recommended.

Battle Chess This game needs expanded memory.
4000 Please use the RAM switch with
EMM386.EXE as shown above.

Carriers at Use Sound Blaster mode
War

Castle of Use Sound Blaster mode
Dr. Brain

Chuck Yeager's Use Adlib or Sound Blaster mode
Air Combat

Civilization Use either Sound Blaster or
Roland mode

Conquered Runs best with music set for
Kingdoms Roland

Dagger of Recommended setting is Sound
Aman-Ra Blaster for speech and Roland
for music

Dragon's Eye PCM sound effects are not supported
for this game. Music plays
acceptably.

EarPlay Use Sound Blaster mode

EcoSaurus Use Sound Blaster mode

HardBall III Use MT32 setting for music
and Sound Blaster for sound
effects.

Headline Harry PCM sound effects are not supported
and the Great for this game. Music plays
Paper Chase acceptably.


Indiana Jones - Use Roland setting
Fate of
Atlantis

Jack Nicklaus Use Sound Blaster or Roland
Golf and Course setting
Design

Legend of Use Roland setting
Kyrandia

Lemmings Use Sound Blaster setting

Links - The Select Sound Blaster mode, not
Challenge of Adlib mode.
Golf

Martian Dreams Recommended setting is Roland
for music and Sound Blaster
for sound effects.

Matrix Cubed Use Roland MT32 setting

Nova 9 Use Sound Blaster mode

Pacific War Use Sound Blaster mode

Play it by EAR Use Sound Blaster mode

Quest for PCM sound effects are not supported
Glory 3 for this game. Music plays
acceptably.

Secrets of the This game runs better if
Rain Forest SMARTDRV.EXE is loaded.

Secret Weapons One small peculiarity of this
of the game is that it sets NumLock on
Luftwaffe which prevents the user from
entering the required codes
from the codewheel. To turn
off NumLock use Shift-NumLock.

Spear of Use Sound Blaster mode
Destiny

Street Fighter Use Sound Blaster mode
II

Super Fighter Use Sound Blaster mode

Super Tetris PCM sound effects are not supported
for this game. Music plays
acceptably.

Tristan Use Sound Blaster mode

Trump Castle II PCM sound effects are not supported
for this game. Music plays
acceptably.

Wayne Gretzky This game needs expanded memory.
Hockey 3 Please use the RAM switch with
EMM386.EXE as shown above.

Where in the Use Sound Blaster mode
U.S.A. is
Carmen San
Diego

Wolfenstein 3D Use Sound Blaster mode

Sadly, it's a crappy card if you're not using it in Windows or OS/2. And the other disadvantage of putting that Crystal card in a 360CE is the lack of the appropriate bracket.

goldeneagle wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 16, 2019 3:28 pm

Sadly, it's a crappy card if you're not using it in Windows or OS/2. And the other disadvantage of putting that Crystal card in a 360CE is the lack of the appropriate bracket.

Sad but true.
I've installed Windows 95 on this machine and could get sound working in Doom2 (windows version), but still no music.
I've also got several other games for windows, mostly strategies, and will also try them out.

I'm not sure what bracket you mean. Maybe the outer cover? I've made two holes in the old lid and it fits perfectly.

Thinkpad4by3 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:31 am

axur-delmeria wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:27 am

Nice! You're lucky that the two are physically and electrically compatible.

Well they're basically identical machines(and use the same FRU Mobo...so it being electrically compatible really isn't a surprise.

Yup. The 360CE runs a 486DX2-50, and 755's run either the same or a DX4-100. But yes, the system boards are interchangeable. It gets even better with the 755CE/CX/CD/CDV, because everything is modular.