cr1901 changed the topic of ##yamahasynths to: Channel dedicated to questions and discussion of Yamaha FM Synthesizer internals and corresponding REing. Discussion of synthesis methods similar to the Yamaha line of chips, Sound Blasters + clones, PCM chips like RF5C68, and CD theory of operation are also on-topic. Channel logs: https://libera.irclog.whitequark.org/~h~yamahasynths
<andlabs>
oh
<andlabs>
yeah that's what I thought was just SEO soup
<andlabs>
finally got and installed the new battery; let's see how this goes
<andlabs>
meanwhile oh good the SC-55 thing I bought has the list of contents right ont he box so I can just compare that to what's inside and get a full list of what's missing, and it appears that you're supposed to connect it to a computer via RS-232 and use a driver disk :| I wonder if that works with PC-98 games or if you need an actual MIDI card for that
<myon98>
On DOS, MIDI sequencer softwares like Recomposer natively supported serial port connection via MiniDIN-8 connector, with full 32-part support on later modules.
<myon98>
However most games required MPU-PC98 iirc
<myon98>
But I think there were some TSRs using the V8086 trap to emulate the dumb mode MPU using serial port
<andlabs>
hmmm
<andlabs>
and I guess MPU-PC98 was only ever released as a C-bus card, not as anything for laptops, right
<andlabs>
since I have a PC-486NOTE AS
<andlabs>
but if software programs let me choose that works too =P especially since this pack comes with software (Ballade and DoReMiX)
<myon98>
There seem to be MPU-401N which connects to the PC-9801Note 110 pin interface
<myon98>
and surely I suppose that there should be lots of third-party implementations that implement the dumb mode since it's just a couple of I/O ports with a serial transceiver
<myon98>
but unfortunately I'm not very familiar with laptop expansion ports of PC-98 and EPSON compatibles
<andlabs>
yeah neither am I, in fact I'm still not sure if that 110-pin interface is the same EXT port on the Epson
<andlabs>
but good to know in the meantime; thanks!
<andlabs>
(and yes I do want to try writing music or at the very least using the onboard 2203 in a synth setup at some point too)