Why ?
This is a site dedicated to those PC users, using Microsoft DOS or Windows, without a sound card on their PCs.
So they use what is left (that is the freedom of speech ...), the speaker (so called
"internal speaker") included in their PC or laptop.
"I like PC computer sound and music. It takes effort and patience to enjoy PC
music, to be honest, since every time you actually enjoy a warbly arpeggiated
simulated chord through the internal speaker, or a snippet of 1-bit digitized sound
forced through the PC internal speaker like a grape through a straw, people look at
you funny. Real funny. It's an art to create a good soundtrack given the medium you
have to work with. I have great respect for musicians who wrote music
(and programmers who wrote playback code) for PCs"
www.oldskool.org.
On today's PC, this site can be useful if you can't access external speaker for
what ever the reason, or if your PC does not have a sound card.
I still have one of those laptop without sound card and I needed to be able to
use the internal speaker for test purposes as I do my MP3 ripping in public libraries
(yes I know I am cheap, but thanks to them).
Then I tried to use the internal speaker for other sound formats (I like tracker
music), and searched the internet for other applications. It took me a while to get
the right ones.
I have not found any site that would have all these utilities under one roof (you
can though have a look at Uli's page). So
this is just what I am trying to share here. I try to present you the best freeware
tools, to get the best (or nothing !) out of your PC small and lonely internal speaker.
For the "die-hard" among you, have a look at the DAC and links sections.
So what ?
The site is divided in five sections. One is for Microsoft Windows 9x only,
another one is for DOS only. One is for good abandonware games that also give
you good music out of the speaker while playing. For the more adventurous of you,
a section is dedicated to the COVOX system. The last one is a moderated forum for
the PC speaker to get feedback, other related utilities proposal, help request, ...
By the way, I am no expert in electronics, or computer in general just a curious
user, so don't ask for too technical questions, chances are you know more than I do.
This site doesn't have lots of pictures (none !) in order to be friendly to those
older computers that would access it.
About the downloads
All the files you can download from this site are in a compressed in a ZIP
format (the only format most free website providers accept).
They are all freeware or non-crippled, no-nag shareware. Please let me know if
not the case and I will remove the relevant file(s) immediately.
They all have been tested, found to work and virus free.