
                  ==========================================
                   Martin Kiewitz's VDMA-Replacement v0.92b
                  ==========================================

                             Released on 29.08.2002

                        Written and (c) by Martin Kiewitz
                            Dedicated to Gerd Kiewitz
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  ============
  | FOREWORD |
  ============

        ================================================================================
        THIS VERSION ONLY SUPPORTS DMA-OUTPUT TRANSFERS! THIS MEANS THAT YOU WILL NOT BE
         ABLE TO RECORD SOUND FROM YOUR SOUNDCARD OR EVEN READ-ACCESS FROM FLOPPY WILL
         NOT WORK!
        ================================================================================

        It was released just as proof of concept and for people that want to use the
         Run-Time GoSierra patching by using vSOUND in pass-through mode!

        The original VDMA driver done by I.B.M. was fixed, patched and extended
         for about 10 years. Still the DMA port emulation is not quite complete
         or accurate and some things weren't done in a really efficient manner.

        DMA in VDMs is mostly used for sound output of games and due to limits
         of the original driver, games like Prince of Persia 2, Goblins 3 and
         Sam'n Max didn't work at all or not right.

        Additionally my VSOUND driver that emulates a Soundblaster card in 100%
         software needed a better API for virtualizing DMA transfers.

        That's why I did this replacement. It actually took me about 3-4 days
         in total, the rest was just some tweaking, because some games really
         rape the DMA chip.

        My version is 100% new. It contains a completely new logic for
         emulating DMA transfers. It's half the size of the original driver,
         definitely more accurate and is coded using about 80% assembly and 20%
         Watcom C code.

        Since I had some time left currently, I tweaked my VDMA driver and I'm
         using a more generic and simpler approach to virtualization of
         DMA transfers. I think I should have nailed it this time.

  ================
  | KNOWN-TO-FIX |
  ================

        Goblins 3
        Pandora Directive
        Prince Of Persia 2
        Sam'n Max (sound worked, but quality was really messy)
        Some other games

        This driver also makes it possible to build a vSOUND driver. The old
         IBM vDMA does not offer the needed APIs for this to work.

  =============
  | IMPORTANT |
  =============

        This driver is definitely in public *BETA* state. Do NOT use it in
         productive environments. If you use some scientific program under VDM
         that reads/writes data via DMA, PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DRIVER IS *BETA*.

        ================================================================================
        ALSO THIS VERSION ONLY SUPPORTS DMA-OUTPUT TRANSFERS! THIS MEANS THAT YOU WILL
         NOT BE ABLE TO RECORD SOUND FROM YOUR SOUNDCARD OR EVEN READ-ACCESS FROM FLOPPY
         WILL NOT WORK!
        ================================================================================

        My driver doesn't have virtual DMA services support (INT 4Bh), because
         I couldn't find one program that needs such support. Additionally the
         emulation logic is different, so it *could* happen that DMA transfered
         data gets messed up. So please *TRY* first and check for accurate
         results.

        If you find a program/game, that doesn't work accurately with this
         driver, then PLEASE REPORT it to me, so I can fix it.

  =====================
  | VDMA INSTALLATION |
  =====================

        Simply replace \OS2\MDOS\VDMA.SYS with the supplied version.
         Please *DO* make a backup copy of the original driver, so you can
         restore it, if my replacement doesn't work correctly.

        YOU DO NOT HAVE TO MODIFY YOUR CONFIG.SYS. VDMA IS LOADED AUTOMATICALLY
         BY OS/2.

  ================
  | VDMA HISTORY |
  ================

        v0.1b  - First internal beta release
        v0.9b  - First public beta release
        v0.91b - Internal tweaking release
        v0.92b - Internal re-tweak release

  ===========
  | CONTACT |
  ===========

        There are several ways to contact me, but you only get this one:
         'kiewitz@klinikum-konstanz.de'

        Official homepage for all my stuff:
         'http://ecomstation.ru/kiewitzsoft/'

  ==========================
  | GREETZ AND DEDICATIONS |
  ==========================

        I'm dedicating VDMA to Gerd Kiewitz, my daddy.

        I want to thank IBM for the great operating system called OS/2 and
         Serenity Systems for releasing eComStation.

 - Martin Kiewitz
