Last Updated: 26 Jun 95
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR PHONE BLASTER
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This is a frequently asked question document for the Creative
Phone Blaster audio/telephony card. This document summarizes many
frequently asked questions and answers about the Phone Blaster.
If you have a question, please check this file before calling
Creative Technical Support as you may find the answer contained
in this document.
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This FAQ is organized into the following sections:
* [A] General information about Phone Blaster
* [B] Hardware Related Questions
* [C] Ancilla v1.51 Questions and Answers
* [D] Using the Phone Blaster with Third Party Communication programs
* [E] Using Ancilla/Phone Blaster with other operating systems
Before you continue ...
This document mainly covers the modem/telephony side of the Phone Blaster,
not the sound card portion. The sound card side IS a genuine SB16 card, and
so in general, whatever applies to the SB16 applies equally to the Phone
Blaster.
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Contents
SECTION A - General information about Phone Blaster
1. What is the Phone Blaster?
2. What is the Target Audience?
3. Where can I find Phone Blaster?
4. Is the Phone Blaster available outside the U.S.?
SECTION B - Hardware Related Questions
1. What are the Phone Blaster's default hardware settings?
2. Is the Phone Blaster Plug and Play compatible?
3. What kind of CD-ROM drives does the Phone Blaster support?
4. Can I connect my Omni-2X to the Phone Blaster?
5. Does the Phone Blaster support wave table synthesis?
6. Can I have an AWE card, or other Sound Blaster card, and a Phone
Blaster at the same time?
7. Will the Phone Blaster work with all my current games and applications
that are Sound Blaster compatible?
8. Is the modem on the Phone Blaster DSP based?
9. What chipset does the modem use?
10. Is the Phone Blaster upgradeable to 28.8?
11. How many phone lines does the Phone Blaster support?
12. What are the data compression and error control standards supported by
Phone Blaster?
13. Does the modem support Hayes commands?
14. What class fax mode command and fax machine group are supported in fax
mode?
15. Does Phone Blaster support standard and enhanced caller-ID?
16. Will Phone Blaster work with a laptop computer?
17. How should I configure the SBIDE.SYS driver?
SECTION C - Ancilla v1.51 Questions and Answers
1. Will Ancilla hang up if there is a certain amount of silence when a
caller leaves a voice mail message? How much silence?
2. How long can messages be?
3. How much hard drive space does Ancilla use per minute of recording?
4. Does Ancilla get rid of silence in a voice message or play it back?
5. Is there a limit to the amount of messages that can be saved on the
system?
6. Can you limit the HD space Ancilla will use?
7. How many mail boxes does Ancilla support?
8. Can you import or export wave files with Ancilla?
9. Does Ancilla support fax on demand or fax back?
10. Is it illegal to record a telephone conversation?
11. Can I import information from other applications such as Lotus or Act
into the Ancilla phonebook?
12. Do I need the hardware provided by the phone company to use caller ID?
13. Does Ancilla support message forwarding and pager or cellular phone
notification?
14. What is VoiceView?
15. Is VoiceView shipping with the product?
16. How does VoiceView work?
17. Does Ancilla support music on hold?
18. Is remote access done through DTMF tone or text to speech?
19. What is the default data init string for the terminal program in
Ancilla?
20. How do I increase the volume for speakerphone calls?
21. I cannot hear dialtone, dial or connection sounds using the Phone
Blaster. It will connect and the speaker phone works fine. How can I
hear Ancilla dialing?
22. When I click on the Ancilla icon, the program says it is
intitializing, then it gives the following error: "could not
initialize modem, no response from the modem." What is causing this?
23. How do I change the default Ancilla voice prompts?
24. I set the Pulse dial option within the Modem section of the Ancilla
v1.51 System Setup, but Ancilla continues to dial in tone and not
pulse. What's wrong?
25. Caller-ID does not work. What is wrong?
26. How can people with rotary phones leave messages with Ancilla v1.51?
SECTION D - Using the Phone Blaster with Third Party Communication programs
1. Can I use other voice messaging software with the Phone Blaster?
2. What modem brand do I chose in 3rd party communication and online
(CompuServe WinCIM, America Online, etc.) software packages?
3. Can I run Ancilla v1.51 to receive voice calls and another program to
handle faxing at the same time?
4. How do I setup the Phone Blaster in Trumpet Winsock?
SECTION E - Using Ancilla/Phone Blaster with other operating systems
1. Does Ancilla work in DOS, OS/2 or Windows NT?
2. Is Ancilla compatible with Windows 95?
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Section A - General Information about Phone Blaster
1. What is the Phone Blaster?
Phone Blaster is an add-in board combining both our standard Sound
Blaster 16 digital audio and FM synthesis technology, an upgradeable
14.4 modem, a full duplex speakerphone, powerful telecommunications
software, and Enhanced IDE CD-ROM interface.
Three Key Messages:
o The Phone Blaster is an advanced telephony board with powerful
integrated Ancilla software for a professional sounding voice
mail answering system and fax management.
o The Phone Blaster gives small business a big corporate look and
feel.
o The Phone Blaster saves users time and money.
+ All hardware is on one board (Sound Card, Modem, IDE CD-ROM
Controller).
+ All functions are done through a single phone line (Voice,
Fax, and Data).
2. What is the Target Audience?
The Phone Blaster is geared towards Small Office and Home Office
users.
3. Where can I find Phone Blaster?
Phone Blaster can be found at all large computer retail chains as well
as at smaller resellers across North America.
4. Is the Phone Blaster available outside the U.S.?
Currently, the Phone Blaster is available in Canada and Singapore.
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Section B - Hardware Related Questions
1. What are the Phone Blaster's default hardware settings?
Sound Blaster 16 (Optional settings in parenthesis)
I/O Address: 220h (240h, 260h, 280h)
Interrupt: 5 (2, 7, 10)
DMA: 1 (0, 3)
MIDI Port: 330h (300h, Disabled)
High DMA: 5 (6, 7, Disabled)
Adlib: 388h
Joystick: 207h (Disabled)
IDE CD-ROM Interface (Optional settings in parenthesis)
I/O Address: 170h (1E8h, 168h, Disabled)
Interrupt: 15 (10, 11, 12, Disabled)
Modem (Optional settings in parenthesis)
I/O Address: COM3/3E8h (COM1/3F8h, COM2/2F8, COM4/2E8h)
Interrupt: 11 (3, 4, 10)
2. Is the Phone Blaster Plug and Play compatible?
The Phone Blaster will work in a Plug and Play system, but you will
need to manually configure it. The Phone Blaster itself is not a Plug
and Play card.
3. What kind of CD-ROM drives does the Phone Blaster support?
Phone Blaster supports Enhanced IDE CD-ROM drives. Our current
SBIDE.SYS driver (available on the BBS, CompuServe, and FTP site as
SBIDE.EXE) supports the following CD-ROMs directly:
SBIDE.SYS version 1.08 supports:
o Creative: CD220E
o Goldstar: R540B
o Mitsumi: FX400
o NEC: CDR271, CDR272
o Panasonic: CR574B, CR581
o Toshiba: XM5302
4. Can I connect my Omni-2X to the Phone Blaster?
Owners of other Creative Labs non-IDE CD-ROM drives can call Customer
Service at 1-800-998-1000 to obtain low cost stand alone CD-ROM
controller card, such as the CT1810 which works with our
Creative/Panasonic CD-ROM drives.
Note: Also available from Customer Service is the CT1830 which has
both a Creative/Panasonic and Sony CD-ROM interface. The Sony CD-ROM
interface will work with the Sony CDU-33A CD-ROM, which was packaged
in some of our earlier Multimedia Upgrade Kits. This card is currently
sold standalone without documentation or CD-ROM drivers. It will
default to having the Creative/MKE(Panasonic) interface enabled with
the Sony interface being enabled after a jumper change (add a jumper
to JP2). All hardware settings are printed on the card.
5. Does the Phone Blaster support wave table synthesis?
Wave table synthesis is available as an upgrade. The Phone Blaster
features a Wave Blaster connector to upgrade for wave table synthesis
using the Wave Blaster II. For questions relating to the Wave Blaster
II, see our Wave Blaster II FAQ, available on Creative's BBS
(405-742-6660), CompuServe Forum (GO BLASTER), and FTP site
(ftp.creaf.com) as WB2FAQ.EXE.
6. Can I have an AWE card, or other Sound Blaster card, and a Phone
Blaster at the same time?
This is not supported. Two Sound Blaster cards generally cannot
function together in the same system. Remember that the Phone Blaster
is a SB16 card.
7. Will the Phone Blaster work with all my current games and applications
that are Sound Blaster compatible?
The Phone Blaster is 100% Sound Blaster compatible; therefore, it will
work with all of your games and applications that are Sound Blaster
compatible.
8. Is the modem on the Phone Blaster DSP based?
At this time we can provide a more cost effective solution to our
customers by implementing both audio and the modem functionality in
discrete silicon. We do however believe in DSP technology and use it
on other advanced multi-function products.
9. What chipset does the modem use?
The Phone Blaster uses a Rockwell Voice Modem chipset.
10. Is the Phone Blaster upgradeable to 28.8?
Yes. We will announce when the upgrade is available.
11. How many phone lines does the Phone Blaster support?
The Phone Blaster supports a single phone line only with automatic
fax-voice detection.
12. What are the data compression and error control standards supported by
Phone Blaster?
Phone Blaster supports V.42 bis/MNP5 data compression and V.42/MNP4
error control.
13. Does the modem support Hayes commands?
Yes. Phone Blaster is fully compatible with Hayes standard commands as
well as the extended AT command set, making it compatible with all
common applications.
14. What class fax mode command and fax machine group are supported in fax
mode?
Phone Blaster supports class 1 and class 2 fax commands and Group 3
fax machines.
15. Does Phone Blaster support standard and enhanced caller-ID?
Yes. It is a standard feature on Phone Blaster as long as the user
subscribes to caller ID via their local phone company. Standard
Caller-ID supplies the Date, Time, and Phone Number. Enhanced
Caller-ID supplies the Date, Time, Phone Number, and Name.
16. Will Phone Blaster work with a laptop computer?
No. The Phone Blaster is an internal ISA card. However, the Phone
Blaster will work with most docking stations.
17. How should I configure the SBIDE.SYS driver?
The SBIDE.SYS line in the CONFIG.SYS should look something like this:
DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\SBIDE.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:170,15
You will also need to make sure you have the following line in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT:
C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001 /M:15
Explanation of parameters for SBIDE.SYS:
/D:drive_name
the device name of the CD-ROM drive. The device name can be
anything; however, it needs to match the same /D: parameter of
the MSCDEX driver in the AUTOEXEC.BAT.
/P:XXX,YY
XXX is the IDE port address, in this case 170h, and YY is the IDE
port IRQ, in this case IRQ 15. This parameter needs to match the
IDE port settings of the Phone Blaster.
/V
Verbose listing for drive information.
Explanation of parameters for MSCDEX.EXE:
/D:drive_name
the device name of the CD-ROM.
/M:NN
Amount, in 2k chunks, to set aside as a CD-ROM buffer. 8 is
usually a good number.
Type C:\DOS\HELP MSCDEX.EXE for further details on this driver.
(MS-DOS v5.0 does not have this help file.)
For other Enhanced IDE CD-ROM drives, use the CD-ROM manufacturer's
supplied CD-ROM driver. You may have to reconfigure third party CD-ROM
drivers to match the hardware settings of the Phone Blaster.
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Section C - Ancilla v1.51 Questions and Answers
1. Will Ancilla hang up if there is a certain amount of silence when a
caller leaves a voice mail message? How much silence?
Yes, Ancilla will hang-up after an amount of silence determined by the
"recording silence timeout" setting. The minimum is 1 second, and the
maximum is 30 seconds.
2. How long can messages be?
The maximum message length can be set anywhere from 10 seconds to 999
seconds (over 16 minutes).
3. How much hard drive space does Ancilla use per minute of recording?
Ancilla will use approximately 250 Kb per minute at the 4 bits per
second record setting, or 125 Kb per minute at the 2 bits per second
record setting.
4. Does Ancilla get rid of silence in a voice message or play it back?
Ancilla automatically deletes the silence at the end of a message.
Pauses within the message are left intact.
5. Is there a limit to the amount of messages that can be saved on the
system?
No. Ancilla's message limit is dependent upon the system's hard disk
space.
6. Can you limit the HD space Ancilla will use?
You can reduce the amount of hard disk space each message occupies by
using the 2 bits per second record setting and lowering the maximum
allowed message recording time.
7. How many mail boxes does Ancilla support?
Ancilla supports 9000 passcode-protected mailboxes.
8. Can you import or export wave files with Ancilla?
Yes, if the wave file is 8 or 16 bit, 11 or 22 kHz, mono, and
uncompressed.
9. Does Ancilla support fax on demand or fax back?
Yes. Ten documents can be set up for each mailbox, making a total of
90,000 fax on demand documents.
10. Is it illegal to record a telephone conversation?
It is legal as long as the remote party is informed that the call is
being recorded. Three beeps are played by Ancilla announcing the
beginning of a recorded conversation.
11. Can I import information from other applications such as Lotus or Act
into the Ancilla phonebook?
Yes, if the application can export data to comma delimited text, which
Ancilla will then be able to import. For example, the file should look
something like this after it is exported from your application:
"DOE","JOHN","405","555-1234",...
"DOE","JANE","123","456-7890",...
12. Do I need the hardware provided by the phone company to use caller ID?
No, because Ancilla provides the functionality within the software.
13. Does Ancilla support message forwarding and pager or cellular phone
notification?
Yes. Ancilla does support message forwarding and pager notification.
14. What is VoiceView?
VoiceView lets you exchange files with another user while maintaining
the current voice connection. While the file is being transferred, the
phone will be silent. When the transfer has completed, voice
conversation can be resumed. This eliminates the need to make three
separate phone calls.
15. Is VoiceView shipping with the product?
Yes. It is a standard feature on Phone Blaster.
16. How does VoiceView work?
VoiceView must be used with the handset only. It cannot be used with
the speakerphone. The remote system has to support VoiceView in the
hardware and any type of file can be transferred.
17. Does Ancilla support music on hold?
Yes, Ancilla can play WAV files, MIDI files, or CD Audio while the
caller is put on hold.
18. Is remote access done through DTMF tone or text to speech?
Remote access is done through DTMF tone. This means that when you
check your messages remotely, you will use the touch tone keys on the
phone to navigate Ancilla's menus, as a caller would to leave a
message.
19. What is the default data init string for the terminal program in
Ancilla?
AT&C1&D2W1X4S38=0S7=60S11=60
20. How do I increase the volume for speakerphone calls?
Speakerphone volume may be increased with the Modem/PC speaker and
master volume in the Creative mixer. Also, with the volume control at
the bottom of the dialer. You may want to check JP25, and JP26 to make
sure they are on the bottom two pins (see manual) so that the internal
amplifier is enabled.
21. I cannot hear dialtone, dial or connection sounds using the Phone
Blaster. It will connect and the speaker phone works fine. How can I
hear Ancilla dialing?
The default setting for the speaker volume is off. If you are having
trouble hearing the Phone Blaster, turn the Modem/PC Speaker volume
up.
22. When I click on the Ancilla icon, the program says it is
intitializing, then it gives the following error: "could not
initialize modem, no response from the modem." What is causing this?
This is probably the result of a COM port and/or IRQ conflict. You
will need to change the IRQ and/or COM port settings of the Phone
Blaster so that it does not conflict with existing hardware. It may be
necessary to disable a COM port that is not being used in the system,
and then set the Phone Blaster to that COM port's settings. Our
Diagnose Program, which is documented in the Phone Blaster's Getting
Started book, can help you locate an available COM port.
23. How do I change the default Ancilla voice prompts?
o Start the Ancilla Dialer by clicking on the phone icon of the
Ancilla "scoreboard".
o Select Options - System Setup.
o Select the Prompts tab. This brings up the prompts menu with
recording capability. It lists the "number" on the left, and the
"prompt name" on the right in columns.
o Click the "Number" button. Ancilla will sort the prompts by
number.
o You will see the following in the list:
1 Good Morning
2 Good Afternoon
3 Good Evening
4 Prompt for touch tone
10 System Greeting
11 Greeting for main menu
20 Enter Mailbox Number
and so on...
o Generally, you will want to re-record numbers 1,2,3,10,11, and 20
with your own voice. You will probably want to personalize the
system greeting to suit your needs.
Note: the Greeting for main menu can also be changed in the
main menu setup screen.
Note: Ancilla's message structure cannot be changed or
re-arranged. If you don't want Ancilla to play a particular
prompt, you can record silence over the prompt. You cannot
change the structure of the system, other than the main
menu.
24. I set the Pulse dial option within the Modem section of the Ancilla
v1.51 System Setup, but Ancilla continues to dial in tone and not
pulse. What's wrong?
The updated Ancilla v1.51b upgrade/patch will correct this.
25. Caller-ID does not work. What is wrong?
Ancilla v1.51 will only work correctly with Standard Caller-ID. The
updated Ancilla v1.51b upgrade/patch will work with both Standard and
Enhanced Caller-ID.
26. How can people with rotary phones leave messages with Ancilla v1.51?
The updated Ancilla v1.51b upgrade/patch will allow callers with
rotary phones to leave a message in the simple answering machine.
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Section D - Using the Phone Blaster with Third Party Communication programs
1. Can I use other voice messaging software with the Phone Blaster?
You should be able to use other voice messaging software with this
modem if the third-party software supports the Rockwell Voice chipset.
However, third-party software may not support all of Phone Blaster's
features.
2. What modem brand do I chose in 3rd party communication and online
(CompuServe WinCIM, America Online, etc.) software packages?
Try the following modem selections:
Supra FaxModem 144I
Hayes V-series v.32bis
Zoom 14.4
Other Rockwell chipset based modems
Class 2 Fax/Modem in Fax software
The default initialization strings will be fine.
3. Can I run Ancilla v1.51 to receive voice calls and another program to
handle faxing at the same time?
No, you can only run one communication program at a time. Two
communication programs cannot share the same physical COM port.
4. How do I setup the Phone Blaster in Trumpet Winsock?
Edit the login.cmd file in the trumpet directory. Near the beginning
there will be an "atz" string. Replace it with this string. Please
note that this string is optimized for 14.4kbps only!
AT S37=11 S46=138 S48=7 W1 L3 N0 &R1^M
For a description of the above AT commands, please consult the Phone
Blaster's AT Command help-file. The help-file is accessed by clicking
on the AT Command ICON located in the Phone Blaster Windows Group.
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Section E - Using Ancilla/Phone Blaster with other operating systems
1. Does Ancilla work in DOS, OS/2 or Windows NT?
Ancilla is a Windows based product. Ancilla does not work in DOS
although the Phone Blaster will work with other DOS compatible
communications programs. We do not support Ancilla under OS/2 or
Windows NT.
2. Is Ancilla compatible with Windows 95?
Ancilla works in some versions of Windows 95 Beta. An upgrade should
be available after Windows 95 ships.
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Creative Labs Technical Support