Last Updated: 26 Jun 95 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR PHONE BLASTER --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Creative Labs Technical Support