awesome, I've been thinking about trying to do something like this before too.
also thumbs up for making them public domain 😀

Just wanted to say many thanks for your work and for sharing the gerbers for this (and your other projects while I'm at it).

I'm in the process of converting a small industrial socket3 486 mainboard into a mini dos rig and I can now add a cheaper isa sound card thanks to this! (I'm using the smaller one). I may have a few left over spares if anyone is doing similar.

dek

Updated 26/5/2022 - thanks was able to get an ESS soundcard working great on my SBC!

dekkit wrote on 2022-04-30, 11:56:

Updated 26/5/2022 - thanks was able to get an ESS soundcard working great on my SBC!

cool! What SBC are you using?

cool :3

where do you source the right angle ISA connectors?

imi wrote on 2022-06-09, 10:42:

where do you source the right angle ISA connectors?

Digikey... part number EBC49DCAN-S605

there's a url visible, on a photo, on the connector. Looks like a good source.

rasteri wrote on 2022-06-09, 12:29:

imi wrote on 2022-06-09, 10:42:

where do you source the right angle ISA connectors?

Digikey... part number EBC49DCAN-S605

thanks, a bit pricey 😁

@weedeewee 🤣 I didn't even pay attention to that, yeah it seems the one on digikey is from sullins.

imi wrote on 2022-06-09, 12:50:

thanks, a bit pricey 😁

Still a lot cheaper than buying industrial PC/104 adapters 😜

The SBC im working with can be found here:

Help with mapping out a Single Board Computer (SBC) - 486-DX2-80 - Innovative Technologies, Houston, Texas

It had zero documentation available for it, and very little written on the pcb. So I've slowly been mapping out the pins based on the datasheets for the IC s and making a few educated guesses based on similar era SBC and socket 3 boards (all my notes are documented in the link). Ive got it to a useable state now, so I'll finish documenting what I know and build a case.

As for parts for the PC104 adapter above (blue one in the pic above):

PCB = ordered via Jlcpcb ~$20 AUD x5 (small boards) posted via slow slow mail.

The sockets were cheap from Aliexpress (with a bit of research of pc104/isa layouts, mixing and matching of parts, and also bit of luck):

For the ISA part~ $20 aud (incl post)
5x "2.54mm pitch curved edge connector slot" (2x 31p)
5x "2.54mm pitch curved edge connector slot" (2x 18p)
- take note of orientation in pics.

For the IDC part that connects to pc104 ~$15 aud (incl post)
5x PC104 2.54mm Female stacking header for dual row..." (2x32p)
5x PC104 2.54mm Female stacking header for dual row..." (2x20p)

By far the hardest part was soldering the pins of the otherside of the pc104 (as its tricky to get the iron around when you have all idc rows next to each other) - so if I do this again, next time it may be easier to order single rows (ie 1x 32p) of female stacking headers.

So all up it was about $55 AUD for parts (which took weeks to arrive) and an afternoon of soldering to build 5 x units.

So significantly cheaper than buying an industrial adapter and perfect for my personal 486 gaming rig.

Hope that helps!

dekkit wrote on 2022-06-12, 12:18:

By far the hardest part was soldering the pins of the otherside of the pc104 (as its tricky to get the iron around when you have all idc rows next to each other) - so if I do this again, next time it may be easier to order single rows (ie 1x 32p) of female stacking headers.

Yeah it is a bit tricky - I have a video guide showing how I do it here - https://youtu.be/6cXdWMOl8QE?t=440

rasteri wrote on 2022-06-12, 12:24:

dekkit wrote on 2022-06-12, 12:18:

By far the hardest part was soldering the pins of the otherside of the pc104 (as its tricky to get the iron around when you have all idc rows next to each other) - so if I do this again, next time it may be easier to order single rows (ie 1x 32p) of female stacking headers.

Yeah it is a bit tricky - I have a video guide showing how I do it here - https://youtu.be/6cXdWMOl8QE?t=440

Yep, had to change soldering tip to the smallest I had and use a healthy amount of soldering flux to get it to flow! Good video to reference.

(Was also contemplating making the pc104 soundcard you designed - nice work there too!)

Thanks again for releasing your pcbs - most appreciative!

Has someone perhaps made PCB of smaller version, but where ISA slot is on the other side?

With version from above on my SBC (Vortex86-6071) ISA card would be on the opposite side of the board, and not above it and I'm trying to make small retro PC 👀.

Just a quick question (hopefully), if anybody is still playing with this.

I've made "big version" board, added it to my SBC, above mentioned ICOP Vortex86-6071. But then I remembered that this board uses 5V for power supply. That's fine when I use CF card for HDD and Gotek for FDD. They both use only 5V...

Buuuut, I guess that your average sound card also needs 12V and -12V and there's my problem...

I planned to use ESS AudioDrive ES1869F sound card. I plugged it in, and when I use ESSCFG.EXE to configure it there's no error message. When I try to do the same without the card plugged in I get error that there's no ES1869F card connected. So at least that part works as it's supposed to.
But, as expected, there's no sound in game. I tried with Doom, configured it to same values I used with ESSCFG (port 220, irq 7, dma 1) but nothing.

My next idea is to simply solder wires to ISA pins that should have 12V and -12V to provide them there. And probably cut traces that go back to PC104 connector, just to be safe that it doesn't burn something on SBC, I guess it shouldn't buuuut...

For power supply I'd probably use picoPSU, or some similar PSU that can provide +/-12V.
Probably something else, by default this SBC needs 1,2A on 5V and that's it. PicoPSU is an overkill for it.

Would that work?

Solo761 wrote on 2023-02-09, 09:52:

I planned to use ESS AudioDrive ES1869F sound card. I plugged it in, and when I use ESSCFG.EXE to configure it there's no error message. When I try to do the same without the card plugged in I get error that there's no ES1869F card connected. So at least that part works as it's supposed to.
But, as expected, there's no sound in game. I tried with Doom, configured it to same values I used with ESSCFG (port 220, irq 7, dma 1) but nothing.

Yeah that's pretty much expected behaviour, in most cards the +-12v rails are only used for the output amplifier.

Some cards have jumpers to disable the amplifier, dunno about yours - might be worth checking

My next idea is to simply solder wires to ISA pins that should have 12V and -12V to provide them there. And probably cut traces that go back to PC104 connector, just to be safe that it doesn't burn something on SBC, I guess it shouldn't buuuut...

Should be fine. I wouldn't bother cutting the traces, PC104 SBCs are often powered through the PC104 port so it has to expect voltages to be present on those pins.

Solo761 wrote on 2023-02-09, 09:52:

PicoPSU is an overkill for it.

Maybe a DC-DC converter module and a few capacitors.

https://www.mouser.co.uk/c/power/dc-dc-conver … t=pricing&qty=1

rasteri wrote on 2023-02-09, 15:04:

Yeah that's pretty much expected behaviour, in most cards the +-12v rails are only used for the output amplifier.

Some cards have jumpers to disable the amplifier, dunno about yours - might be worth checking

Should be fine. I wouldn't bother cutting the traces, PC104 SBCs are often powered through the PC104 port so it has to expect voltages to be present on those pins.

I'll check to see if there's continuity between 5V from input to 5V on. Tehnically I could even power it via PC104 port for main 5V power. 🤔 But maybe it's be better to keep it simple 😅.
I'll just add wires to 12V and -12V points on ISA slot and supply it that way.

rasteri wrote on 2023-02-09, 15:30:

Solo761 wrote on 2023-02-09, 09:52:

PicoPSU is an overkill for it.

Maybe a DC-DC converter module and a few capacitors.

https://www.mouser.co.uk/c/power/dc-dc-conver … t=pricing&qty=1

For now I'm thinking of something like Mean Well RT-50B. They're triple output PSU, 5V, 12V and -12V, I've already used one in Amiga 500 which also needs 5V, 12V and -12V. So far it works fine. There are more powerful ones, but for this usage this 50W one is more than enough.

I could cobble something myself, I have few small basic AC-DC 5V and 12V PSU-u, and connect +12V of one 12V PSU to GND of another 12V PSU to get -12V, but Mean Well should be way safer to use that that 😅.

Well, it works.

I've soldered wires to 12V and -12V, dug out one mean well clone PSU I remembered I had, that outputs 5V, 12V and -12V, connected everything and voila, sound works 🙂