I've looked into the 4MB ROM approach once again ... case in point, anyone up to soldering TSOP48 with a pitch 1.5x as fine as the InterWave? 😀 This certainly is overkill for the average hobbyist and something I'd have to teach myself first.

After checking into it various times I think now is the point where I can definitely postpone that idea due to a number of reasons.
- There is no 4MB ROMset known to exist
- The ROMMaker included in the InterWave SDK is an older version
- The 4MB ROM would have to be hardcoded in the GUS PnP drivers to be useable - considering the drivers in the InterWave SDK on the internet are outdated this could lead to a number of issues. An alternative approach would be hacking the existing GUS PnP drivers - something I cannot do or teach myself in a sufficient time.
- I'm unsure about the actual implementation in hardware (very likely via the RA20 + RA21 lines, but I could be wrong)
- Suitable ROM ICs are only available in packages I don't consider hobbyist friendly (and not that easy to obtain either)
- Adding a footprint for 32mbit ROM ICs would require rerouting a majority of the layout left to the InterWave chip, the general area where I spent 60% of the time for the project on.

I think I'll instead look at a way to make the current 1MB ROM flashable in circuit instead (which is just an idea for now - not a feature announcement) 😉
On the other hand I'm currently adapting the layout a bit to accept SOJ-sockets for the DRAM, making the card a bit more user serviceable and giving it a bit more professional look (afterall one of those DRAMs was dead on the prototype).

Also: ISA faceplate 😀 http://i.imgur.com/WPE2PN3.jpg

Is there enough space between the top of the ram and the ICs ?
I mean if you have a bigger module in height or you put a slot for DRAM.

Anyway the fact it is working is freaking awesome. Hats off shock.

Is the plan to only sell it in kit form, or do you also want to sell some of them pre-assembled?
I'd love to buy a few to support the project, but I don't have the skills to put them together myself.

Wow! That's aamazing work!

So ... I found a circuit I could easily implement which uses IDE channels for programming(!) - sadly the software supports just 8bit transfers and is closed source (and has not been confirmed as working as of now).
If one of you could reverse engineer the software part I'd be more than happy to include it on the ARGUS.
https://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/basteln … sher%20kompakt/

There's also the c't flasher that might be a viable option, but same problem there with 8bit transfers and the design isn't easily blown up to the correct size, it's open source tho - but supposedly has issues on machines faster than 66mhz.

kmadar75 wrote:

Is there enough space between the top of the ram and the ICs ? I mean if you have a bigger module in height or you put a slot fo […]
Show full quote

Is there enough space between the top of the ram and the ICs ?
I mean if you have a bigger module in height or you put a slot for DRAM.

WPE2PN3.jpg

Anyway the fact it is working is freaking awesome. Hats off shock.

Clearances should be fine even when using double sided SIMMs. I strongly recommend getting single sided ones to prevent any potential issues - as I can test every type of SIMM on the market.

You can use flashrom and a PCI network card to program the flash chip. https://www.flashrom.org/Supported_hardware#PCI_Devices
If you need and help building another prototype let me know, if have all the tools for SMD soldering, most of the parts only not the main chip and board.

Just a small comment on the 4Mb ROMset topic.
Sorry for my lame question, but wouldn't a 32Mbit SOP44 flash work on the current layout out of the box? Like this one for instance: http://ebay.com/itm/230422449308
If it could work, then the quest might continue after the production run is finalized. Maybe all we could do at the moment would be limited to this confirmation of the hardware compatibility with some 32Mbit flash device?..

Regarding the hardcoded support for the ROMset - do the drivers and/or games (like the already mentioned Duke3D) look for the ROMset signature or do they check its size as well (or somehow limit themselves to 8Mbit)? If only the signature matters then it can be obviously "faked".

Small update:

Shock visited me yesterday and brought the ARGUS prototype for testing.

It was equipped with a 16 MB PS/2 SIMM and the 1 MB ROM.

It passed:
- IWINIT detection (incl. RAM size) and initialisation (2.23)
- IWEPROM readout and writing
- Tracker players with support for Interwave and large songs. (XTC, OCP), incl. memory bank mapping and effects
- Megaem 3.11 functionality
- Win9x PnP detection as well as Win9x driver installation
- playback test within Win9x for digital and Midi from ROM and RAM soundfonts
- Mixer operation in DOS and Win
- Line-In, Mic-In functionality, there seems to an echo effect on Line In, we could not find out why the card applies this by default (e.g. in DOS)
- subjective Audio quality judgement is good, better than the regular GUS PnP Pro. The card sounds clean. We did not measure exact noise floor values yet.
- We tested a bunch of PS/2 SIMMs of various sizes. The card does take about 90% of the SIMMs without issues. It doesn't cope with any memory layout, so some SIMMs will be detected at 1/2 or 1/4 capacity. We couldn't find very slow PS/2 SIMMs for testing. One were not detected at all and got slowly hot. Still I consider this as 'working'.
- A few issues were found with placement of the jumpers that larger double sided SIMMs won't fit. However a minor placement change of a few components were already in the queue before...

Here are two pics of the ARGUS prototype in my testbench (P3 800):
http://retronn.de/ftp/pictures/hardware/ARGUS … est_setup_1.jpg

http://retronn.de/ftp/pictures/hardware/ARGUS … est_setup_2.jpg

We did not test the -5 V ISA bus voltage feature.
Also IWSBOS in DOS was not tested. I will do this probably later, but my general recommendation is to get a real SB compatible card if you need this.

Regards, Shock and Me.

Sounds great! Thanks for the update! 😀

Great! 😎
by the way, does it work with Cubic Player \ Indoor Music System apps with >8 MB RAM? (AFAIK there are some issues around but I wasn't able to test)

shock__ wrote:

So ... I found a circuit I could easily implement which uses IDE channels for programming(!) - sadly the software supports just 8bit transfers and is closed source (and has not been confirmed as working as of now).
If one of you could reverse engineer the software part I'd be more than happy to include it on the ARGUS.
https://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/b ... 20kompakt/

🤣 🤣

I don't care an awful lot about soundcards, and an Argus will not be in my collection.

But this is very very cool... Top Job!

this is excellent news!!!!

As a Gravis enthusiast I keep my fingers crossed for it.
I'd definitely will buy that kind of card!

If there would be a need to design box for it - I can help.

Awesome work! Did the ram chips that got warm still work afterwards? Its not like a lot of extra voltage/heat killed the ram. yeah?

Batyra, I'm all in for a box design! Just sent you a PM 😀

dogchainx wrote:

Awesome work! Did the ram chips that got warm still work afterwards? Its not like a lot of extra voltage/heat killed the ram. yeah?

I tested the RAM in a 486 board and they are fine.

Awesome project and incredible work! I would love to buy one of these eventually.

shock__ wrote:

I've looked into the 4MB ROM approach once again ... case in point, anyone up to soldering TSOP48 with a pitch 1.5x as fine as the InterWave? 😀 This certainly is overkill for the average hobbyist and something I'd have to teach myself first.

Soldering TSOP and other fine-pitch components isn't as hard as you'd think.
I've done it like 50 times.

Here's a small example:
http://i.imgur.com/KegzXcs.jpg

You just need a decent soldering iron with the right tip, some brush-on flux, and a desoldering braid to clean up any mistakes.

Line up the chip and tack down two opposite corners to hold it down with solder.
then, brush on flux and get a very small bead of solder on your flat or hoof tip, and gently drag it over the pins, starting on the corner you tacked down, going perpendicular to the pins.

check for any bridges and use the desoldering braid to clean them up.
When checking for bridges, it helps to hold the board in front of a strong light. Any bridges will be dark between the pins.

Just because I can solder smaller pitch stuff doesn't mean everyone who gets a card can 😉
Due to copyright issues everyone would have to be on their own to get a chip programmed and placed on the card as of now. That's a situation I'd like to ease up.