MJay99 wrote on 2024-06-18, 21:27:

I have to admit, I haven't tried it so far, but I wouldn't really expect issues from the cards themselves, per se. I just don't […]
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I have to admit, I haven't tried it so far, but I wouldn't really expect issues from the cards themselves, per se.
I just don't think that pgusinit is able to separate them for initialization (yet...).

It seems the GUS-fw might work without pgusinit if set to 240: Re: PicoGUS: ISA sound card emulator with Raspberry Pi Pico (Gravis Ultrasound, AdLib, MPU-401, Tandy, CMS)
So, I guess, it's a fair test to see if the SB version by any chance might be working without pgusinit when set to e.g. 220. 😀

And an update:
sb-adlib-gus.jpeg

I actually couldn't resist trying it. Setting both cards to different IRQs and DMAs and using port 220 in the blaster and port 240 in the ultrasnd variable, I was able to play an s3m via the Soundblaster and then Ultrasound emulation and also a .rad through the (now) integrated OPL emulation in the SB-firmware.

Not sure it'll work with games like doom, but there certainly is a chance.

Edit: In a first quick test, it didn't work for me. The Adlib / SB did, but the GUS didn't work in doom without pgusinit. With both cards in and as expected, pgusinit was a little unhappy , too 😁

Cool. Thanks for taking the time to test that out. Much appreciated!

polpo wrote on 2024-05-29, 17:28:

If it's not detected in DOS and bootsel doesn't work at all, that does point to the card being bad. I'd contact JCM to see if yo […]
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ricardo8a wrote on 2024-05-28, 00:27:

Hi all,

Just got my picogus V2 from JCM, but think my card is bricked - pgusinit just shows no found error- and trying bootsel with micro USB gives no further prompt in win, Linux.

Any ideas? Much appreciated and just amazed of reviews on PicoGus, so much potential 😍

If it's not detected in DOS and bootsel doesn't work at all, that does point to the card being bad. I'd contact JCM to see if you can get a replacement.

appiah4 wrote on 2024-05-28, 12:56:

Hey @polp, will there ever be a v1.x revision that lets you use USB peripherals without needing external power? I have the parts to build a second 1.x and I am holding off just in case this is a possibility..

Like Shreddoc said, on the v1.2 board, putting a cap on the "USBPWR" jumper will apply power to the USB port on the Pico.

kikendo wrote on 2024-05-28, 12:48:

Is there a Discord server or any other way I can get help with this card? It's not performing as expected and I would appreciate […]
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Is there a Discord server or any other way I can get help with this card? It's not performing as expected and I would appreciate some guidance.

Some examples:
I can never get Doom or Doom II to make any sound even after using the recommended settings. Blood doesn't work and neither does Duke Nukem 3D.
Fast Tracker II would play music just in all sort of weird frequencies.
I tried installing the Windows drivers for Ultrasound and I couldn't get it showing up.
I know Cubic Player is listed as not working, but I tried open Cubic Player and all I get is a high pitched noise when playing modules.

There is a Discord but it's mostly focused around development of the PicoGUS and other retro projects that use the Pico/RP2040 like the PicoMEM. I agree with Ensign Nemo that public posts here on Vogons or in the GitHub issues are more publicly available and discoverable. As for your issues, that all sounds really bad (except for Windows - the Win9x drivers aren't supported, and the Win3.x drivers are kind of a mess to install). Did you DIY or did you buy a board? What chipset do you have?

JCM great support! After trying another mobo and several times trying with different USB micro data cables for bootsel without success, 1st card was deemed bad, but 2nd card did work perfectly.

Proud owner of this neat card.

Amazing to be hearing GUS in win 3.11 after 30+ years 🥹

Thank you all!

Hello,
I installed my brand new picogus in my P166MMX. Everything works fine except in windows98SE. The default MS drivers don't seem to make the card work. The control panel puts a question mark in front of the card in the device manager.
Is it necessary to load a specific windows driver and which one (in soundblaster 2 mode)?
Thanks 😀

Atarinside wrote on 2024-06-22, 22:27:

Hello, I installed my brand new picogus in my P166MMX. Everything works fine except in windows98SE. The default MS drivers don't […]
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Hello,
I installed my brand new picogus in my P166MMX. Everything works fine except in windows98SE. The default MS drivers don't seem to make the card work. The control panel puts a question mark in front of the card in the device manager.
Is it necessary to load a specific windows driver and which one (in soundblaster 2 mode)?
Thanks 😀

I think the PicoGUS is for DOS only

Compatibility still isn't complete enough to get working with Windows 9x. So far all development is concentrated on DOS support, not much effort has been spent on anything else so far.

Is anyone selling the Pocket 386/Book8088/Hand386 version (micro-pico-gus?)? If not, I suppose I should get to ordering the PCB and building it...

I wanted to share my finding with the Joystick functionality of the PicoGUS v2.0 as there seems to be very little info on getting it to work if you have any issues.

After a lot of swearing, specifically purchasing an XBOX 360 controller and many hours of trouble shooting I finally figured out how to get the bloody thing to work. What was throwing me was the controller would power on and show a connection with the system but refused to be recognised in games.

Turns out if you have another soundcard present in the system with a Gameport in my experience it conflicts with the PicoGUS's joystick functionality resulting in it not being recognised. It was a random Reddit post I have to thank that gave me the idea to disable the Joystick functionality on my Creative CT2230. Fortunately this is easily done by removing a jumper on the card, i'm not sure how easy it is on more modern cards though.

Anyway it works fine now but there is a compromise, as by doing this I have to remove the CT2230 to swap the jumpers over everytime I want to use a Gameport joystick in Windows 95 🙁 hopefully this is something that could be fixed in a future firmware update.

Hopefully if anyone else is having issues with this, this post may help them a bit

Gatteric wrote on 2024-06-29, 09:40:

I wanted to share my finding with the Joystick functionality of the PicoGUS v2.0 as there seems to be very little info on gettin […]
Show full quote

I wanted to share my finding with the Joystick functionality of the PicoGUS v2.0 as there seems to be very little info on getting it to work if you have any issues.

After a lot of swearing, specifically purchasing an XBOX 360 controller and many hours of trouble shooting I finally figured out how to get the bloody thing to work. What was throwing me was the controller would power on and show a connection with the system but refused to be recognised in games.

Turns out if you have another soundcard present in the system with a Gameport in my experience it conflicts with the PicoGUS's joystick functionality resulting in it not being recognised. It was a random Reddit post I have to thank that gave me the idea to disable the Joystick functionality on my Creative CT2230. Fortunately this is easily done by removing a jumper on the card, i'm not sure how easy it is on more modern cards though.

Anyway it works fine now but there is a compromise, as by doing this I have to remove the CT2230 to swap the jumpers over everytime I want to use a Gameport joystick in Windows 95 🙁 hopefully this is something that could be fixed in a future firmware update.

Hopefully if anyone else is having issues with this, this post may help them a bit

Full PnP cards start with it disabled and you need to initialize it. That's how I used to run a SB16 and a YMF719. The SB16 handled joystick duties and YMF719 did MIDI out.

I'm not sure anything could be done on the PicoGUS side as it's an issue due to two devices on the same IO address. And most games listen to that specific address rather than supporting more than one game port. You could always mount an external switch or repurpose a turbo switch on your case to have an easy way to switch functionality without needing to pull your card each time.

SScorpio wrote on 2024-06-29, 13:27:

Gatteric wrote on 2024-06-29, 09:40:

I wanted to share my finding with the Joystick functionality of the PicoGUS v2.0 as there seems to be very little info on gettin […]
Show full quote

I wanted to share my finding with the Joystick functionality of the PicoGUS v2.0 as there seems to be very little info on getting it to work if you have any issues.

After a lot of swearing, specifically purchasing an XBOX 360 controller and many hours of trouble shooting I finally figured out how to get the bloody thing to work. What was throwing me was the controller would power on and show a connection with the system but refused to be recognised in games.

Turns out if you have another soundcard present in the system with a Gameport in my experience it conflicts with the PicoGUS's joystick functionality resulting in it not being recognised. It was a random Reddit post I have to thank that gave me the idea to disable the Joystick functionality on my Creative CT2230. Fortunately this is easily done by removing a jumper on the card, i'm not sure how easy it is on more modern cards though.

Anyway it works fine now but there is a compromise, as by doing this I have to remove the CT2230 to swap the jumpers over everytime I want to use a Gameport joystick in Windows 95 🙁 hopefully this is something that could be fixed in a future firmware update.

Hopefully if anyone else is having issues with this, this post may help them a bit

Full PnP cards start with it disabled and you need to initialize it. That's how I used to run a SB16 and a YMF719. The SB16 handled joystick duties and YMF719 did MIDI out.

I'm not sure anything could be done on the PicoGUS side as it's an issue due to two devices on the same IO address. And most games listen to that specific address rather than supporting more than one game port. You could always mount an external switch or repurpose a turbo switch on your case to have an easy way to switch functionality without needing to pull your card each time.

Funnily enough I was using a YMF719 before I purchased the PicoGUS specifically for MIDI duties due to the Duke3D slow down issue with a lot of Creative cards. I didn't really think much of it when it came to gameport conflicts as i've seen a few people use the PicoGUS alongside other cards without issue.

I may look at setting up a switch to swap between Joystick enable and disable, I wonder if it can be done on the fly or if it needs a reset in between?

Gatteric wrote on 2024-06-29, 09:40:

I wanted to share my finding with the Joystick functionality of the PicoGUS v2.0 as there seems to be very little info on gettin […]
Show full quote

I wanted to share my finding with the Joystick functionality of the PicoGUS v2.0 as there seems to be very little info on getting it to work if you have any issues.

After a lot of swearing, specifically purchasing an XBOX 360 controller and many hours of trouble shooting I finally figured out how to get the bloody thing to work. What was throwing me was the controller would power on and show a connection with the system but refused to be recognised in games.

Turns out if you have another soundcard present in the system with a Gameport in my experience it conflicts with the PicoGUS's joystick functionality resulting in it not being recognised. It was a random Reddit post I have to thank that gave me the idea to disable the Joystick functionality on my Creative CT2230. Fortunately this is easily done by removing a jumper on the card, i'm not sure how easy it is on more modern cards though.

Anyway it works fine now but there is a compromise, as by doing this I have to remove the CT2230 to swap the jumpers over everytime I want to use a Gameport joystick in Windows 95 🙁 hopefully this is something that could be fixed in a future firmware update.

Hopefully if anyone else is having issues with this, this post may help them a bit

I have yet to get the joystick working, though I figured it was probably due to this exact same issue. I have other cards / joystick ports in the computer and although I never took the time to disable the jumpers or remove them, I also thought it was probably a conflict with these. I think what is deceiving is that when I have had conflicting joystick ports before, they usually still work but are glitchy with erratic behavior. With the PicoGus there is no indication that anything is detected so it makes things tricky to know where to start looking. I thought it could just as easily been incompatible gamepads and since I don't have an official XBox controller to test to know for sure. I will give this a try soon and see what non official gamepads might work.

I got a v2.0 recently, specifically to use as an MPU-401 with a McCake, but it's not behaving correctly. The PC is a socket 7 Gigabyte GA-586T2 with a K62+, I have a YMF719 based sound card installed but have removed that for troubleshooting.

- I need to use IRQ 2/9, but have also tried 7.
- I've tried DMA 1 and 3, and I've allocated those to 'Legacy ISA' in the BIOS.
- I'm using port 330, which is default, but I've also tried specifying that via the command line when I call PGUSINIT.
- I've tried the /s option when I call PGUSINIT.
- I've tried slowing the machine down.
- I've tried the McCake on another sound card and it works perfectly there.
- The PicoGUS has the latest firmware installed, I just bought it from Serdaco a couple of weeks ago.
- I'm using the latest version of PGUSINIT and the MPU ROM.
- I've tried different versions of the MT-32 ROMs

But regardless of what I try I hear incorrect notes playing, stuck notes, and generally sounding a bit off. When Ultima7 is loading for example, random instruments will play and persist until the music starts. And when the guardian's face appears, there will be random notes played when there shoudln't be anything but music.

Anyone got any ideas?

badmojo wrote on 2024-07-02, 22:46:

I got a v2.0 recently, specifically to use as an MPU-401 with a McCake, but it's not behaving correctly. The PC is a socket 7 Gi […]
Show full quote

I got a v2.0 recently, specifically to use as an MPU-401 with a McCake, but it's not behaving correctly. The PC is a socket 7 Gigabyte GA-586T2 with a K62+, I have a YMF719 based sound card installed but have removed that for troubleshooting.

- I need to use IRQ 2/9, but have also tried 7.
- I've tried DMA 1 and 3, and I've allocated those to 'Legacy ISA' in the BIOS.
- I'm using port 330, which is default, but I've also tried specifying that via the command line when I call PGUSINIT.
- I've tried the /s option when I call PGUSINIT.
- I've tried slowing the machine down.
- I've tried the McCake on another sound card and it works perfectly there.
- The PicoGUS has the latest firmware installed, I just bought it from Serdaco a couple of weeks ago.
- I'm using the latest version of PGUSINIT and the MPU ROM.
- I've tried different versions of the MT-32 ROMs

But regardless of what I try I hear incorrect notes playing, stuck notes, and generally sounding a bit off. When Ultima7 is loading for example, random instruments will play and persist until the music starts. And when the guardian's face appears, there will be random notes played when there shoudln't be anything but music.

Anyone got any ideas?

Interesting problem, I'm sure we can get to the bottom of it.

This is merely an anecdotal data point, but here I use my PicoGUS in a K6/2 machine to drive my external mt32-pi, and have encountered no unexpected issues. My chipset and card versions are different, but there are enough similarities to suggest that it should work for you too - in theory!

No doubt you have covered this under "I've tried slowing the machine down", but with the PicoGUS, it's always worth mentioning the ISA bus speed as a parameter worth checking, given the PicoGUS's specific sensitivity to that.

I'd probably run a multimeter over the TRS-MIDI adapter cable too - this is what it should be.

Shreddoc wrote on 2024-07-03, 00:26:

Interesting problem, I'm sure we can get to the bottom of it.

Thanks for the reply. I can't actually see anything about ISA clock in the BIOS I must admit - I've played around with that on other machines but nothing doing here. For what it's worth I'm using setup defaults for most settings and have been using this machine for years and had no issues with various sound card configurations.

I guess the next thing I should do is see how it performs with a GM daughterboard attached, and perhaps change VGA cards. But I don't feel like this is a resource conflict given that I've tried various resources and nothing changes.

badmojo wrote on 2024-07-03, 07:38:

Shreddoc wrote on 2024-07-03, 00:26:

Interesting problem, I'm sure we can get to the bottom of it.

Thanks for the reply. I can't actually see anything about ISA clock in the BIOS I must admit - I've played around with that on other machines but nothing doing here. For what it's worth I'm using setup defaults for most settings and have been using this machine for years and had no issues with various sound card configurations.

I guess the next thing I should do is see how it performs with a GM daughterboard attached, and perhaps change VGA cards. But I don't feel like this is a resource conflict given that I've tried various resources and nothing changes.

Ah yes, I overlooked the fact the McCake is in daughterboard format. It might indeed be worth, for testing sake, trying a more conventional daughterboard with your PicoGUS if you have one available. And/or, just for S&G, hook up an outboard module via the TRS-MIDI route - to confirm, via a different route, whether your PicoGUS performs in MPU mode at all.

Tbh I can't think of any resource conflict in your situation either. And if there was an ISA bus speed problem, it should show itself in the PicoGUS's other modes - which presumably it isn't. We'll all keep thinking.

badmojo wrote on 2024-07-02, 22:46:

I got a v2.0 recently, specifically to use as an MPU-401 with a McCake, but it's not behaving correctly. The PC is a socket 7 Gi […]
Show full quote

I got a v2.0 recently, specifically to use as an MPU-401 with a McCake, but it's not behaving correctly. The PC is a socket 7 Gigabyte GA-586T2 with a K62+, I have a YMF719 based sound card installed but have removed that for troubleshooting.

- I need to use IRQ 2/9, but have also tried 7.
- I've tried DMA 1 and 3, and I've allocated those to 'Legacy ISA' in the BIOS.
- I'm using port 330, which is default, but I've also tried specifying that via the command line when I call PGUSINIT.
- I've tried the /s option when I call PGUSINIT.
- I've tried slowing the machine down.
- I've tried the McCake on another sound card and it works perfectly there.
- The PicoGUS has the latest firmware installed, I just bought it from Serdaco a couple of weeks ago.
- I'm using the latest version of PGUSINIT and the MPU ROM.
- I've tried different versions of the MT-32 ROMs

But regardless of what I try I hear incorrect notes playing, stuck notes, and generally sounding a bit off. When Ultima7 is loading for example, random instruments will play and persist until the music starts. And when the guardian's face appears, there will be random notes played when there shoudln't be anything but music.

Anyone got any ideas?

Hmm, that's an odd one. The PicoGUS 2.0 should work fine with a McCake (root42 uses this combination in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeejxbaAQ4g)
FYI DMA is not used at all in MPU mode and IRQ is only used in some older intelligent mode games, so I don't think this is a resource conflict problem. And your motherboard has a 430TX chipset which is the gold standard for PicoGUS compatibility.

A couple questions: when in MT-32 mode, does the display on the McCake show "*** PicoGUS ***" after running pgusinit? If not that points to an issue with the MIDI output on the PicoGUS being bad. Also does the PicoGUS work OK in other modes?

badmojo wrote on 2024-07-02, 22:46:

I got a v2.0 recently, specifically to use as an MPU-401 with a McCake, but it's not behaving correctly. The PC is a socket 7 Gi […]
Show full quote

I got a v2.0 recently, specifically to use as an MPU-401 with a McCake, but it's not behaving correctly. The PC is a socket 7 Gigabyte GA-586T2 with a K62+, I have a YMF719 based sound card installed but have removed that for troubleshooting.

- I need to use IRQ 2/9, but have also tried 7.
- I've tried DMA 1 and 3, and I've allocated those to 'Legacy ISA' in the BIOS.
- I'm using port 330, which is default, but I've also tried specifying that via the command line when I call PGUSINIT.
- I've tried the /s option when I call PGUSINIT.
- I've tried slowing the machine down.
- I've tried the McCake on another sound card and it works perfectly there.
- The PicoGUS has the latest firmware installed, I just bought it from Serdaco a couple of weeks ago.
- I'm using the latest version of PGUSINIT and the MPU ROM.
- I've tried different versions of the MT-32 ROMs

But regardless of what I try I hear incorrect notes playing, stuck notes, and generally sounding a bit off. When Ultima7 is loading for example, random instruments will play and persist until the music starts. And when the guardian's face appears, there will be random notes played when there shoudln't be anything but music.

Anyone got any ideas?

Do you have an oscilloscope? If yes, I would suggest taking a look at the ISA Bus clock signal and seeing if it is indeed correct.. I have a suspicion that your board may be overclocking the ISA bus without your knowledge, particularly if that K6-2+ is running at above 66MHz FSB on a 430TX board..

polpo wrote on 2024-07-03, 16:07:

A couple questions: when in MT-32 mode, does the display on the McCake show "*** PicoGUS ***" after running pgusinit? If not that points to an issue with the MIDI output on the PicoGUS being bad. Also does the PicoGUS work OK in other modes?

Yes the McCake does show "*** PicoGUS ***" and yes the other modes seem to work fine. I also tried the MPU401 with a GM daughterboard on there (X2GS) and it also seemed to work fine, no dodgy notes. I need to do more testing but the McCake seems to work OK for other games I've tried, it might just be Ultima 7. But then it's not consistent, most of the time it will be dodgy but some times it works OK - possibly after I've been testing it with other games first, not just after a cold boot...?

I'll keep trying different things but the PicoGUS does appear to be working as intended overall - the GUS emulation sounds great BTW.

@appiah4 no I don't have a scope but yes I'm using a 75Mhz FSB with my K6-2+, so that's in the mix. But as mentioned it seems to be consistently working overall, just not this specific combination of Ultima 7 + MT-32... which is of course the main reason I bought this setup 😂

Thanks for the replies all, I'll persist.

badmojo wrote on 2024-07-04, 12:06:

Yes the McCake does show "*** PicoGUS ***" and yes the other modes seem to work fine. I also tried the MPU401 with a GM daughter […]
Show full quote

polpo wrote on 2024-07-03, 16:07:

A couple questions: when in MT-32 mode, does the display on the McCake show "*** PicoGUS ***" after running pgusinit? If not that points to an issue with the MIDI output on the PicoGUS being bad. Also does the PicoGUS work OK in other modes?

Yes the McCake does show "*** PicoGUS ***" and yes the other modes seem to work fine. I also tried the MPU401 with a GM daughterboard on there (X2GS) and it also seemed to work fine, no dodgy notes. I need to do more testing but the McCake seems to work OK for other games I've tried, it might just be Ultima 7. But then it's not consistent, most of the time it will be dodgy but some times it works OK - possibly after I've been testing it with other games first, not just after a cold boot...?

I'll keep trying different things but the PicoGUS does appear to be working as intended overall - the GUS emulation sounds great BTW.

@appiah4 no I don't have a scope but yes I'm using a 75Mhz FSB with my K6-2+, so that's in the mix. But as mentioned it seems to be consistently working overall, just not this specific combination of Ultima 7 + MT-32... which is of course the main reason I bought this setup 😂

Thanks for the replies all, I'll persist.

Well, I still think it's the 75MHz that is causing the issue. Can you try the system at 66MHz?

PicoGUS really needs a mode/diag switch where it just monitors ISA bus for a few seconds and then reports frequency

badmojo wrote on 2024-07-04, 12:06:

Yes the McCake does show "*** PicoGUS ***" and yes the other modes seem to work fine. I also tried the MPU401 with a GM daughter […]
Show full quote

polpo wrote on 2024-07-03, 16:07:

A couple questions: when in MT-32 mode, does the display on the McCake show "*** PicoGUS ***" after running pgusinit? If not that points to an issue with the MIDI output on the PicoGUS being bad. Also does the PicoGUS work OK in other modes?

Yes the McCake does show "*** PicoGUS ***" and yes the other modes seem to work fine. I also tried the MPU401 with a GM daughterboard on there (X2GS) and it also seemed to work fine, no dodgy notes. I need to do more testing but the McCake seems to work OK for other games I've tried, it might just be Ultima 7. But then it's not consistent, most of the time it will be dodgy but some times it works OK - possibly after I've been testing it with other games first, not just after a cold boot...?

I'll keep trying different things but the PicoGUS does appear to be working as intended overall - the GUS emulation sounds great BTW.

@appiah4 no I don't have a scope but yes I'm using a 75Mhz FSB with my K6-2+, so that's in the mix. But as mentioned it seems to be consistently working overall, just not this specific combination of Ultima 7 + MT-32... which is of course the main reason I bought this setup 😂

Thanks for the replies all, I'll persist.

What's the exact version of Ultima 7 you are using? Part 1? Floppy/CDROM/?

If I can source the same version, I'll give it a test on my K6/2 system with PicoGUS and mt32-pi, which might at least rule in or out that basic combination (PicoGUS/mt32pi/Ultima7) as good.