mbalmer wrote on 2026-02-15, 03:38:

The issue is that the typically-available (and inexpensive) I2C screens are either the size you see, or literally just too large to fit properly in a 5.25" drive bay unless you have a way to secure the OLED glass to the front panel without breaking the glass or the flex PCB tail -- and even then, it's a REAL tight fit. There are sizes in the middle that can be bought easily, but they tend to be extremely expensive when compared to the typical sizes and also don't necessarily work out-of-the-box with the I/O libraries that the existing hardware interface code is compiled against.

Not to bring up the competitor, but what display is the PicoIDE using? Is it not I2C?

I think I kinda answered my own question though... it uses a ESP32-C3 to handle the front panel separately from it's main RP board.

Matchstick wrote on 2026-02-15, 18:19:

mbalmer wrote on 2026-02-15, 03:38:

The issue is that the typically-available (and inexpensive) I2C screens are either the size you see, or literally just too large to fit properly in a 5.25" drive bay unless you have a way to secure the OLED glass to the front panel without breaking the glass or the flex PCB tail -- and even then, it's a REAL tight fit. There are sizes in the middle that can be bought easily, but they tend to be extremely expensive when compared to the typical sizes and also don't necessarily work out-of-the-box with the I/O libraries that the existing hardware interface code is compiled against.

Not to bring up the competitor, but what display is the PicoIDE using? Is it not I2C?

I think I kinda answered my own question though... it uses a ESP32-C3 to handle the front panel separately from it's main RP board.

You're right, the PicoIDE is using an I2C display, however, there's two major differences: first, they're using a 3.5" carrier, and second, they've done (more or less) what I just mentioned: they've got the OLED glass mounted directly to the front panel and the flex PCB tail goes into an FFC connector on the board itself. However, because it's a 3.5" carrier, an 0.96" display fits like a glove and also requires no additional weirdness in terms of libraries or code rewrites to get things off the ground.

And, as you mentioned, the actual Pico on their board isn't handling any of the front panel functions, whereas on the ZuluIDE, the RP2350 is handling that in addition to everything else.

Hi,

I've just got my zuluide and I'm looking for information on how to setup control board with screen and control.
Can anyone point me to relevant information on which components to buy and how to setup them?

I've already checked:
https://github.com/ZuluIDE/ZuluIDE-firmware/b … /main/README.md
but there doesn't seem to be any info on the topic.

Updated revision of the panel fully ready now, it looks very good !!
Will be available from my webshop soon : https://www.serdashop.com/ZuluIDE-V2-panel

Tualatin1p26Ghz wrote on 2026-02-19, 18:44:

Hi, […]
Show full quote

Hi,

I've just got my zuluide and I'm looking for information on how to setup control board with screen and control.
Can anyone point me to relevant information on which components to buy and how to setup them?

I've already checked:
https://github.com/ZuluIDE/ZuluIDE-firmware/b … /main/README.md
but there doesn't seem to be any info on the topic.

I'd be happy to help point you in the right direction. Where are you located, geographically? Are you within the US? EU? elsewhere?

aperezbios wrote on 2026-02-19, 23:03:

...
I'd be happy to help point you in the right direction. Where are you located, geographically? Are you within the US? EU? elsewhere?

Thanks! I'm in the EU.

dreamblaster wrote on 2026-02-19, 20:14:

Updated revision of the panel fully ready now, it looks very good !!
Will be available from my webshop soon : https://www.serdashop.com/ZuluIDE-V2-panel-pre-order

The attachment zulupanel_front_updated_wb.png is no longer available

Wow, this looks really good 😀
I will order one along with the ZuluIDE itself.

It will be fun to compare it later with the PicoIDE.
Thanks to all developers for their hard work!

crusher wrote on 2026-02-20, 07:48:

Wow, this looks really good :) I will order one along with the ZuluIDE itself. […]
Show full quote

dreamblaster wrote on 2026-02-19, 20:14:

Updated revision of the panel fully ready now, it looks very good !!
Will be available from my webshop soon : https://www.serdashop.com/ZuluIDE-V2-panel

The attachment zulupanel_front_updated_wb.png is no longer available

Wow, this looks really good 😀
I will order one along with the ZuluIDE itself.

It will be fun to compare it later with the PicoIDE.
Thanks to all developers for their hard work!

Thanks!!!!

dreamblaster wrote on 2026-02-19, 20:14:

Updated revision of the panel fully ready now, it looks very good !!
Will be available from my webshop soon : https://www.serdashop.com/ZuluIDE-V2-panel

Looks nice, but I don't want to wait plus I really would like to DIY.

I have a ZuluIDE V1 (Sadly purchased this not long before they put the V2 on sale 🙁 ). I put a Pi Pico W on the Addon board, and am having ZERO luck getting the device to grab my WiFi. I have followed all instructions, and both the RasPi and the ZuluIDE have the most up-2-date firmware on them. On the Pi Pico, I see it blink 3 times, then the light goes off, never to come back again. I dont see anything but one blink code presented in documentation, which is it should stay lit if connected. At this point I am lost. The Pi Pico seems to be at least working, as when I hit the BOOTSEL button plugging it into my non-retro machine, I indeed get the File Browser window opening up, and when I drag the UF2 file to it, that window closes. One thing that doesn't seem to be happening is that I don't see any confirmation window open (which in some documentation states is supposed to happen). I must be doing something wrong, but I haven't been able to come up with it, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also, this is what I get in the log from the ZuluIDE:

[11ms] Platform: ZuluIDE RP2040
[11ms] FW Version: 2026.02.20-release Feb 20 2026 17:48:07
[11ms] DIP switch settings: cablesel 0, drive_id 0 debug log 1
[12ms] Flash chip size: 2048 kB
[13ms] Flash unique ID: 0x37806A93476464E6
[13ms] DBG Loading FPGA bitstream
[100ms] FPGA initialization succeeded
[100ms] I2S audio to expansion header enabled
[101ms] -- System clock is set to 135428571Hz
[103ms] Hardware UI not found.
[103ms] I2C server not found
[109ms] SD card detected, FAT64 volume size: 119270 MB
[109ms] SD MID: 0xFE, OID: 0x34 0x32
[109ms] SD Name: SD16G
[110ms] SD Date: 9/2024
[110ms] SD Serial: 0x000002C4
[242ms] Initialized platform with filename request pipe
[254ms] Device is a CDROM drive
[331ms] Device 0 configuration:
[331ms] -- Max PIO mode: 3 (phy max 3)
[332ms] -- Max UDMA mode: 2 (phy max 0)
[332ms] -- Max blocksize: 4096 (phy max 4096)
[509ms] DBG -- IDE PHY reset, operating as primary drive without secondary drive
[587ms] Device 0 configuration:
[587ms] -- Max PIO mode: 3 (phy max 3)
[588ms] -- Max UDMA mode: 2 (phy max 0)
[588ms] -- Max blocksize: 4096 (phy max 4096)
[765ms] DBG -- IDE PHY reset, operating as primary drive without secondary drive
[788ms] Parsing images on the SD card
[831ms] -- Loading last used image: "Sound Blaster Audigy ZS 2.ISO"
[831ms] Loading image "Sound Blaster Audigy ZS 2.ISO"
[864ms] DBG No container metadata found, treating as a normal image
[864ms] DBG Image file Sound Blaster Audigy ZS 2.ISO size 680853504
[865ms] DBG Image file Sound Blaster Audigy ZS 2.ISO is contiguous, sectors 379904 to 1709695
[894ms] Initialization complete!
[895ms] DBG No Zulu Control board or I2C server found, disabling 2nd core
[915ms] Max volume set to 100/100
[916ms] DBG IDE_EVENT_HWRST
[936ms] DBG -- IDE regs: STATUS:0x00 CMD:0xFF DEV:0x00 DEVCTRL:0xFF ERROR:0x01 FEATURE:0xAA LBAL:0x01 LBAM:0x14 LBAH:0xEB
[2000ms] FPGA license request code: 0xE6 0x64 0x64 0x47 0x93 0x6A 0x80 0x37 0xFF 0xFF 0xFF 0xDF 0xF8 0x91 0x7C 0xF3 0xF0
[2000ms] FPGA license accepted with status 0x80

trumpetlicks wrote on 2026-02-23, 15:51:

I have a ZuluIDE V1 (Sadly purchased this not long before they put the V2 on sale 🙁 ). I put a Pi Pico W on the Addon board, and am having ZERO luck getting the device to grab my WiFi. I have followed all instructions, and both the RasPi and the ZuluIDE have the most up-2-date firmware on them. On the Pi Pico, I see it blink 3 times, then the light goes off, never to come back again. I dont see anything but one blink code presented in documentation, which is it should stay lit if connected. At this point I am lost. The Pi Pico seems to be at least working, as when I hit the BOOTSEL button plugging it into my non-retro machine, I indeed get the File Browser window opening up, and when I drag the UF2 file to it, that window closes. One thing that doesn't seem to be happening is that I don't see any confirmation window open (which in some documentation states is supposed to happen). I must be doing something wrong, but I haven't been able to come up with it, any help would be greatly appreciated.

To help you better, can you please post these two things:

• Pictures of the ZuluIDE with and without the shield board attached
• A copy of your zuluide.ini file

There's quite a few things that could be going wrong, but without some more clarification, I'm not sure where to start.

zuluide.ini file:

BELOW THIS LINE
[IDE]
Device=CDROM

[UI]
wifipassword=my_wifi
wifissid=my_wifi_pswd
ABOVE THIS LINE

By the way, just for more information, the ZuluIDE works fine, and the SD Card is not shown, but is definitely in when using. The zuluide.ini file is stored on said SD Card.

trumpetlicks wrote on 2026-02-23, 15:55:

This is what I get in the log from the ZuluIDE: […]
Show full quote

This is what I get in the log from the ZuluIDE:

[11ms] Platform: ZuluIDE RP2040
[11ms] FW Version: 2026.02.20-release Feb 20 2026 17:48:07
[snip]
[103ms] I2C server not found

"I2C server not found means "game over"

There's no functional communication between the ZuluIDE and the Pico W. The real question is why. Please either open a discussion up via GitHub at https://github.com/ZuluIDE/ZuluIDE-firmware/d … ategory=general, or feel free to contact us directly at support@zuluide.com. We can't do this level of technical support via forums.

I figured I should NOT be seeing that if indeed it saw the RasPi Responding. I went ahead and sent an email, as I don't think that ALL people are having this problem. I copied most of the text that I have sent here in the email. Also, because it is at the bottom of the email, I will say that the log file recognizes the I2S of the aux board, AND I have buzzed out the I2C lines between the RasPi and the connector that goes drops down to the main ZuluIDE board.

trumpetlicks wrote on 2026-02-23, 19:40:

I figured I should NOT be seeing that if indeed it saw the RasPi Responding. I went ahead and sent an email, as I don't think that ALL people are having this problem. I copied most of the text that I have sent here in the email. Also, because it is at the bottom of the email, I will say that the log file recognizes the I2S of the aux board, AND I have buzzed out the I2C lines between the RasPi and the connector that goes drops down to the main ZuluIDE board.

Based on the better photos you provided me with via e-mail, one of which I'm sharing publicly (cropped) here, it's pretty obvious that you've got a solder bridge between the two i2c communications pins. Once you fix that, you should be good to go. Ideally, there would not be anywhere near as much space between the Pico W and carrier PCB, but it's not worth trying to fix at this point.

aperezbios wrote on 2026-02-24, 03:20:

trumpetlicks wrote on 2026-02-23, 19:40:

I figured I should NOT be seeing that if indeed it saw the RasPi Responding. I went ahead and sent an email, as I don't think that ALL people are having this problem. I copied most of the text that I have sent here in the email. Also, because it is at the bottom of the email, I will say that the log file recognizes the I2S of the aux board, AND I have buzzed out the I2C lines between the RasPi and the connector that goes drops down to the main ZuluIDE board.

Based on the better photos you provided me with via e-mail, one of which I'm sharing publicly (cropped) here, it's pretty obvious that you've got a solder bridge between the two i2c communications pins. Once you fix that, you should be good to go. Ideally, there would not be anywhere near as much space between the Pico W and carrier PCB, but it's not worth trying to fix at this point.

WOW, I thought that was a bubble of Solder Flux 🤣. Thank you sooooooo much. Imagine that, after I fixed the soldering, now the Pico is seeing and connecting to the network 😀 🤣

trumpetlicks wrote on 2026-02-23, 17:11:

zuluide.ini file: […]
Show full quote

zuluide.ini file:

BELOW THIS LINE
[IDE]
Device=CDROM

[UI]
wifipassword=my_wifi
wifissid=my_wifi_pswd
ABOVE THIS LINE

If i was you, i would install a socket for the pico, like this you can remove and change it one day if it breaks.

Also use a multimeter on continuity mode, it's what i do always when i do soldering.
It shouldn't bip on two next pads.

Something like that :

TgamesFR wrote on 2026-02-24, 21:14:

If i was you, i would install a socket for the pico, like this you can remove and change it one day if it breaks. […]
Show full quote

trumpetlicks wrote on 2026-02-23, 17:11:

zuluide.ini file: […]
Show full quote

zuluide.ini file:

BELOW THIS LINE
[IDE]
Device=CDROM

[UI]
wifipassword=my_wifi
wifissid=my_wifi_pswd
ABOVE THIS LINE

If i was you, i would install a socket for the pico, like this you can remove and change it one day if it breaks.

Also use a multimeter on continuity mode, it's what i do always when i do soldering.
It shouldn't bip on two next pads.

Something like that :

Oh, when I was shown the solder bridge, I fixed it in the next 5 minutes. Sometimes I struggle because I have the iron, the hot air, etc... but I don't have good magnification yet. Im just getting back into soldering, etc...