elfoam wrote on 2023-04-16, 19:45:

polpo wrote on 2023-04-16, 16:36:

I need to improve the instructions for that as they’re mostly wrong because I went by memory. In the installer, choose the option to extract the files to C:\ULTRASND instead of going through setup. And then you can set the ULTRASND and ULTRADIR variables in your autoexec.bat file manually.

Thanks I got it to work, I went to the section called restore files and put *.*
I'm trying to get both it and a sound blaster working together now and make adlibtracker behave at the same time.. This is part of DOS I don't like to remember.

just make sure your address, irq, dma are different. Im running two cards and ill use 220,7,1 240,5, 3. If can use unisound you can manage it with the set blaster.

Pickle wrote on 2023-04-16, 21:30:

just make sure your address, irq, dma are different. Im running two cards and ill use 220,7,1 240,5, 3. If can use unisound you can manage it with the set blaster.

I got the picogus in gus mode working in DOOM, DOOM2 and Duke3d now it's running on irq 7 with the original setgus stuff, I couldn't get the games to play nice with me otherwise but now the midi patches and everything is working. I'll add the sound blaster card in now, I had edlib tracker and rad tracker working on the opl 3 sound blaster earlier but adlibtracker 2 was glitching out and playing garbage. I haven't actually used dos or a GUS since.. the late 90s so it's fairly tormenting for me at the moment, getting closer though.

I have a little 3 year old who's maxed out on the autistic stats, he's dancing his nut off and smiling with the demos, also we can put down his first ever game as Doom.. Who knew he was a keyboard man. Couldn't ever get him to touch a playstation controller, polpo has down the world a great favour with this card all around.

edit: Everything works now other than adlibtracker2, no clue about why that's playing garbage out of the sound blaster, everything else works. I can mix and match between the two cards on any game.

strange cause it sounds like your soundblaster is providing the opl support so with the ultrasound firmware is shouldnt care about address 388.

Pickle wrote on 2023-04-17, 01:28:

strange cause it sounds like your soundblaster is providing the opl support so with the ultrasound firmware is shouldnt care about address 388.

Adlibtracker 2 doesn't even work with only the sound blaster in. It must need some fancy memory settings or something. I'll figure that out another time. Every other opl program works and everything to do with the gus works so the hardware on both cards is good 😀

elfoam wrote on 2023-04-17, 02:01:

Adlibtracker 2 doesn't even work with only the sound blaster in. It must need some fancy memory settings or something. I'll figure that out another time. Every other opl program works and everything to do with the gus works so the hardware on both cards is good 😀

Adlib Tracker 2 is very speed sensitive, even if all other software runs fine. I saw you were using a Celeron 433, that might be too fast. The original OPL3 needs some time between register writes. If I recall correctly, there is a setting in the config file of AT2 where you can add a delay or something. I think it was mentioned on this forum somewhere (but I don't remember exactly).

digistorm wrote on 2023-04-17, 09:38:

elfoam wrote on 2023-04-17, 02:01:

Adlibtracker 2 doesn't even work with only the sound blaster in. It must need some fancy memory settings or something. I'll figure that out another time. Every other opl program works and everything to do with the gus works so the hardware on both cards is good 😀

Adlib Tracker 2 is very speed sensitive, even if all other software runs fine. I saw you were using a Celeron 433, that might be too fast. The original OPL3 needs some time between register writes. If I recall correctly, there is a setting in the config file of AT2 where you can add a delay or something. I think it was mentioned on this forum somewhere (but I don't remember exactly).

Very interesting ! that's probably the issue. I'll try slowing things down or adding the delay. Most of my greatest memories were from the slot one and socket 370 era so that's always the kind of machines I'm drawn to. I generally sell any 386 or 486 I come across but I have kept one of each in the shed somewhere. The picogus works perfectly on such a machine though. I'll be trying it on other chipsets as I keep building things up from my great shed of hoarding.

EDIT: After editing adtrack2.ini and changing opl_latency=0 to opl_latency=1 I fixed that problem ^^^

Greetings,

I am new here, really very new to retro PC related stuff,

I built a PicoGUS, but once installed it shows this as pgusinit.exe output:

PicoGUS detected: Firmware version: |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (a lot of these, its not this symbol, is double vertical line) |||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Pico GUS card using protocol 1, needs 221 ...
"and more text realted to firmware and pgusinit needs to go together"

Have I missed to set correctly ULTRASND variable?

FYI: The computer is an embedded 486 DX4, its a Wafer 4823 from year 2003

Thanks in advance,

I’d reflash the pico. The readme gives the exact format for ULTRASND. But you never show what your is. Double check your jumpers that Irq/dma match.
Any other sound cards in the system? Remove unneeded cards that might might conflict
Toned out the pins to check for shorts?

I have a feeling this is due to solder bridges on the ICs. Pickle has a good idea to check for shorts. Also give a close visual inspection with magnification.

I agree. Init problems tend to be soldering continuity issues, in my experience. I have built a couple of cards now. Each time, it was a process of careful Initial Build, followed by a detailed visual inspection of every single joint, using a $5 Jeweller's Loupe. There were ALWAYS several bridges and other non-ideal joints, requiring fixing. They are barely detectable to the naked eye.

Thanks for your advices,
I will check the entire board for shortcircuited ICs and trace problems,

I will report ASAP,

masteries wrote on 2023-04-18, 15:28:

Greetings, […]
Show full quote

Greetings,

I am new here, really very new to retro PC related stuff,

I built a PicoGUS, but once installed it shows this as pgusinit.exe output:

PicoGUS detected: Firmware version: |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (a lot of these, its not this symbol, is double vertical line) |||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Pico GUS card using protocol 1, needs 221 ...
"and more text realted to firmware and pgusinit needs to go together"

Have I missed to set correctly ULTRASND variable?

FYI: The computer is an embedded 486 DX4, its a Wafer 4823 from year 2003

Thanks in advance,

Hi Sir! I have a similar issue but the error was ...needs 225 and no vertical bars only empty space and the problem was bad solder in the raspeberry pico pins in the back of the card. I always solder the pico with pinheaders to look better

jcarvalho wrote on 2023-04-19, 23:41:

Hi Sir! I have a similar issue but the error was ...needs 225 and no vertical bars only empty space and the problem was bad solder in the raspeberry pico pins in the back of the card. I always solder the pico with pinheaders to look better

Thanks!

After deep review, I detected a defective ground path

Now it is solved and the PicoGUS is detected correctly,

Despite this, I tested it using shareware Doom v1.9...
I can hear the fx effects but not the music; at setup.exe
Gravis Ultrasound is selected for both music and fx

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

you have both ULTRASND and ULTRADIR set?
if your able try using the descent sound setup, i think that was the one just keyed me onto the ULTRADIR.

Pickle wrote on 2023-04-20, 16:05:

you have both ULTRASND and ULTRADIR set?
if your able try using the descent sound setup, i think that was the one just keyed me onto the ULTRADIR.

Please, illustrate me about ULTRADIR

due to I have no idea at all...

Only ULTRASND is set now,

ULTRADIR should be set to the location of where the GUS software installation is, typically C:\ULTRASND. Without this software installed there will be no MIDI patches.

I've updated the install instructions in the Wiki to walk through installing the GUS software and MIDI patches, and to set the ULTRADIR environment variable: https://github.com/polpo/picogus/wiki/Configu … nd-midi-patches

I have also taken the plung into making a picogus, but have run into an issue, the same issue that root42 on youtube is having. The card works on adlib, but when I try a gus pgusinit comes back card not responding to GUS commands on port 240. This is the only sound card in the system, and I have tried other ports.

The only thing I have noticed, is when loading firmware. I am unable to load from dos (card is not in firmware wirring mode), and when loading over USB, the file copies over and the green light on the pico comes on with tandy and ablib, but not GUS.

Any ideas where to start looking? I did check the soldering and found nothing, but going to look again.

webman wrote on 2023-04-20, 18:27:

I have also taken the plung into making a picogus, but have run into an issue, the same issue that root42 on youtube is having. The card works on adlib, but when I try a gus pgusinit comes back card not responding to GUS commands on port 240. This is the only sound card in the system, and I have tried other ports.

The only thing I have noticed, is when loading firmware. I am unable to load from dos (card is not in firmware wirring mode), and when loading over USB, the file copies over and the green light on the pico comes on with tandy and ablib, but not GUS.

Any ideas where to start looking? I did check the soldering and found nothing, but going to look again.

The issue that root42 had was that the IC U9, which handles the IOCHRDY line, had a solder bridge. And everything you describe sounds like IOCHRDY is not working properly. Give U9 a close inspection.

IT LIVES! cleaned up solder joints on U4 and U9 and its up and running. I can upgrade the firmware and play doom. Just wondering, should the midi player in the GUS files work on the card? I installed the GUS software and set the ultradir, but when trying to play midi in the program, it loads and then nothing.

Some more testing, while doom runs great, if I try jazz jackrabbit I get sound effects but no music. Pinball Fantasies just freezes on start. Would this be a memory issue?

update - Seems I have no MIDI