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Anyone assembled one of these ESS1868F clones?

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First post, by keenerb

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https://github.com/hkzlab/ES1868_ISA8

Seems like a neat project; does it work well? I know ESS1868 clones go for ~$20 USD on ebay, but I really enjoy using parts I put together myself.

Reply 1 of 25, by dionb

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No, but looks good and he has some other very nice stuff too. I think I would even prefer his ES688 as it's non-PnP, which makes a lot more sense IMHO for 8b ISA:
https://github.com/hkzlab/ES688_ISA8

Almost tempted to start ordering some PCBs - it's been too long 😉

Reply 2 of 25, by 84TAVeRT

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I was thinking about this myself, but i cannot find a parts list for his cards.

If someone comes up with the BOM, I will order some bare boards.

Thanks,
Chris

Reply 3 of 25, by keenerb

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I am compiling a parts list right now, if you'd like to help I'll send you an invite to the google spreadsheet and we can embark on this journey of discovery together. I've got es1868f chips coming this week.

Reply 4 of 25, by 84TAVeRT

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I am wanting all my custom built boards to be purple.

I think the es1868f is the one to build. the board is smaller and the number of components doesn't look too daunting.

I don't know if I will be much help with the identification of the components, but I will be interested in the finished BOM

Thanks,
Chris

Reply 5 of 25, by 84TAVeRT

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ahh i see now, he has all the parts in the gerber files.

I can work with that 😁

later,
Chris

Reply 6 of 25, by keenerb

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dionb wrote on 2022-06-20, 23:36:

No, but looks good and he has some other very nice stuff too. I think I would even prefer his ES688 as it's non-PnP, which makes a lot more sense IMHO for 8b ISA:
https://github.com/hkzlab/ES688_ISA8

Almost tempted to start ordering some PCBs - it's been too long 😉

The 1868f on 16-bit ISA cards works great with the unisound driver, I'm pursuing that project myself. I was told the ess688 doesn't have a hardware MPU so that is less that ideal for my purposes also.

Reply 7 of 25, by 84TAVeRT

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i think i have most of the bom figured out.

Reply 10 of 25, by 84TAVeRT

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I think there are some small surface mount components on the back of the card. I was unable to identify those.

on a side note, i found my original sbpro 2.0 in a drawer the other day 😁

Reply 11 of 25, by keenerb

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84TAVeRT wrote on 2022-07-12, 18:55:

I think there are some small surface mount components on the back of the card. I was unable to identify those.

on a side note, i found my original sbpro 2.0 in a drawer the other day 😁

I received my boards from jlcpcb yesterday, they look like pullup/down resistors to me. On another ES1868F board I have, there are several 473 SMD resistors performing what appears to be approximately the same function.

Reply 12 of 25, by keenerb

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https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hkzlab/ES18 … S1868.kicad_pcb

```
(module Inductor_SMD:L_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.15x1.40mm_HandSolder (layer B.Cu) (tedit 5F68FEF0) (tstamp 60E998D6)
(at 304.165 150.241 90)
(descr "Inductor SMD 0805 (2012 Metric), square (rectangular) end terminal, IPC_7351 nominal with elongated pad for handsoldering. (Body size source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BsfQQ … dit?usp=sharing), generated with kicad-footprint-generator")
(tags "inductor handsolder")
(path /611FBE25)
(attr smd)
(fp_text reference L5 (at 2.54 0 180) (layer B.SilkS)
(effects (font (size 1 1) (thickness 0.15)) (justify mirror))
)
```

Text reference L5 (one of the pads) says it's an Inductor_SMD:L_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.15x1.40mm_HandSolder maybe?

Reply 13 of 25, by zwrr

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I am making ES1868 clones following this project.

I have a question.

The two resistors, R28 and R29, are marked as 2.7 on the drawing.

Should it be 2.7Ω or 2.7KΩ?

Pentium MMX233, Zida TX98-3D, 64MB, Riva 128, Aztech Waverider Pro 32-3D, HardMPU-wt


K6-III+550, FIC VA-503+, 256MB, Voodoo3 2000, Creative AWE32, HardMPU-wt


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Reply 14 of 25, by Thermalwrong

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From the resistor band colours it looks like 2.7 ohms

Reply 15 of 25, by zwrr

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Thermalwrong wrote on 2023-04-08, 01:48:

From the resistor band colours it looks like 2.7 ohms

Thanks, I've got the PCB made to order and am about to try and build this card, have no prior knowledge of circuit design, it's a challenge.

Pentium MMX233, Zida TX98-3D, 64MB, Riva 128, Aztech Waverider Pro 32-3D, HardMPU-wt


K6-III+550, FIC VA-503+, 256MB, Voodoo3 2000, Creative AWE32, HardMPU-wt


Tualatin-1.4G, QDI A10BM, 512MB, G400, Voodoo2 SLI, Creative AWE64

Reply 16 of 25, by Thermalwrong

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zwrr wrote on 2023-04-08, 06:51:
Thermalwrong wrote on 2023-04-08, 01:48:

From the resistor band colours it looks like 2.7 ohms

Thanks, I've got the PCB made to order and am about to try and build this card, have no prior knowledge of circuit design, it's a challenge.

It's good practise 😀 I put together a Gameblaster clone card from chipkin.ru (SoundTronix 1099) a few years back and it was a similarly harrowing experience, but worth it. That had a similar 'guide' to construction with mostly just silkscreen markings on the PCB to know what goes where.
Just checked the Bill of Materials on Mouser and it does say 2.71 ohms there so that should be it.

Reply 17 of 25, by zwrr

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I just finished assembling this sound card and the same author's SAM2695 MIDI module.

after testing, the sound card and MIDI module work fine. It was a pleasant experience.

The test environment is:
Pentium 166
Asus T2P4 ver 3.10
16MB x2
S3 Virge/DX
ES1868 ISA 8bit + SAM2695 MIDI module

Use UNISOUND to configure sound card in DOS 6.22 system.

The attachment 1.jpg is no longer available
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Pentium MMX233, Zida TX98-3D, 64MB, Riva 128, Aztech Waverider Pro 32-3D, HardMPU-wt


K6-III+550, FIC VA-503+, 256MB, Voodoo3 2000, Creative AWE32, HardMPU-wt


Tualatin-1.4G, QDI A10BM, 512MB, G400, Voodoo2 SLI, Creative AWE64

Reply 18 of 25, by feipoa

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I assembled one of these many years ago. Even with the Volume set at level 8 (I also tried 9) in ESSVOL, the output volume level is pretty low. I have to crank my speakers all the way up. Does this card provide amplified sound output?

Does anyone know what the volume header on the top left of the card is for? Often ISA cards have a jumper which enables amplified sound. I was wondering if the middle pin on this header does that.

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Reply 19 of 25, by LSS10999

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A few months ago I assembled one but I couldn't find a good 3D printable bracket. I did order a few that I could find online but the jack holes don't match, so I'm just using it for testing purposes for now.

While the card was designed for ES1868, it is also compatible with ES1869.

As of the last version (v1.2) a CD audio connector with a custom pinout has been added. Haven't tested that part but it should work okay, just that you need to mod the CD audio cable in accordance to its pinout.

feipoa wrote on 2025-03-07, 01:51:

I assembled one of these many years ago. Even with the Volume set at level 8 (I also tried 9) in ESSVOL, the output volume level is pretty low. I have to crank my speakers all the way up. Does this card provide amplified sound output?

The card does have amplified output alongside non-amplified line out. Haven't tested the amplified part, however, as the volume of non-amplified line out was sufficient in my case, when testing using a pair of generic earphones. I'm using UNISOUND to initialize the card (the /XEA parameter should be used per the project's README.MD).

feipoa wrote on 2025-03-07, 01:51:

Does anyone know what the volume header on the top left of the card is for? Often ISA cards have a jumper which enables amplified sound. I was wondering if the middle pin on this header does that.

I haven't really checked the pins on the "Vol. Btns" header, but it seems to connect to the pins of the external EEPROM (93LC66) with 1K resistors in between.