Shreddoc wrote on 2025-03-25, 22:25:

uniQ wrote on 2025-03-25, 14:23:

I just installed my brand new PicoGUS 2.0 together with the WP32 McCake Wavetable board and it's simply amazing under DOS. The o […]
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I just installed my brand new PicoGUS 2.0 together with the WP32 McCake Wavetable board and it's simply amazing under DOS.
The only problem so far is to get this setup working with SB2.0 Emulation under Windows 3.11.
I tried SB1.5 and SB2.0 (old and new) drivers but as soon as I start a MIDI playback, the system just freezes.

Windows sounds work fine with the SB1.5 driver but also crashes the system when I use SB2.0 drivers.

Anyone else or am I doing something wrong?

The short answer is that PicoGUS has been developed to work with DOS software.

Windows compatibility for PicoGUS's different modes varies, and that is entirely to be expected.

I thought so, thanks for the clarification.
But maybe someone here in the forums has successfully installed the PGUS in SB mode on Windows 3.11.

Can someone tell me why the music in the GUS mode is playing in Doom, Duke3D, but there are no sounds?

Mr.Hunt wrote on 2025-03-26, 09:42:

Can someone tell me why the music in the GUS mode is playing in Doom, Duke3D, but there are no sounds?

I just tested this configuration and it's working fine on the card so doesn't seem to be a compatibility issue. If you are experiencing missing sound or music my guess is the IRQ/DMA may not be clear or not set correctly. If you are using IRQ2 with a system that supports ACPI, see if it can be disabled in the BIOS to free up IRQ2 or try a different free IRQ.

I assume you have followed all the setup instructions around setting dos for Ultrasound usage with the ULTRASND/ULTRADIR vars and the ultrasound files on your drive?

I am trying to install the PicoGUS drivers in Windows 3.11 but using the SB 2.0 mode instead and have problems. If I install the default Windows 3.11 SB 1.5 driver I have sound but I don't have the SB 2.0's sample rates and DMA playback. If I try to install the original Sound Blaster 2.0 drivers from the Creative's driver disk installation starts and passes at amAddress testing, IRQ testing but it fails at DMA testing and setup does not continue. I have managed to extract files and install drivers manually using SYSTEM.INI file and now when Windows starts I have startup sound but when trying to play a WAV file in Media Player the computer locks up.
Has anybody here tried to install PicoGUS in Windows 3.1/3.11 but using the SB 2.0 mode instead? What I am doing wrong? The PicoGUS is set at Address 220, IRQ 5 and DMA 1.

VladoT wrote on 2025-03-26, 12:09:

I am trying to install the PicoGUS drivers in Windows 3.11 but using the SB 2.0 mode instead and have problems. If I install the default Windows 3.11 SB 1.5 driver I have sound but I don't have the SB 2.0's sample rates and DMA playback. If I try to install the original Sound Blaster 2.0 drivers from the Creative's driver disk installation starts and passes at amAddress testing, IRQ testing but it fails at DMA testing and setup does not continue. I have managed to extract files and install drivers manually using SYSTEM.INI file and now when Windows starts I have startup sound but when trying to play a WAV file in Media Player the computer locks up.
Has anybody here tried to install PicoGUS in Windows 3.1/3.11 but using the SB 2.0 mode instead? What I am doing wrong? The PicoGUS is set at Address 220, IRQ 5 and DMA 1.

I have exactly the same problem.

I stick to GUS mode for Windows 3.1... Works flawlessly.

For everyone who wanted to use PicoGUS with industrial SBC's - I made PicoGUS v2.0 PCB variant for PC/104 bus (which is same as ISA bus just in other physical form). All source files and files required to manufacture PCB are available at this link: https://github.com/UzixLS/picogus104 . Small demo video of running board you can found there: https://t.me/uzixls/210 .

Uzix wrote on 2025-03-29, 18:35:

For everyone who wanted to use PicoGUS with industrial SBC's - I made PicoGUS v2.0 PCB variant for PC/104 bus (which is same as ISA bus just in other physical form). All source files and files required to manufacture PCB are available at this link: https://github.com/UzixLS/picogus104 . Small demo video of running board you can found there: https://t.me/uzixls/210 .

ah y0u beat me to it! I have a PC/104 PicoGus 2.0 as well, I just haven't posted it yet. it's standard PC/104 size which is 90mm x 96mm I believe. if anyone is interested let me know.

MJay99 wrote on 2025-03-23, 12:01:

Distemper wrote on 2025-03-23, 10:40:

pgusinit detects and shows resources just fine, and I got FX sounds in all the games. But I got absolutely no General MIDI, MPU-401 or Ultra Gus music in any games 🙁

Just a basic verification: Is there an e.g. ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND variable set and pointing to the gus software directory containing the midi patches?
(from: https://github.com/polpo/picogus/wiki/Configu … ng-your-PicoGUS )

yes, there is ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND and all the stuff there, I've downloaded from PicoGUS github wiki.

One week later and looots of tries of different configurations, absolutely no music in no games. I have also noticed I can not flash the PicoGUS, as it says "card is not in the flashing mode" or so... it is very, very frustrating. For me PicoGUS seems to be a piece of useless junk.

Distemper wrote on 2025-03-30, 14:30:

MJay99 wrote on 2025-03-23, 12:01:

Distemper wrote on 2025-03-23, 10:40:

pgusinit detects and shows resources just fine, and I got FX sounds in all the games. But I got absolutely no General MIDI, MPU-401 or Ultra Gus music in any games 🙁

Just a basic verification: Is there an e.g. ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND variable set and pointing to the gus software directory containing the midi patches?
(from: https://github.com/polpo/picogus/wiki/Configu … ng-your-PicoGUS )

yes, there is ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND and all the stuff there, I've downloaded from PicoGUS github wiki.

One week later and looots of tries of different configurations, absolutely no music in no games. I have also noticed I can not flash the PicoGUS, as it says "card is not in the flashing mode" or so... it is very, very frustrating. For me PicoGUS seems to be a piece of useless junk.

Welp... When it works, pretty much everyone that got their hands on it thinks it the best project in the hobby by far... So lets get to work! Can you provide full system specs, autoexec & config?

I can help with @Distemper's reported basic config, from their earlier post.

* Abit AB-PB4 motherboard
* ALi M1489/87 (FinALI-486 PCI Chipset) Chipset
* DOS 6.22
* PicoGUS is the only extra card in the system

Their reported symptoms : Sound effects in games are working, but music is not. No MIDI or Ultrasound music in any game. Some music tests (e.g. Duke3D) do make the PicoGUS LED blink. ULTRADIR is set. Also, cannot flash the PicoGUS as it says "card is not in the flashing mode".

--

@Distemper : as Linoleum notes, it would be good to see your autoexec.bat and config.sys, if you can attach them to a post, or paste them somehow. If you can also show us the results of a "DIR" command run in your C:\ULTRASND directory, that would also be a useful confirmation. And, a question : what external MIDI hardware are you using, when you are testing General MIDI music?

@Distemper
- if possible, report on jumper settings used (there should be 3 jumpers for IRQ and DMA).
- Did you try updating/refreshing the firmware? See: https://youtu.be/z4NYW5GQ3vc?t=316
- Also, when you say you get a "card not in the flashing mode" error message, is it when you try changing the mode with pgusinit?

Distemper wrote on 2025-03-23, 10:40:

Hi everyone! I need some help with PicoGUS 2.0 running in pure DOS 6.22. […]
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Hi everyone! I need some help with PicoGUS 2.0 running in pure DOS 6.22.

pgusinit detects and shows resources just fine, and I got FX sounds in all the games. But I got absolutely no General MIDI, MPU-401 or Ultra Gus music in any games 🙁

Some games like Duke Nukem 3D detect PicoGUS for music, a yellow lamp on PicoGUS is blinking, but no sound can be heard. Some games like Heroes2 are freezing up trying to autodetect or configure music card manually.

PicoGUS is the only sound card in the system, running at Port 240 , IRQ 5 and DMA 1. MB ABit AB-PB4 with ALi M1489/87 (FinALi-486 PCI Chipset) Chipset

I note you did not specify any MIDI device attached to the PicoGUS - In this case the PicoGUS will receive the MIDI/MPU-401 data but has no way to render it into audio unless you have something like an MT32-PI, wavetable card or other midi device. So this is expected behaviour.

For Ultrasound music I've found it's a bit hit and miss, but you should be able to use it with Duke 3D (it works for me) by selecting gravis ultrasound in the setup program. It takes about 10 seconds to initialize the card and then the music comes through. It will use the ULTRASND variable to automatically set the IRQ/DMA/Port, so that must be set correctly and match the jumpers on the physical card. The IRQ must also be clear (not used by any other cards) or it may fail to load the music patches into memory.

To use General MIDI without an external MIDI device, you will need to use the UltraMID driver which redirects General MIDI data to the Ultrasound processor. That can be found in the ULTRADIR directory.

snipe3687 wrote on 2025-03-29, 23:36:

Uzix wrote on 2025-03-29, 18:35:

For everyone who wanted to use PicoGUS with industrial SBC's - I made PicoGUS v2.0 PCB variant for PC/104 bus (which is same as ISA bus just in other physical form). All source files and files required to manufacture PCB are available at this link: https://github.com/UzixLS/picogus104 . Small demo video of running board you can found there: https://t.me/uzixls/210 .

ah y0u beat me to it! I have a PC/104 PicoGus 2.0 as well, I just haven't posted it yet. it's standard PC/104 size which is 90mm x 96mm I believe. if anyone is interested let me know.

I would definitely be interested in a standard size PC/104 PicoGUS to go with my Vortex86 board :)

NeoG_ wrote on 2025-03-26, 10:25:

Mr.Hunt wrote on 2025-03-26, 09:42:

Can someone tell me why the music in the GUS mode is playing in Doom, Duke3D, but there are no sounds?

I just tested this configuration and it's working fine on the card so doesn't seem to be a compatibility issue. If you are experiencing missing sound or music my guess is the IRQ/DMA may not be clear or not set correctly. If you are using IRQ2 with a system that supports ACPI, see if it can be disabled in the BIOS to free up IRQ2 or try a different free IRQ.

I assume you have followed all the setup instructions around setting dos for Ultrasound usage with the ULTRASND/ULTRADIR vars and the ultrasound files on your drive?

Hi! I checked the settings, everything is correct. There is one thing, but maybe there is some kind of conflict? Because I use picogus as second sound card, but first awe64 at another port and dma and work well. I know some users that also used picogus like a second card with ESS and have this problem, music are work well but sound not.

Mr.Hunt wrote on 2025-04-01, 14:37:

Hi! I checked the settings, everything is correct. There is one thing, but maybe there is some kind of conflict? Because I use picogus as second sound card, but first awe64 at another port and dma and work well. I know some users that also used picogus like a second card with ESS and have this problem, music are work well but sound not.

I am using the PicoGUS along side 2 other sound cards (ESS 1869F ISA and SoundBlaster Live! CT4830 PCI) and everything seems to work as long as everything stays out of the way of each other resources wise. EG I don't initialise the Live! card in DOS mode and make sure there are no IRQ/DMA/Port conflicts between the two ISA cards.

I did see the ESS SOLO1 thread you mentioned and it seemed to be an issue where the card was autoconfiguring to resources that were undesirable and that required a specific fix.

What does your resource map look like? What have you got in your Autoexec.bat file to initialise the PicoGUS and the AWE64? (include the init programs as well as the variables)

PSA that probably applies to very few people: If you want to access just the OPL2 emulation in windows 95/98 with the PicoGUS in Adlib mode, rather counter-intuitively windows will disable the Adlib device if the PicoGUS responds on port 388 (in Adlib or SB mode) during boot, possibly due to an unexpected or malformed response from the card.

It works if the card is in Tandy mode when windows loads and then you use the DOS prompt to change the card into Adlib mode after windows has started which prevents the PicoGUS from responding on port 388 during boot. I used a minimised batch file in the startup folder to automate the switch.

NeoG_ wrote on 2025-04-02, 09:05:

I am using the PicoGUS along side 2 other sound cards (ESS 1869F ISA and SoundBlaster Live! CT4830 PCI) and everything seems to […]
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Mr.Hunt wrote on 2025-04-01, 14:37:

Hi! I checked the settings, everything is correct. There is one thing, but maybe there is some kind of conflict? Because I use picogus as second sound card, but first awe64 at another port and dma and work well. I know some users that also used picogus like a second card with ESS and have this problem, music are work well but sound not.

I am using the PicoGUS along side 2 other sound cards (ESS 1869F ISA and SoundBlaster Live! CT4830 PCI) and everything seems to work as long as everything stays out of the way of each other resources wise. EG I don't initialise the Live! card in DOS mode and make sure there are no IRQ/DMA/Port conflicts between the two ISA cards.

I did see the ESS SOLO1 thread you mentioned and it seemed to be an issue where the card was autoconfiguring to resources that were undesirable and that required a specific fix.

What does your resource map look like? What have you got in your Autoexec.bat file to initialise the PicoGUS and the AWE64? (include the init programs as well as the variables)

Hi! It's my configuration autoexec.bat

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P300 E620 J200 F398 T6
SET ULTRASND=240,3,3,7,7
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0

unisound.com /C1 /V80 /VL80 /VC80
pgusinit.exe

I use F398 for CQM, because on 388 i have OPL3

Mr.Hunt wrote on 2025-04-03, 14:51:

Hi! It's my configuration autoexec.bat […]
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NeoG_ wrote on 2025-04-02, 09:05:

I am using the PicoGUS along side 2 other sound cards (ESS 1869F ISA and SoundBlaster Live! CT4830 PCI) and everything seems to […]
Show full quote

Mr.Hunt wrote on 2025-04-01, 14:37:

Hi! I checked the settings, everything is correct. There is one thing, but maybe there is some kind of conflict? Because I use picogus as second sound card, but first awe64 at another port and dma and work well. I know some users that also used picogus like a second card with ESS and have this problem, music are work well but sound not.

I am using the PicoGUS along side 2 other sound cards (ESS 1869F ISA and SoundBlaster Live! CT4830 PCI) and everything seems to work as long as everything stays out of the way of each other resources wise. EG I don't initialise the Live! card in DOS mode and make sure there are no IRQ/DMA/Port conflicts between the two ISA cards.

I did see the ESS SOLO1 thread you mentioned and it seemed to be an issue where the card was autoconfiguring to resources that were undesirable and that required a specific fix.

What does your resource map look like? What have you got in your Autoexec.bat file to initialise the PicoGUS and the AWE64? (include the init programs as well as the variables)

Hi! It's my configuration autoexec.bat

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P300 E620 J200 F398 T6
SET ULTRASND=240,3,3,7,7
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0

unisound.com /C1 /V80 /VL80 /VC80
pgusinit.exe

I use F398 for CQM, because on 388 i have OPL3

I don't believe your sound blaster dma and high dma should be the same... High DMA is generally 5 or a higher number.

Is there a known issue with PicoGUS and Doom in GUS mode?

Situation

I have a DOS 6.22 system with a YMF7xx card doing Soundblaster things and a GUS Max 1.8 doing Gravis music. They play together nicely and behave.
(Super Socket 7 VIA MVP3 Chipset - AMD K6-2+ @600MHz)

SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D0 T4 P320

I have acquired a PicoGUS.

I removed the real GUS and installed the PicoGUS. Set it to use port 240, DMA 1, and IRQ 5 and replaced ULTRAINIT with PIGUSINIT

The PicoGUS initialises. Warcraft 2 setup menu detects the GUS and music tests fine.

Doom (and Doom 2) 1.9 both hang when loading with

1GUS1
2GUS2
3  calling DMX_INIT

System locks and a hard reset is required.

I also tested MIDIDEMO from the ULTRASND directory - this works fine with my real GUS. The PicoGUS results in

1Error loading patch cymcrsh1: No response from DMA channel

Again, is this a known bug?

I was under the impression that this device had good GUS compatibility but so far it doesn't seem that way... or have I missed something in my configuration?