FreddyV wrote on 2025-03-11, 20:47:

This one is a huge step for the board as it can now use USB Drive, plus MicroSD as a "Network" like drive. Then, it has Full acc […]
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This one is a huge step for the board as it can now use USB Drive, plus MicroSD as a "Network" like drive.
Then, it has Full access to the disks in FAT32/ExtFS from DOS.
USB Disk can be removed at any time, to copy files to the PC from a modern PC.
No more need to extract the SD to copy a file or program.
You can also edit the PicoMEM config file, Wifi setup file, and copy/rename floppy image from DOS.

Lovely stuff. Great features implemented in a smart way.

What's next on the list?

p.s. At this point I have accepted the fact that support for USB Keyboard & Mouse has too many technical challenges.

FreddyV wrote on 2025-03-11, 20:47:

Hi, […]
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Hi,

I published the latest #PicoMEM firmware.

This one is a huge step for the board as it can now use USB Drive, plus MicroSD as a "Network" like drive.
Then, it has Full access to the disks in FAT32/ExtFS from DOS.

USB Disk can be removed at any time, to copy files to the PC from a modern PC.
No more need to extract the SD to copy a file or program.

You can also edit the PicoMEM config file, Wifi setup file, and copy/rename floppy image from DOS.

https://github.com/FreddyVRetro/ISA-PicoMEM

You can see a demo in video here :
https://x.com/FreddyVETELE/status/1894861569231901111

Thank you! That's a great feature, will definitely flash and try this tomorrow. Just registered vogons now to thank you for continuing working on the Picomem it's such an awesome product. Has made my retro computing easier and even more fun.

Freddy, any hopes in the future that the PicoMEM will work with higher spec boards such as 386/33? The bus speed is still 8mhz, right?
Thanks!

joebelter@hotmail.co wrote on 2025-03-15, 00:49:

Freddy, any hopes in the future that the PicoMEM will work with higher spec boards such as 386/33? The bus speed is still 8mhz, right?
Thanks!

Hi,

it does not depend on the isa clock.
it was even tested on P2 or K6

Finally bought a picomem after seeing the usb hotplug functionality - that is something that makes it super convenient to transfer files. Most functionality works, although a showstopper bug means I can't leave it in the system currently. I bought from texelec with the audio and USB OTG hub. Wish they offered the QwiiC as well. Shipping was very quick.

Had to look up in the doc for the audio connector orientation since the board labels did not match, but apparently that is normal. I do wish there was an option for a bracket with a 2.5mm jack, but I went ahead and drilled one. (I did see serda had integrated the audio on the board and the jack onto the card and bracket - would be great to get that variant in the US as well).

I've tried the card in a 5150 and a Packard Bell Victory 286 so far. I was a bit worried about the 286 working - as it is a 16Mhz machine and the github notes there have been issues with those - however it worked fine in both machines.

For things that worked in both machines, right off the bat with no fuss:

* Audio (including CMS)
* Networking (even with the metal case on and the wifi a room away)
* USB Mouse
* USB/MicroSD card mounting as drives
* Drive emulation

Not tried joysticks yet.

In both machines I have physical floppy and hard drives, and in both machines I have been unable to mix physical and emulated drives so far. So while drive emulation worked, it has not really been useful as I want to keep the real drives in use. Maybe there is some setting I need to tick or driver I need to install to make this work, or maybe its just not possible? Fortunately I was able to back up the MFM drive in the 5150 using the USB stick mounting, which as noted above just worked with no fuss. Used an existing FAT32 USB stick and a 8GB microsd card.

Getting EMS memory to work was a bit more of a fight. In the 286, where it might be useful, there is a rom in E000 memory space so having the picomem bios at D000 prevented the use of EMS. C800-D000 was clear for use, so I edited a config.txt to have 'BIOS C800' using MS-DOS 5's edit on the mounted microsd card. Unfortunately this was completely ignored. No matter what I put in the config.txt file it had no effect at all. Eventually I took the microsd card out, put it in another computer, deleted config.txt, and then recreated it using Sublime text editor with unix type line endings. I'm not sure if the issue was line endings, or something else, but this worked. With the picomem rom moved to C800 I was able to use EMS memory with the pmem driver. My main usecase for this had been Doom8088 - but unfortunately that wants XMS not EMS to cache the WAD.

A second yet unsolved issue is that with the picomem card installed the Paradise PVGA1A vga will initialize in some monochrome mode. But only when the monitor is plugged in when the system is turned on/reset. If I turn the system on, THEN plug in the monitor it will be in normal color. My normal use is with a KVM switch, so I just switch away from the 286, then turn it on, then switch back.

The largest issue is that any PS/2 mice plugged into the system will not function with the picomem - even when not using pmmouse. There is an open bug for this on the github issue tracker. Since in normal use I have a KVM attached to this and 12 other systems, having it use its own mouse or having to switch the cable every time is not optimal. I thought I would be clever and use an active PS/2->USB adapter, but this doesn't work. pmmouse sees the mouse fine, but physical horizontal movement is mapped to on screen vertical movement and on screen horizontal movement is missing. The adapter does work on everything else I've tried, and I tried both with and without the KVM.

Since the mouse I'm using is a USB mouse which supports passive USB->PS/2 adapters, I thought I would be tricky again and just adapt it back to USB with a passive adapter. This works with just the mouse - but not when the KVM is involved. So I think the KVM is doing more than just passing through the signals. Tried a few other mice including native PS/2 ones, but all give the same result with both the active and passive adapters.

Unfortunately this means I can't just leave the picomem in the 286, currently. If anyone has any other suggestions I would love to try them.

Hi,
I have lot of work in progress:

- Started to code Sound blaster with emulated DMA, to be able to test hardware DMA after.
- I need to find why it crash with PS/2
- All the work on the PicoMEM 1.5, then think again about the PicoMEM Future. (PicoMEM 2.O)

Not simple, take lot of time 😀

Acorns wrote on 2025-04-11, 14:04:

Since the mouse I'm using is a USB mouse which supports passive USB->PS/2 adapters, I thought I would be tricky again and just adapt it back to USB with a passive adapter. This works with just the mouse - but not when the KVM is involved. So I think the KVM is doing more than just passing through the signals. Tried a few other mice including native PS/2 ones, but all give the same result with both the active and passive adapters.

Hi,

I did post and read your post just after.

Yes, I have to debug the PS/2, I have to find a machine for this... 🙁

I have so many work to do on the 1.5, Audio and so on that I push this debug again and again.
This will be mandatory to be done, as the PicoMEM 2.0 will be surely more interresting for faster PC.

Hi Freddy,

I'm looking at getting a PicoMem for my Amstrad PC1640. I'm having a nightmare getting XT-IDE to work on it.

Have the issues with sometimes not working on the Amstrad been ironed out recently? If it's stable now I'll go and buy one of your boards. Lovely work by the way!

FreddyV wrote on 2023-07-04, 15:01:

Hi, […]
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edumoes wrote on 2023-06-21, 17:13:

Very nice proyect!. A lot of cool features. In my experience and needs... (trust me, I'm an XT hoarder) 1) EMS emulation. Card […]
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Very nice proyect!. A lot of cool features. In my experience and needs... (trust me, I'm an XT hoarder)
1) EMS emulation. Cards are difficult to find, at least cheap... (i hope this work on my xt-286, as a rare hybrid between AT & XT worlds)
2) LAN emulation. OH yes!. I want samba-share full RW access!. Some Ne2000 16bit can work with special packet driver (only DHCP/FTP).
3) Storage are easy/cheap (using xtide-bios + CF/ide adapter). Or simply xtide-bios + Serial Boot (using a hard drive image from PCEM).
4) ROM load/emulation. So, picomem can load own bios...and then concatenate 2M-Xbios & XT-ide bios or any other bios...like basic/custom? (This will be perfect!)
5) Video emulation?. mmmm.... a lot of 16bit video cards works. Well, this will be cool only if you can emulate a real MDA/HERCULES/CGA, but with a standard DB15/hdmi output).
6) Sound. Not needed. We have picogus 😀. And you can even use a Sound Blaster 16.
7) CD storage: Sound Blaster Pro + Sony CD. I've really used it like 2 or 3 times in the last year, just for copying games)

Keep up the good work!

Hi,

Currently I am working hard to improve the interconnection with the ISA as the 5150 is faster and different than the Amstrad PC ISA, that is why there is not that much news 😀

Anyway, I think you had the concept right, more or less anything we want can be done, except video, as it require too many not available I/O
A basic CGA/MDA Text mode video can be added anyway, in remote (Output to a serial terminal for example)

1) Already here.
2) should be simple to add
3) The PicoMEM can emulate what you want from .IMG files on a MicroSD, I think nothing can be more simple. (2x Floppy, 4xHDD, any size)
4) Yes, it can be done ,I still need to implement the configuration of this part in the BIOS.
The ultimate goal will be to allow for BIOS image load from the MicroSD at boot time.
5)
6) It will be usefull when you can't add a PicoGUS, for machines with only one ISA Slot, I also have the Idea to build a "Paula" like output, to play with it.
Also, as I wrote Mod Master, I know well the sound cards, so I may do things that the PicoGUS don't do....
This will also start a phase when we will align our code, to have like code libraries we can exchange between the PicoMEM, PicoGUS and other.
Like add Network to the PicoGUS, sound to the PicoMEM....
7) not a priority for me, if somebody want to add it when I will release the code...

I work hard to increase the PicoMEM Maturity so that it is not "destroyed" when released... So, try to add 5150 and/or support of more machines.

ed208 wrote on 2025-04-16, 13:56:

Hi Freddy,

I'm looking at getting a PicoMem for my Amstrad PC1640. I'm having a nightmare getting XT-IDE to work on it.

Have the issues with sometimes not working on the Amstrad been ironed out recently? If it's stable now I'll go and buy one of your boards. Lovely work by the way!

Hi,

There are problems on the Amstrad PPC, not the Amstrad PC, Amstrad PC are my references machines 😀

Acorns wrote on 2025-04-11, 14:04:

The largest issue is that any PS/2 mice plugged into the system will not function with the picomem - even when not using pmmouse. There is an open bug for this on the github issue tracker. Since in normal use I have a KVM attached to this and 12 other systems, having it use its own mouse or having to switch the cable every time is not optimal. I thought I would be clever and use an active PS/2->USB adapter, but this doesn't work. pmmouse sees the mouse fine, but physical horizontal movement is mapped to on screen vertical movement and on screen horizontal movement is missing. The adapter does work on everything else I've tried, and I tried both with and without the KVM.

Since the mouse I'm using is a USB mouse which supports passive USB->PS/2 adapters, I thought I would be tricky again and just adapt it back to USB with a passive adapter. This works with just the mouse - but not when the KVM is involved. So I think the KVM is doing more than just passing through the signals. Tried a few other mice including native PS/2 ones, but all give the same result with both the active and passive adapters.

Unfortunately this means I can't just leave the picomem in the 286, currently. If anyone has any other suggestions I would love to try them.

Hi,

I did tests on a 386 machines and saw the PS/2 issue.
I fixed it, but unsure it is the same problem on all the machines.
It appears that the disk BIOS reserve 1KB at the end of the RAM, and PicoMEM was correcting/Putting back the full RAM size in BIOS.
PS/2 Driver loaded at the end of the RAM, Crash after disk access.

It is also unable to mix emulated and IDE disk, I will work on it as well.