V2 cards are pretty hard to solder by hand vs v1.x cards.

Hi,

Design a board that is "hand solder friendly" require effort and is not guaranteed to "Work" as soldering skills vary from one person to another.

The advantage to use directly the Pico soldered is to have all the GPIO available.
so, another design will have to rely on an alternative module that may not be available in time...

For the PicoMEM, I decided to do it close source, as the number of person wanting and able to assemble the board is ridiculously low.

So, do a "Hand soldering" friendly board :
- Limit the design possibility.
- Is not gauranteed to "Work".
- Add need for support for a small number of person.
- Globally increase the cost of the board.

To summarize, boards like PicoGUS or PicoMEM are at a level of "Complexity" where having it hand solder friendly is extremely difficult.

FreddyV wrote on 2025-06-17, 13:41:

For the PicoMEM, I decided to do it close source, as the number of person wanting and able to assemble the board is ridiculously low.

There’s more to it being open since others can use the design. Ian covers this quite well in his talk he listed above, where he gives a number of examples where the his design inspired other projects.

Personally I’ve been disappointed that your design was closed. I’ve built a number of picogus 1.1 and I don’t see your card being any more difficult. I think there are more like myself than you think that would build boards.
I do wish the cost for the retail version was lower. I know building one from parts would be at least half the cost. Your conventional memory features was something I found interesting.
The other downside is cards are can be in back order. The upside is you don’t have anyone having issues with self built cards.

I did buy 2 picogus 2.0 cause the bga chip would be more difficult to solder (needing a stencil and paste)
The wavetable header was also the must have feature since it could be paired with a mt32-pi giving intelligent mpu with a mt32 emulation.

The main advantage of open source hardware - aside from collaboration - is broad availability and uptake. The world is a big place. Retro items being sold from only a few points on the planet means most of the planet can't afford the extra taxes and shipping, and so uptake (and thus enjoyment) is limited.

Personally I remain convinced that, in this scene, open source is the best way to make the most people happy. But every project is different and we must fully respect the developer's choice in each case.

@polpo If you do release SB16 support at some point in the future, I assume it would use the low only DMA setup similar to something like a Vibra16X/CT4170? e.g. no 16-bit mixing in build engine games because they won't double hit the 8-bit bus for a 16-bit transfer

Kekkula wrote on 2025-06-16, 05:44:

Also are you planning to make tinkerer friendly version of the next card, for us who like to assemble the puzzle by self instead of buying it assembled?

I don't have any specific plans, but I could imagine a single board design that has an RP2350B directly on the board for mass production, but also a footprint for the Pimoroni PGA2350 for DIY assemblers. I don't know if I'd be able to get away from TSSOP chips, which are definitely challenging to solder (most issues PicoGUS DIYers have are with those chips, usually due to hidden solder bridges). Another potential issue is I'll be wanting to use a full-blown audio codec chip instead of the simple DAC, and I may need to use one with a more advanced SMT footprint.

NeoG_ wrote on 2025-06-18, 12:24:

@polpo If you do release SB16 support at some point in the future, I assume it would use the low only DMA setup similar to something like a Vibra16X/CT4170? e.g. no 16-bit mixing in build engine games because they won't double hit the 8-bit bus for a 16-bit transfer

Correct, it'd only use the low DMAs. I didn't know about that limitation with Build engine games – I know it's not possible to manually pick the low DMA with them but they will auto-detect the channel and use OK, but I wasn't aware that it'd result in 8-bit mixing.

PicoGUS firmware v3.0.0 [edit: v3.0.1] is now released! This adds Panasonic CD-ROM emulation to PicoGUS. Put some ISOs or BIN/CUE files on a USB stick, plug it into your PicoGUS, and you've got a virtual CD-ROM drive that works in DOS and Windows 9x and supports CD audio.

https://github.com/polpo/picogus/releases/tag/v3.0.1

New features/changes

CD-ROM emulation

PicoGUS now supports CD-ROM emulation (in other words, PicoGUS is now an ODE)! It emulates a Panasonic/MKE interface and drive and supports CD images in ISO or BIN/CUE stored on a USB drive plugged into the USB port on the PicoGUS. CD-ROM emulation has been tested in DOS and Windows 9x and CD audio playback is fully supported.

CD-ROM emulation is available in Sound Blaster and USB modes. Sound Blaster mode really pushes the limit of the RP2040: it mixes CD audio, SB DSP, and OPL sound while simultaneously supporting CD data and MPU-401 emulation. The emulated drive is approximately 2x speed in SB mode and 3x-4x speed in USB mode. Disc images can be swapped on the fly with pgusinit, and multi-disc games are supported by removing and reinserting the USB drive to advance the current disc image.

For more information and a guide on how to use CD-ROM emulation on PicoGUS with recommended drivers, known limitations, etc., visit the new CD-ROM emulation wiki page.

Massive thanks to Kevin Moonlight (yyzkevin) for reverse engineering the Panasonic/MKE interface and contributing the bulk of the underlying code for this emulation.

Also major thanks to rppicomidi for greatly improving mass storage speed for the RP2040 in TinyUSB and Artem Vasilev (wbcbz7) for additional fixes and rebasing on a more recent state of the repository. Without their work, USB mass storage would not be nearly fast enough to support CD-ROM emulation on the RP2040. These improvements are still not merged into the upstream project, so here's hoping that can be completed.

And thanks to all who tested this firmware before release to surface bugs and edge cases I wouldn't have been able to find myself. Cue sheets are the wild west of formats!

Tandy/CMS modes combined into new PSG (programmable sound generator) mode

To reduce firmware size and prepare for future support for other PSG sound chips (here's a hint, it's the AY-3 as used on the Mindscape Music Board), Tandy and CMS modes have been combined into a single PSG mode. It can be selected with pgusinit /mode psg, but the old /mode tandy and /mode cms switches still work for backwards compatibility.

Fixes

pgusinit

When pgusinit couldn't detect a PicoGUS, it would erroneously continue trying to configure the card. This would result in a strange firmware version mismatch error. This has now been fixed.

Known issues

Sound Blaster mode

Due to the addition of CD-ROM emulation to SB mode, SB DSP audio now runs through a FIFO. This may result in some playback issues that are being worked on. Also "Direct DAC" mode (mostly used by older titles) is not currently supported.

General

Due to the addition of new settings, any saved settings done with /pgusinit save on previous firmware versions will be reset to defaults when upgrading to firmware v3.0.0.

polpo wrote on 2025-06-19, 15:21:

PicoGUS firmware v3.0.0 [edit: v3.0.1] is now released! This adds Panasonic CD-ROM emulation to PicoGUS. Put some ISOs or BIN/CU […]
Show full quote

PicoGUS firmware v3.0.0 [edit: v3.0.1] is now released! This adds Panasonic CD-ROM emulation to PicoGUS. Put some ISOs or BIN/CUE files on a USB stick, plug it into your PicoGUS, and you've got a virtual CD-ROM drive that works in DOS and Windows 9x and supports CD audio.

https://github.com/polpo/picogus/releases/tag/v3.0.1

New features/changes

CD-ROM emulation

PicoGUS now supports CD-ROM emulation (in other words, PicoGUS is now an ODE)! It emulates a Panasonic/MKE interface and drive and supports CD images in ISO or BIN/CUE stored on a USB drive plugged into the USB port on the PicoGUS. CD-ROM emulation has been tested in DOS and Windows 9x and CD audio playback is fully supported.

CD-ROM emulation is available in Sound Blaster and USB modes. Sound Blaster mode really pushes the limit of the RP2040: it mixes CD audio, SB DSP, and OPL sound while simultaneously supporting CD data and MPU-401 emulation. The emulated drive is approximately 2x speed in SB mode and 3x-4x speed in USB mode. Disc images can be swapped on the fly with pgusinit, and multi-disc games are supported by removing and reinserting the USB drive to advance the current disc image.

For more information and a guide on how to use CD-ROM emulation on PicoGUS with recommended drivers, known limitations, etc., visit the new CD-ROM emulation wiki page.

Massive thanks to Kevin Moonlight (yyzkevin) for reverse engineering the Panasonic/MKE interface and contributing the bulk of the underlying code for this emulation.

Also major thanks to rppicomidi for greatly improving mass storage speed for the RP2040 in TinyUSB and Artem Vasilev (wbcbz7) for additional fixes and rebasing on a more recent state of the repository. Without their work, USB mass storage would not be nearly fast enough to support CD-ROM emulation on the RP2040. These improvements are still not merged into the upstream project, so here's hoping that can be completed.

And thanks to all who tested this firmware before release to surface bugs and edge cases I wouldn't have been able to find myself. Cue sheets are the wild west of formats!

Tandy/CMS modes combined into new PSG (programmable sound generator) mode

To reduce firmware size and prepare for future support for other PSG sound chips (here's a hint, it's the AY-3 as used on the Mindscape Music Board), Tandy and CMS modes have been combined into a single PSG mode. It can be selected with pgusinit /mode psg, but the old /mode tandy and /mode cms switches still work for backwards compatibility.

Fixes

pgusinit

When pgusinit couldn't detect a PicoGUS, it would erroneously continue trying to configure the card. This would result in a strange firmware version mismatch error. This has now been fixed.

Known issues

Sound Blaster mode

Due to the addition of CD-ROM emulation to SB mode, SB DSP audio now runs through a FIFO. This may result in some playback issues that are being worked on. Also "Direct DAC" mode (mostly used by older titles) is not currently supported.

General

Due to the addition of new settings, any saved settings done with /pgusinit save on previous firmware versions will be reset to defaults when upgrading to firmware v3.0.0.

This is such a great feature, can't wait to test this out! Thanks to Ian, Kevin, and anyone else involved!

I am curious if there is any CD-ROM volume control implementation or what is the best way to go about that? Is there a way to configure the IDE to run stand alone so that a second PicoGUS could run all the other sound modes?

polpo wrote on 2025-06-19, 15:21:

PicoGUS firmware v3.0.0 [edit: v3.0.1] is now released! This adds Panasonic CD-ROM emulation to PicoGUS. Put some ISOs or BIN/CUE files on a USB stick, plug it into your PicoGUS, and you've got a virtual CD-ROM drive that works in DOS and Windows 9x and supports CD audio.

Honestly I didn't expect it so soon, great work Ian!

Are there any modes you see ODE not working with due to processor load? It's my understanding that SB DSP/OPL2/MPU401 was already the most intensive mode, so if ODE works on top of that (albeit at reduced speed), we might see simultaneous ODE expand to other modes over time?

Also is the FIFO SB DSP update a fixed feature of 3.x or does it only apply when ODE is enabled? i.e. if support for Direct DAC is required, we should stay on v2.x for now

Delphius wrote on 2025-06-19, 21:42:

This is such a great feature, can't wait to test this out! Thanks to Ian, Kevin, and anyone else involved!

I am curious if there is any CD-ROM volume control implementation or what is the best way to go about that? Is there a way to configure the IDE to run stand alone so that a second PicoGUS could run all the other sound modes?

I'd like to add digital volume control (controlling level of CD audio, SB DSP, and OPL) in a future firmware version. How rudimentary it is will depend on how much CPU time is left on the RP2040. In USB mode there will probably be enough for decent fine grained volume control. Mutiple PicoGUS cards don't really work well in one system currently - if you're lucky pgusinit will control one of the cards. One of these days I'll get around to supporting multiple cards.

NeoG_ wrote on 2025-06-19, 23:52:

Honestly I didn't expect it so soon, great work Ian!

Are there any modes you see ODE not working with due to processor load? It's my understanding that SB DSP/OPL2/MPU401 was already the most intensive mode, so if ODE works on top of that (albeit at reduced speed), we might see simultaneous ODE expand to other modes over time?

Also is the FIFO SB DSP update a fixed feature of 3.x or does it only apply when ODE is enabled? i.e. if support for Direct DAC is required, we should stay on v2.x for now

I think the only mode I don't see CD-ROM playing well with is GUS mode since it is timing sensitive and there are busy waits in the USB mass storage code, but I may be pleasantly surprised when I try it. I definitely see adding CD-ROM to MPU mode. Adding it to PSG mode would work but I don't see that being a commonly used combination!

Unfortunately the FIFO is always enabled in SB mode. If you need Direct DAC, you'll need to use v2.x.

@polpo

will we need to use a FAT32 formatted USB stick for the BIN/CUE images? can we use exFAT or NTFS?

polpo wrote on 2025-06-19, 15:21:

PicoGUS firmware v3.0.0 [edit: v3.0.1] is now released! This adds Panasonic CD-ROM emulation to PicoGUS. Put some ISOs or BIN/CU […]
Show full quote

PicoGUS firmware v3.0.0 [edit: v3.0.1] is now released! This adds Panasonic CD-ROM emulation to PicoGUS. Put some ISOs or BIN/CUE files on a USB stick, plug it into your PicoGUS, and you've got a virtual CD-ROM drive that works in DOS and Windows 9x and supports CD audio.

https://github.com/polpo/picogus/releases/tag/v3.0.1

New features/changes

CD-ROM emulation

PicoGUS now supports CD-ROM emulation (in other words, PicoGUS is now an ODE)! It emulates a Panasonic/MKE interface and drive and supports CD images in ISO or BIN/CUE stored on a USB drive plugged into the USB port on the PicoGUS. CD-ROM emulation has been tested in DOS and Windows 9x and CD audio playback is fully supported.

CD-ROM emulation is available in Sound Blaster and USB modes. Sound Blaster mode really pushes the limit of the RP2040: it mixes CD audio, SB DSP, and OPL sound while simultaneously supporting CD data and MPU-401 emulation. The emulated drive is approximately 2x speed in SB mode and 3x-4x speed in USB mode. Disc images can be swapped on the fly with pgusinit, and multi-disc games are supported by removing and reinserting the USB drive to advance the current disc image.

For more information and a guide on how to use CD-ROM emulation on PicoGUS with recommended drivers, known limitations, etc., visit the new CD-ROM emulation wiki page.

Massive thanks to Kevin Moonlight (yyzkevin) for reverse engineering the Panasonic/MKE interface and contributing the bulk of the underlying code for this emulation.

Also major thanks to rppicomidi for greatly improving mass storage speed for the RP2040 in TinyUSB and Artem Vasilev (wbcbz7) for additional fixes and rebasing on a more recent state of the repository. Without their work, USB mass storage would not be nearly fast enough to support CD-ROM emulation on the RP2040. These improvements are still not merged into the upstream project, so here's hoping that can be completed.

And thanks to all who tested this firmware before release to surface bugs and edge cases I wouldn't have been able to find myself. Cue sheets are the wild west of formats!

Tandy/CMS modes combined into new PSG (programmable sound generator) mode

To reduce firmware size and prepare for future support for other PSG sound chips (here's a hint, it's the AY-3 as used on the Mindscape Music Board), Tandy and CMS modes have been combined into a single PSG mode. It can be selected with pgusinit /mode psg, but the old /mode tandy and /mode cms switches still work for backwards compatibility.

Fixes

pgusinit

When pgusinit couldn't detect a PicoGUS, it would erroneously continue trying to configure the card. This would result in a strange firmware version mismatch error. This has now been fixed.

Known issues

Sound Blaster mode

Due to the addition of CD-ROM emulation to SB mode, SB DSP audio now runs through a FIFO. This may result in some playback issues that are being worked on. Also "Direct DAC" mode (mostly used by older titles) is not currently supported.

General

Due to the addition of new settings, any saved settings done with /pgusinit save on previous firmware versions will be reset to defaults when upgrading to firmware v3.0.0.

First of all, thank you very much for this. I am trying to understand how the CD-ROM emulation would work with v1.x cards, and excuse me for sounding dumb, but my understanding is:

1. I need to route the micro USB of the Raspberry Pico to a USB-A female port (maybe mounted on a plank bracket etc.)
2. This needs to be done via a Micro USB to USB-A OTG adapter that also has external power (so basically a Y adapter for 5V USB power input?

So, my question is: In order to keep everything inside the case, Can I get this required 5V power from inside the case? From a motherboard USB header, or the internal USB port of a PCI USB controller, or just making a Molex to USB-A cable to power it from the PSU?

Duffman wrote on 2025-06-20, 04:03:

@polpo

will we need to use a FAT32 formatted USB stick for the BIN/CUE images? can we use exFAT or NTFS?

Haven't tested it myself yet, but the source code is using https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FatFs I would expect FAT and exFAT but not NTFS support.

Duffman wrote on 2025-06-20, 04:03:

@polpo

will we need to use a FAT32 formatted USB stick for the BIN/CUE images? can we use exFAT or NTFS?

The Wiki page says only FAT is supported, no exFAT or NTFS at this moment.

Delphius wrote on 2025-06-20, 12:49:

Duffman wrote on 2025-06-20, 04:03:

@polpo

will we need to use a FAT32 formatted USB stick for the BIN/CUE images? can we use exFAT or NTFS?

The Wiki page says only FAT is supported, no exFAT or NTFS at this moment.

While FatFS supports exFAT, enabling it makes all LBA indexes 64-bits internally even when mounting FAT volumes which really degrades performance. Things are on the edge of the performance envelope so I disabled it. When I had it enabled I experienced choppy CD audio playback with some USB sticks that went away once it was disabled.

appiah4 wrote on 2025-06-20, 07:00:

First of all, thank you very much for this. I am trying to understand how the CD-ROM emulation would work with v1.x cards, and […]
Show full quote

polpo wrote on 2025-06-19, 15:21:

PicoGUS firmware v3.0.0 [edit: v3.0.1] is now released! This adds Panasonic CD-ROM emulation to PicoGUS. Put some ISOs or BIN/CU […]
Show full quote

PicoGUS firmware v3.0.0 [edit: v3.0.1] is now released! This adds Panasonic CD-ROM emulation to PicoGUS. Put some ISOs or BIN/CUE files on a USB stick, plug it into your PicoGUS, and you've got a virtual CD-ROM drive that works in DOS and Windows 9x and supports CD audio.

https://github.com/polpo/picogus/releases/tag/v3.0.1

New features/changes

CD-ROM emulation

PicoGUS now supports CD-ROM emulation (in other words, PicoGUS is now an ODE)! It emulates a Panasonic/MKE interface and drive and supports CD images in ISO or BIN/CUE stored on a USB drive plugged into the USB port on the PicoGUS. CD-ROM emulation has been tested in DOS and Windows 9x and CD audio playback is fully supported.

CD-ROM emulation is available in Sound Blaster and USB modes. Sound Blaster mode really pushes the limit of the RP2040: it mixes CD audio, SB DSP, and OPL sound while simultaneously supporting CD data and MPU-401 emulation. The emulated drive is approximately 2x speed in SB mode and 3x-4x speed in USB mode. Disc images can be swapped on the fly with pgusinit, and multi-disc games are supported by removing and reinserting the USB drive to advance the current disc image.

For more information and a guide on how to use CD-ROM emulation on PicoGUS with recommended drivers, known limitations, etc., visit the new CD-ROM emulation wiki page.

Massive thanks to Kevin Moonlight (yyzkevin) for reverse engineering the Panasonic/MKE interface and contributing the bulk of the underlying code for this emulation.

Also major thanks to rppicomidi for greatly improving mass storage speed for the RP2040 in TinyUSB and Artem Vasilev (wbcbz7) for additional fixes and rebasing on a more recent state of the repository. Without their work, USB mass storage would not be nearly fast enough to support CD-ROM emulation on the RP2040. These improvements are still not merged into the upstream project, so here's hoping that can be completed.

And thanks to all who tested this firmware before release to surface bugs and edge cases I wouldn't have been able to find myself. Cue sheets are the wild west of formats!

Tandy/CMS modes combined into new PSG (programmable sound generator) mode

To reduce firmware size and prepare for future support for other PSG sound chips (here's a hint, it's the AY-3 as used on the Mindscape Music Board), Tandy and CMS modes have been combined into a single PSG mode. It can be selected with pgusinit /mode psg, but the old /mode tandy and /mode cms switches still work for backwards compatibility.

Fixes

pgusinit

When pgusinit couldn't detect a PicoGUS, it would erroneously continue trying to configure the card. This would result in a strange firmware version mismatch error. This has now been fixed.

Known issues

Sound Blaster mode

Due to the addition of CD-ROM emulation to SB mode, SB DSP audio now runs through a FIFO. This may result in some playback issues that are being worked on. Also "Direct DAC" mode (mostly used by older titles) is not currently supported.

General

Due to the addition of new settings, any saved settings done with /pgusinit save on previous firmware versions will be reset to defaults when upgrading to firmware v3.0.0.

First of all, thank you very much for this. I am trying to understand how the CD-ROM emulation would work with v1.x cards, and excuse me for sounding dumb, but my understanding is:

1. I need to route the micro USB of the Raspberry Pico to a USB-A female port (maybe mounted on a plank bracket etc.)
2. This needs to be done via a Micro USB to USB-A OTG adapter that also has external power (so basically a Y adapter for 5V USB power input?

So, my question is: In order to keep everything inside the case, Can I get this required 5V power from inside the case? From a motherboard USB header, or the internal USB port of a PCI USB controller, or just making a Molex to USB-A cable to power it from the PSU?

If you have a v1.1 card, use a cable like this.

If you have a v1.2 card, put a jumper-cap across the pin-pair labelled "USBPWR", and use a cable like this.

Panel mount is possible, it takes a bit more work. I didn't find any ready made OTG cable available for that, had to splice my own together. These are a couple of v1.2's I built that way, a year or two back -

Shreddoc wrote on 2025-06-20, 23:06:

If you have a v1.1 card, use a cable like this. […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote on 2025-06-20, 07:00:

First of all, thank you very much for this. I am trying to understand how the CD-ROM emulation would work with v1.x cards, and […]
Show full quote

polpo wrote on 2025-06-19, 15:21:

PicoGUS firmware v3.0.0 [edit: v3.0.1] is now released! This adds Panasonic CD-ROM emulation to PicoGUS. Put some ISOs or BIN/CU […]
Show full quote

PicoGUS firmware v3.0.0 [edit: v3.0.1] is now released! This adds Panasonic CD-ROM emulation to PicoGUS. Put some ISOs or BIN/CUE files on a USB stick, plug it into your PicoGUS, and you've got a virtual CD-ROM drive that works in DOS and Windows 9x and supports CD audio.

https://github.com/polpo/picogus/releases/tag/v3.0.1

New features/changes

CD-ROM emulation

PicoGUS now supports CD-ROM emulation (in other words, PicoGUS is now an ODE)! It emulates a Panasonic/MKE interface and drive and supports CD images in ISO or BIN/CUE stored on a USB drive plugged into the USB port on the PicoGUS. CD-ROM emulation has been tested in DOS and Windows 9x and CD audio playback is fully supported.

CD-ROM emulation is available in Sound Blaster and USB modes. Sound Blaster mode really pushes the limit of the RP2040: it mixes CD audio, SB DSP, and OPL sound while simultaneously supporting CD data and MPU-401 emulation. The emulated drive is approximately 2x speed in SB mode and 3x-4x speed in USB mode. Disc images can be swapped on the fly with pgusinit, and multi-disc games are supported by removing and reinserting the USB drive to advance the current disc image.

For more information and a guide on how to use CD-ROM emulation on PicoGUS with recommended drivers, known limitations, etc., visit the new CD-ROM emulation wiki page.

Massive thanks to Kevin Moonlight (yyzkevin) for reverse engineering the Panasonic/MKE interface and contributing the bulk of the underlying code for this emulation.

Also major thanks to rppicomidi for greatly improving mass storage speed for the RP2040 in TinyUSB and Artem Vasilev (wbcbz7) for additional fixes and rebasing on a more recent state of the repository. Without their work, USB mass storage would not be nearly fast enough to support CD-ROM emulation on the RP2040. These improvements are still not merged into the upstream project, so here's hoping that can be completed.

And thanks to all who tested this firmware before release to surface bugs and edge cases I wouldn't have been able to find myself. Cue sheets are the wild west of formats!

Tandy/CMS modes combined into new PSG (programmable sound generator) mode

To reduce firmware size and prepare for future support for other PSG sound chips (here's a hint, it's the AY-3 as used on the Mindscape Music Board), Tandy and CMS modes have been combined into a single PSG mode. It can be selected with pgusinit /mode psg, but the old /mode tandy and /mode cms switches still work for backwards compatibility.

Fixes

pgusinit

When pgusinit couldn't detect a PicoGUS, it would erroneously continue trying to configure the card. This would result in a strange firmware version mismatch error. This has now been fixed.

Known issues

Sound Blaster mode

Due to the addition of CD-ROM emulation to SB mode, SB DSP audio now runs through a FIFO. This may result in some playback issues that are being worked on. Also "Direct DAC" mode (mostly used by older titles) is not currently supported.

General

Due to the addition of new settings, any saved settings done with /pgusinit save on previous firmware versions will be reset to defaults when upgrading to firmware v3.0.0.

First of all, thank you very much for this. I am trying to understand how the CD-ROM emulation would work with v1.x cards, and excuse me for sounding dumb, but my understanding is:

1. I need to route the micro USB of the Raspberry Pico to a USB-A female port (maybe mounted on a plank bracket etc.)
2. This needs to be done via a Micro USB to USB-A OTG adapter that also has external power (so basically a Y adapter for 5V USB power input?

So, my question is: In order to keep everything inside the case, Can I get this required 5V power from inside the case? From a motherboard USB header, or the internal USB port of a PCI USB controller, or just making a Molex to USB-A cable to power it from the PSU?

If you have a v1.1 card, use a cable like this.

If you have a v1.2 card, put a jumper-cap across the pin-pair labelled "USBPWR", and use a cable like this.

Panel mount is possible, it takes a bit more work. I didn't find any ready made OTG cable available for that, had to splice my own together. These are a couple of v1.2's I built that way, a year or two back -

The attachment 1.JPG is no longer available

The attachment 2.JPG is no longer available

Thanks for the photos! Very nice panel. Do you have the panel design up for share?

I upgraded my PicoGus this morning to 3.0.1 and tried a couple of games in DOS

• I mistakenly thought to the port parameter on CDMKE.sys was optional, it seems by default it uses a different port than 250 so the parameter is mandatory
• After adding the port parameter the ODE was installed successfully
• At first I used a random old Sandisk 8GB USB drive (~3.5MB/s write speed), I don't think it was fast enough as PGUSINIT gave a "timeout loading cd image." error (even though the image did load)
• With the slow drive there are stutters in the Mechwarrior 2 video playback, although in game CD audio is fine
• Swapping to a faster USB SD card reader (16MB/s write speed) the stutters in Mechwarrior 2 video playback were now gone
• Strangely, the voices in King's Quest VI CD edition are distorted and play too fast. Eventually the game crashes with an EMM386 error. This issue was present with both USB drives and also in both sb mode, or in usb mode with a different sound card.
• The voice issue doesn't happen using a physical IDE CD drive. I wonder if it is an issue more with the CDMKE device driver than the PicoGUS but I have no way to test that.

Platform:
Acorp 5ALI61 (ALi ApolloV) SS7 Mainboard
AMD K6-2+ 600Mhz (downrated to approx. 486/90Mhz speeds for these games using setmul)
128MB SDRAM 100Mhz
Voodoo 3 2000 AGP
Windows 98SE in DOS mode
40GB seagate IDE HDD, 128GB SD2IDE Adapter
SB Live! Value PCI
ESS ES1869 ISA
PicoGUS ISA w/ MT32-PI wavetable

Delphius wrote on Yesterday, 00:54:

Shreddoc wrote on 2025-06-20, 23:06:

If you have a v1.1 card, use a cable like this. […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote on 2025-06-20, 07:00:

First of all, thank you very much for this. I am trying to understand how the CD-ROM emulation would work with v1.x cards, and […]
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First of all, thank you very much for this. I am trying to understand how the CD-ROM emulation would work with v1.x cards, and excuse me for sounding dumb, but my understanding is:

1. I need to route the micro USB of the Raspberry Pico to a USB-A female port (maybe mounted on a plank bracket etc.)
2. This needs to be done via a Micro USB to USB-A OTG adapter that also has external power (so basically a Y adapter for 5V USB power input?

So, my question is: In order to keep everything inside the case, Can I get this required 5V power from inside the case? From a motherboard USB header, or the internal USB port of a PCI USB controller, or just making a Molex to USB-A cable to power it from the PSU?

If you have a v1.1 card, use a cable like this.

If you have a v1.2 card, put a jumper-cap across the pin-pair labelled "USBPWR", and use a cable like this.

Panel mount is possible, it takes a bit more work. I didn't find any ready made OTG cable available for that, had to splice my own together. These are a couple of v1.2's I built that way, a year or two back -

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Thanks for the photos! Very nice panel. Do you have the panel design up for share?

Thank you! Sorry no shareable design as such, I just buy panel blanks (Keystone 9202) and manually make the holes in each one with workshop tools - drill press, files, deburring tool. The panel mount USB end also needs to be physically trimmed/altered a bit, in order to fit in the available bracket space.

I do the same manual workshop process for the brackets of PicoGUS 2.0's that I make, except that I've made a bit of a jig ("hard wood with holes in the right places") to make some repeatable steps easier.

I would love to just get these brackets pre-made, because it is a lot of work, but it is not really possible to buy custom-holed metal brackets at hobbyist quantities, unless willing to spend a lot per unit.

Been thinking of the RP2350B which has 48 GPIOs compared to RP2040/RP2350A which has 30.

Will this enable the possible use of additional IRQ/DMA lines in the future? Should be useful for:
- Intelligent mode MPU401 with other modes.
- High DMA (16-bit) for proper SB16 support.

For accessing high IRQ/DMA lines the card will have to be made 16-bit, though.