polpo wrote on 2023-11-17, 16:13:

Adding USB mouse support is on my list but I don't think I'll be going the route of emulating a serial mouse, which always seemed slow and unresponsive to me.

theoretically, it's possible to emulate the 8250 UART in a way it ignores baud rate settings stored in DLAB, and just firing "receive ready" interrupts and sending data to the host at whatever rate you want to have (the aforementioned PS/2-ISA card does it), thus fixing the unresponsibility issues; although bus mouse could still be an option :)
Actually, there is another major roadblock in inplementing the mouse emulation, and it's the lack of second IRQ line on the PicoGUS, which means we can't i.e simulteanously use GUS timers or MPU-401 in intelligent mode and emualte the mouse interface, and resorting to polling kills all the performance.

Hi Ian! Congrats for the new board design! Very nice indeed!
Is the new firmware be useful on the "old" model or it is just for the new PCB?
Thanks!

jcarvalho wrote on 2023-11-23, 11:04:

Hi Ian! Congrats for the new board design! Very nice indeed!
Is the new firmware be useful on the "old" model or it is just for the new PCB?
Thanks!

New firmware supports all released PicoGUS revisions because the firmware detects what kind of board it is running on. The only real new feature on the 2.0 boards is the software-controlled volume for the wavetable header. Otherwise it works identically!

Regarding PicoGUS and Book8088.
I recently started to have some issues on Book, which i thought was to to my heavy modding of it.
Dots on screen, random hangs, memory errors.
It was the power source
I switched to 12V power supply from one of my old routers - and guess what?
pgusinit finds the device now 😀
So, as i said earlier, it definitely was not the PicoGUS problem.
And 100nF capacitor on chip solves the random reset.

Hi,
This is really an awseome project, I'm following it for a few months now and I was happy to see that it was possible to buy complete cards. Of course I was too slow to order one. JLCPCB is currently out of stock for some parts (atm the 2.2u caps, both SN74CB3T, the SRAM and the 74LVC00 and JLC only has replacement variants for some of them). Mouser seems to have the missing chips in stock, but I'm not sure how difficult .5mm SMD would be. Is there an estimate when the next bunch of boards will be available or how long it will take for JLC to restock?

Caligula wrote on 2023-11-25, 16:52:

Hi,
This is really an awseome project, I'm following it for a few months now and I was happy to see that it was possible to buy complete cards. Of course I was too slow to order one. JLCPCB is currently out of stock for some parts (atm the 2.2u caps, both SN74CB3T, the SRAM and the 74LVC00 and JLC only has replacement variants for some of them). Mouser seems to have the missing chips in stock, but I'm not sure how difficult .5mm SMD would be. Is there an estimate when the next bunch of boards will be available or how long it will take for JLC to restock?

I submitted a new batch for production yesterday. It should be about 2 weeks for me to get them and then a few more days to test and assemble/package the boards. For those who want to build your own: some of the parts JLCPCB never keeps in stock – I have to use their parts service to preorder every time I want to build more. And the PSRAM chips I use the parts consignment service for – I have a parts house in Shenzhen send PSRAM chips to JLCPCB. There is an alternative PSRAM chip that JLCPCB keeps in stock but it is a bit expensive at $4.48 each: https://jlcpcb.com/partdetail/VilsionTech-VTI … 064MSME/C139966

I love building projects, but coordinating the parts and assembly with JLCPCB for a quantity of 1 is just too much to deal with. It's like all the hassle of getting the parts together with none of the fun of building it. I'll just eagerly wait for the next batch.

polpo wrote on 2023-11-25, 18:34:

Caligula wrote on 2023-11-25, 16:52:

Hi,
This is really an awseome project, I'm following it for a few months now and I was happy to see that it was possible to buy complete cards. Of course I was too slow to order one. JLCPCB is currently out of stock for some parts (atm the 2.2u caps, both SN74CB3T, the SRAM and the 74LVC00 and JLC only has replacement variants for some of them). Mouser seems to have the missing chips in stock, but I'm not sure how difficult .5mm SMD would be. Is there an estimate when the next bunch of boards will be available or how long it will take for JLC to restock?

I submitted a new batch for production yesterday. It should be about 2 weeks for me to get them and then a few more days to test and assemble/package the boards. For those who want to build your own: some of the parts JLCPCB never keeps in stock – I have to use their parts service to preorder every time I want to build more. And the PSRAM chips I use the parts consignment service for – I have a parts house in Shenzhen send PSRAM chips to JLCPCB. There is an alternative PSRAM chip that JLCPCB keeps in stock but it is a bit expensive at $4.48 each: https://jlcpcb.com/partdetail/VilsionTech-VTI … 064MSME/C139966

Eagerly awaiting this! 😎

n0p wrote on 2023-11-25, 09:33:

Regarding PicoGUS and Book8088. I recently started to have some issues on Book, which i thought was to to my heavy modding of it […]
Show full quote

Regarding PicoGUS and Book8088.
I recently started to have some issues on Book, which i thought was to to my heavy modding of it.
Dots on screen, random hangs, memory errors.
It was the power source
I switched to 12V power supply from one of my old routers - and guess what?
pgusinit finds the device now 😀
So, as i said earlier, it definitely was not the PicoGUS problem.
And 100nF capacitor on chip solves the random reset.

Are you able to get pgusinit to work if the PicoGUS is mounted on the ISA card and you use the ISA extension that comes with the Book8088?

I wanted to use a mouse in Mod Master XT so was using a multi i/o card and the PicoGUS on the the 3-way ISA.
The mouse works fine, but pgusinit cannot find the device.

If I plug it directly into the ISA port then it initialises and works totally fine.. just no mouse then!

th3bar0n wrote on 2023-11-27, 22:44:

[Are you able to get pgusinit to work if the PicoGUS is mounted on the ISA card and you use the ISA extension that comes with th […]
Show full quote

[Are you able to get pgusinit to work if the PicoGUS is mounted on the ISA card and you use the ISA extension that comes with the Book8088?

I wanted to use a mouse in Mod Master XT so was using a multi i/o card and the PicoGUS on the the 3-way ISA.
The mouse works fine, but pgusinit cannot find the device.

If I plug it directly into the ISA port then it initialises and works totally fine.. just no mouse then!

I've got usual v1.1, not Femto, so tested only on ISA extender. I didn't test past init though.

@polpo
Updated FW on my 1.1 to 1.0.1 - LED is certainly more informative now 😀
Regarding gamepad support - i don't seem to get any power from Pico's USB port.
Might it be safe to check if microusb port works by trying to power Pico from external source, or it might damage something on board?

n0p wrote on 2023-11-30, 18:58:

@polpo Updated FW on my 1.1 to 1.0.1 - LED is certainly more informative now :) Regarding gamepad support - i don't seem to get […]
Show full quote

@polpo
Updated FW on my 1.1 to 1.0.1 - LED is certainly more informative now 😀
Regarding gamepad support - i don't seem to get any power from Pico's USB port.
Might it be safe to check if microusb port works by trying to power Pico from external source, or it might damage something on board?

Hey n0p, I noticed your question, and thought to refer you to this post by polpo. I have bolded the relevant parts :

Re: PicoGUS: ISA sound card emulator with Raspberry Pi Pico (Gravis Ultrasound, AdLib, MPU-401, Tandy, CMS)

"The main benefit of this [v2.0] board (in addition to the possibility of "mass production", and the cool metal bracket) is the USB-A connector so you can easily plug in USB joysticks. The latest firmware has a preview of joystick functionality: plug in an Xbox 360 or DualShock 4 pad and you can use them in your DOS games. This functionality is also possible with the original PicoGUS design, you just need to use a powered USB OTG cable on the Pico's micro-USB B port to plug in your joypad."

Shreddoc wrote on 2023-11-30, 19:57:

"The main benefit of this [v2.0] board (in addition to the possibility of "mass production", and the cool metal bracket) is the USB-A connector so you can easily plug in USB joysticks. The latest firmware has a preview of joystick functionality: plug in an Xbox 360 or DualShock 4 pad and you can use them in your DOS games. This functionality is also possible with the original PicoGUS design, you just need to use a powered USB OTG cable on the Pico's micro-USB B port to plug in your joypad."

Thanks! I never known powered OTG cable existed, so my mind just skipped that part 😀 Sorry.
--
As a side note - i use Waveshare Zero (Pico clone) to connect external keyboard to Book8088 and it works there fine w/o external power source. And my test env is original Pico - and there keyboard powered as well.
Might it be possible to mod the 1.1 board to allow usual OTG adapters?

n0p wrote on 2023-11-30, 20:20:

Shreddoc wrote on 2023-11-30, 19:57:

"The main benefit of this [v2.0] board (in addition to the possibility of "mass production", and the cool metal bracket) is the USB-A connector so you can easily plug in USB joysticks. The latest firmware has a preview of joystick functionality: plug in an Xbox 360 or DualShock 4 pad and you can use them in your DOS games. This functionality is also possible with the original PicoGUS design, you just need to use a powered USB OTG cable on the Pico's micro-USB B port to plug in your joypad."

Thanks! I never known powered OTG cable existed, so my mind just skipped that part 😀 Sorry.

An easy problem is a happy problem! Enjoy. I too need to organise a powered OTG cable for myself, for this purpose. Or might make one.

This is the powered cable I've used in my testing: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805897631266.html You could also use a powered USB hub if you have one of those.

You could also bridge VSYS and VBUS (pins 39 and 40) on the Pico but after you do that, if you need to flash your Pico from your modern PC, you should not plug it in via USB when your retro PC is powered. That's because the retro PC will backfeed 5V into the modern PC's USB ports and they may not like that.

polpo wrote on 2023-11-30, 20:32:

This is the powered cable I've used in my testing: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805897631266.html You could also use a powered USB hub if you have one of those.

You could also bridge VSYS and VBUS (pins 39 and 40) on the Pico but after you do that, if you need to flash your Pico from your modern PC, you should not plug it in via USB when your retro PC is powered. That's because the retro PC will backfeed 5V into the modern PC's USB ports and they may not like that.

Thanks! So a 2.54 jumper should do, just not to forget to remove it when changing firmware, do i get that right? Or you meant flashing via USB port when host PC is on?
--
Got it. You warned about not trying to connect two power sources at once.
So i tried connecting VBUS and VSYS together and it looks like not enough power for gamepad. I can source that kind of OTG cable for about 4 bucks right now, so i guess that's the answer 😀
Thanks again and sorry for dumb questions.
--
Edit: Gamepad not geting enough power appeared to be bad late night soldering. XBox gamepad works! (in Shamus at least)

I just got my 2.0 board in a few days ago and have been enjoying playing with it. I was wondering if anyone had success getting it working under Win95? I can install the original Gravis Ultrasound driver and it doesn't complain. But when I set the address, IRQ, and DMA appropriately just no sound comes out at all. I wouldn't 100% expect it to work since that could be an out of scope feature, but was just wondering if anyone succeeded to that end at all.

I'd like to try using the old version of Cakewalk to sequence with access to all the MIDI devices on my old 486 at once. Which at the moment happens to be:

-PicoGUS in GUS mode
-AWE32 CT3900 (wavetable, FM, and MPU)
-Music Quest PC-MIDI card

I tried using Sequencer Plus Gold in DOS but it can only handle what it has drivers for I guess. And even then only FM and MPU on the AWE32. But I only did some initial setup and testing for that so far.

With the new version 1.2 changes, is there anything that needs to be changed with the BOM list? Are the mouser and digikey projects still compatible? I wouldn't mind giving this another go with the newest revision.

MusicallyInspired wrote on 2023-12-07, 13:47:

I just got my 2.0 board in a few days ago and have been enjoying playing with it. I was wondering if anyone had success getting it working under Win95? I can install the original Gravis Ultrasound driver and it doesn't complain. But when I set the address, IRQ, and DMA appropriately just no sound comes out at all. I wouldn't 100% expect it to work since that could be an out of scope feature, but was just wondering if anyone succeeded to that end at all.

I've only ever tested the Windows 3.x driver on PicoGUS, and it works well. I never had a good experience with the Windows 95 driver on my real GUS back in the day so I've never bothered even testing it on PicoGUS... I can give it a try, though.

Delphius wrote on 2023-12-08, 19:51:

With the new version 1.2 changes, is there anything that needs to be changed with the BOM list? Are the mouser and digikey projects still compatible? I wouldn't mind giving this another go with the newest revision.

The BOM will be different: there are two ICs that are changed and there are a few more passives. I'm waiting on the last rev of 1.2 prototype boards to come to me so I can build and test one. If it works (I don't see why it wouldn't), I will update the BOM and tag the release as final on GitHub. I'm moving to putting the hardware releases in the Releases part of GitHub where you can download a zip of the gerbers and other production files like the BOM. The main branch is my development branch so there is non-final hardware and firmware there... tread carefully!

polpo wrote on 2023-12-08, 20:10:

The BOM will be different: there are two ICs that are changed and there are a few more passives. I'm waiting on the last rev of 1.2 prototype boards to come to me so I can build and test one. If it works (I don't see why it wouldn't), I will update the BOM and tag the release as final on GitHub. I'm moving to putting the hardware releases in the Releases part of GitHub where you can download a zip of the gerbers and other production files like the BOM. The main branch is my development branch so there is non-final hardware and firmware there... tread carefully!

Ok this is good to know! I will hold off on any orders until you have been able to test the prototype. Having the gerbs included with the release will be very helpful as well.
Thank you!