Jolt Country

"Enter, the PicoGUS!!!"

https://www.tindie.com/products/polpo/p ... retro-pcs/

PicoGUS can emulate Gravis UltraSound, AdLib (OPL2), CMS/Game Blaster and Tandy 3-Voice, and supports MIDI output with MPU-401 intelligent mode emulation. It comes in two versions: the original ISA card, and the Femto Edition that can plug into a Hand386/Book8088 or ISA adapter.

I have an old motherboard in the garage, but it just has PCI slots, not an ISA one, so to use this board I am going to get one of those Hand386 portable 386 computers.

Some of you do not understand the "magic" of sound cards. You people have made that clear, so I will be fighting two wars in this thread. I will have two different ways that people will attack me. The people that are against the ISA format - and I hate you - and the people that don't have sound cards on their computers at all - I hate you even more.

What I will do is take the PicoGUS to bed with me because it understands and I am going to soon start listening to kick ass MIDI tracks and the like. And with my free hands, hitting people.

Who's with me?

Vark, ya got a free ISA slot on that computer of yours you've been posting about??

Let's see if this YouTube video inlines or if I have to beat the piss from this BBS too?

I know where I can get a motherboard with an ISA slot. There's a couple at work just sitting around.
The 486 at home already has a SoundBlaster Pro 2 in it.
Truth to tell, I'm a little afraid to mess with the machine for fear I will damage it or accidentally kill it. It only plays sound on one channel. But since stereo is just a gimmick I cal live with it

There was a specific Intel chipset back then where you could use PCI soundcards even in DOS. I forgot which chipset that was. Probably a Pentium-era chipset. IIRC, you could even use an ISA/PCI adapter (or bridge?) to connect the ISA card to a PCI slot and it would still work fine in DOS.

AArdvark wrote: Sat Oct 28, 2023 2:26 am But since stereo is just a gimmick I cal live with it

That sure brings me back, the good old days.

AArdvark wrote: Sat Oct 28, 2023 2:26 am I know where I can get a motherboard with an ISA slot. There's a couple at work just sitting around.
The 486 at home already has a SoundBlaster Pro 2 in it.
Truth to tell, I'm a little afraid to mess with the machine for fear I will damage it or accidentally kill it. It only plays sound on one channel. But since stereo is just a gimmick I cal live with it

I don't know why I did not see this before. :/ Sometimes I don't get new posts on this BBS. I appreciate the "stereo is a gimmick" reference!

Lemme see if I can find a motherboard via some means. I hate going to the post office. But I would buy one off you. It's just such a freaking mess trying to ship anything when you are a normal person.

RealNC wrote: Sat Oct 28, 2023 6:53 am There was a specific Intel chipset back then where you could use PCI soundcards even in DOS. I forgot which chipset that was. Probably a Pentium-era chipset. IIRC, you could even use an ISA/PCI adapter (or bridge?) to connect the ISA card to a PCI slot and it would still work fine in DOS.

See, I tried to find something like a PCI to ISA bridge and came up empty. Maybe I was looking for the word adapter. Argh. I do have a now-retro motherboard running Windows 98 that does everything perfectly, it just does not have an ISA slot. Lemme look up via that search term. Thanks, Nikos!

I have started my journey in having this amazing PicoGus card work on something by purchasing a motherboard and processor over eBay:

QDI P5I430VX V3.0 Socket 7 Motherboard 4x PCI 3x ISA Intel Pentium 133 MHz.

It does not have RAM. There may be some in this house. It does not have the baby AT power supply it needs. I will get one. It does not have a PCI video card. I will get one and hopefully hook up my Canopus Pure3D 3D accelerator. May it ride again!

Did Pentium CPUs need fans? I have a memory of them needing fans.

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2024 10:53 am Did Pentium CPUs need fans? I have a memory of them needing fans.

It was kind of hit and miss back then. Like my P133 and p2 machines didn’t have cpu fans.. they relied on the psu fan basically. My later AMD Duron build for Doom3 also had tiny CPU fans. It also played the old Prey. I think the video card was a gforce 4 or something else ancient now.

In comparison, my current heat sink and fan looks like I have a 2-stroke motor mounted to my i7 CPU I’ve been running about 10 years now.

Probably brought this up before but I recall the pentium DuoCore CPU being a nightmare to work with. Constantly shut itself down due to heat. Local shop and I tried to diagnose; I wasted time etc. one day I got bored and said fuggit and upgraded the motherboard bios and the motherfucking CPU fan kicked on. The factory bios didn’t know to spin up fans during high temps?’

I'll have a look at my old one at work


Edit:



Definitely a fan

Ok, I have a couple pieces of RAM coming via email, cheap. Also a fan. I should have a winning bid for a Matrox PCI video card for $17 within an hour as well.

I should have never given away this stuff. Oh well. I think most of it helped people. I don't recall actually throwing anything away.

There is a guy selling 4 VGA 4:3 LCD or LED screens for $25 a pop in the town I live in. If I can get one of those, that will be a big help: I don't want to deal with a CRT and tube at the moment for this project.

I found a Port 80... argh. POST card? POST 80 card? I forget the name of it. That I have hung onto forever. I found my 3dfx card, too. It's all shaping up.

I do have some stuff that I am going to try to sell to make this a net zero cost, just for the hell of it. An Apple //c, a different PicoGUS card (the first rev), maybe an arcade circuit board.

There is a retro computer store in Denver that might have an AT power supply. They are going for $65 on eBay which is more than what I feel an AT power supply should go for. Which is zero dollars.

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2024 4:55 pm I do have some stuff that I am going to try to sell to make this a net zero cost, just for the hell of it. An Apple //c, a different PicoGUS card (the first rev), maybe an arcade circuit board.

As a recovering PCB collecting addict I must ask.. what circuit boards are you thinking of selling?

AArdvark wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2024 2:20 am I'll have a look at my old one at work
Definitely a fan

Thanks, Varkus! I have one on the way. Managed to score a 4:3 monitor as well this morning for VGA, for $20. Local purchases seem like they will be a lot cheaper. It's just the craigslist hassle - but the guy I bought it from was normal, so it was VERY easy!

It's all coming together!

Jizaboz wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2024 7:06 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2024 4:55 pm I do have some stuff that I am going to try to sell to make this a net zero cost, just for the hell of it. An Apple //c, a different PicoGUS card (the first rev), maybe an arcade circuit board.

As a recovering PCB collecting addict I must ask.. what circuit boards are you thinking of selling?

I will take a look today and get a list. I am in a spot where it's not like I need the money, but it would be nice to move some of this stuff along. And I would use FedEx this time!

This threw me for a loop - the keyboard connector on the motherboard is too big for the PS2 keyboard that I have, which I have been using for systems that have needed it. I don't even remember what the larger port is called. I hope I have an adapter. :/

I got one of those at work. Isn't retrocomputing fun?

There is also a pass through cable I need for the 3d card. I can't imagine that I would have thrown it out. It must be in the area above the garage?

I am going to keep track of what I have spent on this project to make sure I don't have a sickness.

These are all via eBay:
Motherboard + Pentium chip: $83.47
Fan: $10.99
64MB of 72 pin EDO RAM: $15.78
Matrox Millennium 4MB VGA card: $17
Keyboard adapter, 6 pin to 5 pin PS/2: $6.99
Athena Power AT power supply, 300 watt: $50.99

Tindie:
PicoGUS card: $40

Cash via Craigslist:
4:3 VGA monitor: $20

Stuff I just had/have hanging around:
- A gamecard (somewhere?)
- A Gravis Gamepad
- A Port 80h ISA card
- A PS/2 keyboard
- Power cord
- Canopus Pure3d 3dfx card
- I believe there is a hard drive and floppy drive around... not sure if I have an IDE cable. There has got to be one in this house! Not sure about the floppy cable. :/

Stuff I think I need:
Pure3D pass-through cable

$245.22 so far. The power supply and motherboard make up the bulk of this, of course, but there is a spot where it isn't worth people testing this stuff and I guess I get that. I should have never gotten rid of anything, mind you.

I found the Gamecard! One of my favorite cards. It offers up two PC game ports. Critical for what I want to do, which is never use it to interact with another human. Kidding. I think?

My brother and I spent a lot of time playing Front Page Sports: Football Pro 96 and 98 thanks to the Gamecard.

The power supply, fan and RAM showed up today. I think that when the 2D video card appears, I can try to boot it.

I had to buy an IDE cable. I didn't have one that wasn't keyed that I could find, and they were like $1.29 on eBay. I ordered two.