does the new firmware support using two emulations at once ? eg use digital sounds through SB and Midi music using General Midi MPU-401 using onboard wavetable header with a Dreamblaster ? that would be the ultimate !

Omarkoman wrote on 2024-07-17, 01:51:

does the new firmware support using two emulations at once ? eg use digital sounds through SB and Midi music using General Midi MPU-401 using onboard wavetable header with a Dreamblaster ? that would be the ultimate !

This is currently being worked on.

bummer it was not released in the latest firmware ... is there an ETA on this feature?

Omarkoman wrote on 2024-07-17, 04:42:

bummer it was not released in the latest firmware ... is there an ETA on this feature?

I don't know, my guess would be "some weeks". I doubt it'll be a terribly long wait, put it that way.

I noticed that both xcom games with digital sounds locks my computers.
If I only choose music , everything works fine.
Self-made 1.2 card and Pentium mmx 166 ,64 mb , 430vx.

Yesterday I upgraded my PicoGUS with new firmware and it works like a dream in my Toshiba T5200. SB-emulation now works in Future Crew's Panic demo, I think it didn't work before.

And please, don't complain about some features missing but give some respect that somebody is doing this kind of great stuff for us.

Kekkula wrote on 2024-07-17, 06:14:

I noticed that both xcom games with digital sounds locks my computers.
If I only choose music , everything works fine.
Self-made 1.2 card and Pentium mmx 166 ,64 mb , 430vx.

Is this for GUS or SB2.0 emulation?

Gus emulation.
X-COM 1 patched to 1.4
And stock terror from the deep.
Later starts but hangs after you choose language.
Edit: SB emulation hangs too if you choose sound effects...

Not sure how many are interested but I got around to testing one of these Pico clones with USB-C on aliexpress.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/32568067816995 … ayAdapt=glo2usa

It's not really going to save any money unless you grab a few or other items and get free shipping, but I was interested in the option for USB-C instead of the micro USB. I was mostly just curious in general and using it on a socketed PicoGus so I can swap it if I ever have issues. So far everything seems to work perfectly on it according to WarCraft II. Gus and SB / Adlib no issues so far. I am assuming the others are fine too but I will try to do more testing to make sure.

Just adding to that: If someone wants to go that way, just be careful about the version you buy and try, especially the 16MB versions do have different pinouts.
If someone wants to use those, this is their pin-out:

Compared to the original:

MJay99 wrote on 2024-07-21, 09:37:

Just adding to that: If someone wants to go that way, just be careful about the version you buy and try, especially the 16MB ver […]
Show full quote

Just adding to that: If someone wants to go that way, just be careful about the version you buy and try, especially the 16MB versions do have different pinouts.
If someone wants to use those, this is their pin-out:

The attachment pico-16.jpg is no longer available

Compared to the original:

The attachment pico2.jpg is no longer available

Thanks for pointing this out, I was curious if the 16MB version could have any uses for things the 2MB version can't support.

Delphius wrote on 2024-07-22, 12:58:

Thanks for pointing this out, I was curious if the 16MB version could have any uses for things the 2MB version can't support.

Can't really say for the PicoGUS, but it did for a modified rp2040-doom's VGA board, that I wanted to build and had to adapt for these 😀
I'm guessing that the PicoGUS is a bit more edging on the limits of the processing power than the RAM (as the FW-image is about 1.3MB currently), but that's really nothing more than a wild guess from my side.

MJay99 wrote on 2024-07-22, 14:56:

Delphius wrote on 2024-07-22, 12:58:

Thanks for pointing this out, I was curious if the 16MB version could have any uses for things the 2MB version can't support.

Can't really say for the PicoGUS, but it did for a modified rp2040-doom's VGA board, that I wanted to build and had to adapt for these 😀
I'm guessing that the PicoGUS is a bit more edging on the limits of the processing power than the RAM (as the FW-image is about 1.3MB currently), but that's really nothing more than a wild guess from my side.

Yah that's what I was thinking too. I can't think of many things that would have used more RAM except maybe if it ever added AWE or sound font support 🤣. The VGA board sounds cool though!

Found another game that locks my computer completely when playing digital effects... Panzer General.
Music seems to work fine but after a few sound effects gets played computer locks.

Kekkula wrote on 2024-07-24, 19:22:

Found another game that locks my computer completely when playing digital effects... Panzer General.
Music seems to work fine but after a few sound effects gets played computer locks.

Issues with sound effects in both SB and GUS modes points to DMA or IRQ problems. Is the DMA or IRQ channel you are using shared with any other cards in the system? PicoGUS does not tolerate sharing DMA or IRQ well. Also ensure that both sets of DMA jumpers are closed according to the channel you are using.

I have tried removing sound blaster card, and disabling everything from bios... Com and parallel ports second ide controller and floppy disc controller.
I also tried both dma channels and every irq... X-COM allways still hangs.
So I'm wondering if anyone has X-COM working with picogus.
Edit:
Tested with my 440bx slot one p3-500 machine and exactly same behaviour with both games X-COM 1 and panzer general.

Kekkula wrote on 2024-07-25, 16:01:

I have tried removing sound blaster card, and disabling everything from bios... Com and parallel ports second ide controller and […]
Show full quote

I have tried removing sound blaster card, and disabling everything from bios... Com and parallel ports second ide controller and floppy disc controller.
I also tried both dma channels and every irq... X-COM allways still hangs.
So I'm wondering if anyone has X-COM working with picogus.
Edit:
Tested with my 440bx slot one p3-500 machine and exactly same behaviour with both games X-COM 1 and panzer general.

They do not work here, in GUS mode. (SB mode is fine.)

Both games appear to have a, dare-I-say-it, slightly cobbled together GUS implementation. As was sometimes the style, at the time. Having, for GUS in particular, a spaghetti of batch files to evoke custom use of (certain versions and functions of) Gravis's Ultrasound software.

This is entirely speculation on my part : but I suspect that might be the root of those games' issue with the PicoGUS's GUS mode.

Shreddoc wrote on 2024-07-26, 02:18:

Both games appear to have a, dare-I-say-it, slightly cobbled together GUS implementation. As was sometimes the style, at the time. Having, for GUS in particular, a spaghetti of batch files to evoke custom use of (certain versions and functions of) Gravis's Ultrasound software.

This is entirely speculation on my part : but I suspect that might be the root of those games' issue with the PicoGUS's GUS mode.

Games that relied on ultramid were definitely the majority - however most of them had a static library version built into their sound drivers. Some of them would still show telltale signs of loading patches into memory on startup. It was a lot simpler than writing GUS output from scratch; you didn't have to know a thing about the hardware since ultramid provides API functions (via a software interrupt) for both music playback (by passing MIDI messages) and digital audio.
So if a game is using a batch file to load ultramid before it runs, it's really not any different from the big name games of the time e.g. Descent, Duke3d, later versions of Doom (after they dropped their own GUS implementation), etc.

jmarsh wrote on 2024-07-26, 04:00:

Shreddoc wrote on 2024-07-26, 02:18:

Both games appear to have a, dare-I-say-it, slightly cobbled together GUS implementation. As was sometimes the style, at the time. Having, for GUS in particular, a spaghetti of batch files to evoke custom use of (certain versions and functions of) Gravis's Ultrasound software.

This is entirely speculation on my part : but I suspect that might be the root of those games' issue with the PicoGUS's GUS mode.

Games that relied on ultramid were definitely the majority - however most of them had a static library version built into their sound drivers. Some of them would still show telltale signs of loading patches into memory on startup. It was a lot simpler than writing GUS output from scratch; you didn't have to know a thing about the hardware since ultramid provides API functions (via a software interrupt) for both music playback (by passing MIDI messages) and digital audio.
So if a game is using a batch file to load ultramid before it runs, it's really not any different from the big name games of the time e.g. Descent, Duke3d, later versions of Doom (after they dropped their own GUS implementation), etc.

Focusing on X-COM :
It does load MIDI patches, and that in itself is no issue, as can be verified separately at the command line. I can't pinpoint exactly what the game is doing in order to cause its PicoGUS crash. It happens within the first few notes of intro music played. It is perhaps, or not, notable that the game includes both its own ULTRASND directory, as well as a sound subsystem in the form of the ./SOUND/SNDSTART.EXE and SNDEND.EXE (along with e.g. MUSIC.COM and VECTOR.COM) which are called during the games run process. Perhaps some elements of those are doing something less-common which the PicoGUS does not like.

The games README.TXT (for v1.4, October 1996) also implies that the Ultrasound support has undergone a late addition or revision, and that certain version-y uncertainties warranted a vague mention : "* Gravis UltraSound cards should now play new music and sound effects. Although it is not absolutely necessary, we strongly recommend that you obtain the latest drivers from Gravis for your UltraSound card.", though whether that has bearing on the PicoGUS crash is a <shrug>.

Ultramid is definitely a weak point in PicoGUS support, especially with early versions. If you can, run ultramid from the latest version of the GUS ultrasnd directory instead of the one that comes with the game. It works a lot better with the latest version.