Got my Orpheus2 installed today.

Oh no! It's too long to share the case with my VLB graphics card, because the CPU gets in the way.

Still, looks and works great apart from that.

640K!enough wrote on 2023-04-25, 02:27:

If you're willing to experiment, the attached tool will make the changes necessary to enable the PC speaker functionality

Can confirm this is working.

It is a surprisingly long card and doesn't fit in the case I wanted to use it in either. At least my Orpheus I fits just fine!

Kahenraz comment and pixel peeping at the SmooBandit pikshur also remind me that the GF1 card have serious compatibility issues with an ALi m1541 chipset that I put in my trash box (what good is a retro motherboard if it can't handle a GUS properly ? I demand !). I never try Interwave based GUS on it, so maybe they dont suffer that problem. 🤷

nice pic SmooBandit 😁
sorry guys but the length was dictated by the size of the wavetable boards like the DB-50XG/SCB-7~55 and the simm socket...
it is more or less the same length as the original GF1 ultrasound

keropi wrote on 2023-05-04, 06:22:

nice pic SmooBandit 😁
sorry guys but the length was dictated by the size of the wavetable boards like the DB-50XG/SCB-7~55 and the simm socket...
it is more or less the same length as the original GF1 ultrasound

Thanks keropi - my comment was more a reflection on the motherboard design. More than once I have been stopped from putting longer ISA cards into those slots next to the CPU socket. The board does have another ISA slot below the VLB one, but the OrpheusII is blocked there by all the reset/led jumpers. Daftness.

This thread has been more than clear about the length of the card, with plenty of example images. Had I known in advance that it would not coexist on this board with the VLB: doesn't matter still buying. My other 486 board is a GA-486VS, with 3 VLB slots, so no worries there. That might be the final home for the card.

Lovely component choice and build quality - very happy with the result.

SmooBandit wrote on 2023-05-04, 07:33:

[...]
The board does have another ISA slot below the VLB one, but the OrpheusII is blocked there by all the reset/led jumpers. Daftness.
[...]

thanks 😀
I had the same problem with my SS7 system , the headers were on the way of longer ISA cards
I just bent the speaker/led headers like this:

maybe this is an option for your board as well?

keropi wrote on 2023-05-04, 08:57:

I just bent the speaker/led headers

That’s way too scary. I am 100% accidentally ripping something off the motherboard if I try that.

Also the headers are organised 90 degrees from those on your board so I would need to bend them to plug in at the bottom of the board. And there is not enough room in the case! The power supply shroud is flush with the bottom of the board.

SmooBandit wrote on 2023-05-04, 22:54:

That’s way too scary. I am 100% accidentally ripping something off the motherboard if I try that.

Also the headers are organised 90 degrees from those on your board so I would need to bend them to plug in at the bottom of the board. And there is not enough room in the case! The power supply shroud is flush with the bottom of the board.

You can find them manufactured that way. Just search for "90 degree pin headers", and swap them out.

Is the header right up against some caps or something else? Why not have them bend away from the edge and just run the wire across the board?

maybe bending left/right slightly to create an opening for the card will work then?
no need to go full 90 degrees - just enough so the pcb passes through the headers
post a pic of the area SmooBandit

SmooBandit wrote on 2023-05-04, 22:54:

keropi wrote on 2023-05-04, 08:57:

I just bent the speaker/led headers

That’s way too scary. I am 100% accidentally ripping something off the motherboard if I try that.

Also the headers are organised 90 degrees from those on your board so I would need to bend them to plug in at the bottom of the board. And there is not enough room in the case! The power supply shroud is flush with the bottom of the board.

I had a similar situation with a large capacitor on a Sound Blaster hitting an adjacent card. I ended up desoldering it and replacing it with another one that I'd bent over 90 degrees, similar to keropi's solution.

keropi wrote on 2023-05-05, 05:25:

post a pic of the area SmooBandit

Here we go:

it seems to me that if you bend that connector on the right edge towards the right by ~20degrees then there would not no conflict issues

I wouldn't worry about damaging these large Dupont pin headers. They are ubiquitous and easy to replace if necessary. I have no fear bending them out of the way, or even clipping them shorter if they are in the way.

keropi wrote on 2023-05-05, 07:38:

it seems to me that if you bend that connector on the right edge towards the right by ~20degrees then there would not no conflict issues

You might be right about that.

The problem is also the row of jumpers on the bottom of the Orpheus. They line up just in the wrong place with the cables coming off the motherboard headers.

Ah, the joys of retro tech.

(I can't get this motherboard to hold BIOS settings if the power goes off either, even with a constant supply of new CR32s, but that's another adventure that is going to involve a multimeter).

Kahenraz wrote on 2023-05-05, 07:58:

I wouldn't worry about damaging these large Dupont pin headers. They are ubiquitous and easy to replace if necessary.

I fear the words "soldering iron" would feature heavily in the replacement workflow!

maybe it's a sign then to use the other mobo if this one can't hold CMOS settings - it's a really annoying issue in my book

@smoobandit have you checked your CMOS clear jumper is not in the clear position? 😁
otherwise, maybe your motherboard has an external battery 4pins header and you could try that instead of the integrated battery holder?

keropi wrote on 2023-05-05, 08:30:

maybe it's a sign then to use the other mobo if this one can't hold CMOS settings - it's a really annoying issue in my book

That might be the deciding factor. This is my Win95 machine with the 83Mhz overdrive pentium, so it would be good to play with the Orpheus in that OS. The other 486 is DOS6.22 only with a DX2 66Mhz CPU. It's more for pure DOS gaming anyway, and its the one hooked up to the Roland and the SC-55. It's got a PCMIDI in it at the minute and a genuine SB16. I think the Orpheus might suit that machine better. In this case the Orpheus replaced a AWE64 Value with the SIMMCONN memory add on, which does a decent Win95 job on its own.

And, frankly, if there is every such a thing as a completely finished, never to be tinkered with, Retro PC - I've not seen it.

Boohyaka wrote on 2023-05-05, 09:02:

@smoobandit have you checked your CMOS clear jumper is not in the clear position? 😁
otherwise, maybe your motherboard has an external battery 4pins header and you could try that instead of the integrated battery holder?

(At risk of hijacking this thread) Yes, checked the clear jumper. In both settings just in case the manual was wrong. Not that. It might be a broken connector on the CR32 holder, hence the multimeter plan. It could also be a broken clear jumper, now I come to think about it.

I have an adaptor for an external battery, so I'll check for jumpers for that - not tried that yet, so thanks for the suggestion.

And, frankly, if there is every such a thing as a completely finished, never to be tinkered with, Retro PC - I've not seen it.

Truer words have rarely been spoken 😀 it's regularly discussed in here and I guess a vast majority of us spend more time tinkering with their hardware than actually using the computers. At least that's definitely my case!

The Orpheus would feel right at home in your DX2-66 IMO!

Boohyaka wrote on 2023-05-05, 10:27:

I guess a vast majority of us spend more time tinkering with their hardware than actually using the computers.

wait, people use these computers?

(kidding of course...kind of?)

My Orpheus II continues to amaze. Crisp output over S/PDIF. Gosh, if we had this thing back in the day.