The PicoGUS: An ingenious multifunction ISA sound card

If you are into retro PCs, you probably know that the Gravis Ultrasound is one of the most expensive soundcards out there. It was used extensively in the early to mid-90s PC demo scene, and if you want to hear those demos as they were intended and on a real physical computer, you will need to splash out big cash for a Gravis Ultrasound card.
This is where the PicoGUS comes in -- it's a Gravis Ultrasound running inside a Raspberry Pi Pico2040 in an ISA card. No tricks here -- this really is emulating the Gravis Ultrasound on a $5 microcontroller! (It also can emulate several other cards too.)
The creator of the project sent me this card to play with, so let's dig into it and hear it running one of the best PC demos of all time.
-- Links
PicoGUS:
github.com/pol...
polpo.org/pico...
www.tindie.com...
Hand386:
www.aliexpress...
Apple II VGA card:
• A software defined VGA...
github.com/V2R...
PicoMEM:
• 0069 There is so much ...
www.vogons.org...
Second Reality: (Demo itself)
• Future Crew - Second R...
www.pouet.net/...
-- Music
2nd Reality by Skaven
modarchive.org...
www.mikseri.net...
Surfing on a sine wave by FearofDark
modarchive.org...
fodxm.co.uk/
3D Galax by Beldoroon
modarchive.org...
Inner Strength by LASERLORE
modarchive.org...
Ice Frontier by Skaven
modarchive.org...
www.mikseri.net...
Eternity by 4MAT
modarchive.org...
-- Tools
Deoxit D5:
amzn.to/2VvOKy1
store.caig.com/...
O-Ring Pick Set: (I use these to lift chips off boards)
amzn.to/3a9x54J
Elenco Electronics LP-560 Logic Probe:
amzn.to/2VrT5lW
Hakko FR301 Desoldering Iron:
amzn.to/2ye6xC0
Rigol DS1054Z Four Channel Oscilloscope:
www.rigolna.co...
Head Worn Magnifying Goggles / Dual Lens Flip-In Head Magnifier:
amzn.to/3adRbuy
TL866II Plus Chip Tester and EPROM programmer: (The MiniPro)
amzn.to/2wG4tlP
www.aliexpress...
TS100 Soldering Iron:
amzn.to/2K36dJ5
www.ebay.com/i...
EEVBlog 121GW Multimeter:
www.eevblog.co...
DSLogic Basic Logic Analyzer:
amzn.to/2RDSDQw
www.ebay.com/i...
Magnetic Screw Holder:
amzn.to/3b8LOhG
www.harborfrei...
Universal ZIP sockets: (clones, used on my ZIF-64 test machine)
www.ebay.com/i...
RetroTink 2X Upconverter: (to hook up something like a C64 to HDMI)
www.retrotink.com/
Plato (Clone) Side Cutters: (order five)
www.ebay.com/i...
Heat Sinks:
www.aliexpress...
Little squeezy bottles: (available elsewhere too)
amzn.to/3b8LOOI
--- Links
My GitHub repository:
github.com/mis...
Commodore Computer Club / Vancouver, WA - Portland, OR - PDX Commodore Users Group
www.commodorec...
--- Instructional videos
My video on damage-free chip removal:
• How to remove chips wi...
--- Music
Intro music and other tracks by:
Nathan Divino
@itsnathandivino