What is PicoGUS?

PicoGUS can emulate Gravis UltraSound, AdLib (OPL2), CMS/Game Blaster and Tandy 3-Voice, and supports MIDI output with MPU-401 intelligent mode emulation. You can also plug in a USB gamepad (Xbox 360 & DualShock 4 currently supported) and play DOS games with a modern controller! PicoGUS comes in two versions: an ISA card, and the Femto Edition that can plug into a Hand386/Book8088 or ISA adapter. This listing is for the newest version of the original ISA card, version 2.0.

This version of PicoGUS does not need a Raspberry Pi Pico as the RP2040 microcontroller is embedded right on the board! You can plug the card in and use it right away as it comes programmed with the GUS firmware!

Please see the PicoGUS GitHub project and compatibility list for more information on PicoGUS and what computer systems, games, and demoscene productions it is compatible with. You can see my YouTube channel as well, and Adrian's Digital Basement recently did a video featuring version 1.1 of the PicoGUS.

What do you get?

• A red PicoGUS v2.0 ISA board with lovely gold ENIG finish and beveled ISA edge connector, fully assembled with a custom metal bracket.
• A 3.5mm TRS to DIN-5 MIDI adapter cable, length 15cm.

Wasn't the PicoGUS $40?

The cost of the custom metal bracket and a surprise large import duty charge mean I have to raise the price by $5 to a total of $45. I think it's still an incredible value for what you get – just compare to any of the reproduction cards like the Radlib or PCMIDI that do just one of the many cards that PicoGUS can do! And if you make your own boards in a small run (which you're absolutely welcome to – this project is open source, after all), you'll be hard pressed to make them for less than that.

For those who like to DIY, PicoGUS 2.0 is designed from the ground up for automated assembly so making your own would be a major challenge. In the near future I will be releasing version 1.2 of the original PicoGUS design bringing some of the stability/manufacturing improvements from 2.0 to a more DIY-friendly board.