NOW IN STOCK - Latest PCB revision 1.14 - High quality silver color 3D printed bracket and gold plated PCB.
New : optional audio DAC for adlib support
PicoMEM including high quality 3d printed bracket in silver color
The PicoMEM is an 8-bit ISA expansion card powered by the Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller.
Designed as an all-in-one solution for ISA-based vintage PCs, it comes packed with features to enhance functionality.
Features:
- Integrated Bootable ROM: Enables in-system configuration and booting from any vintage system with Option ROM support.
Press "S" at boot to configure and select disk images, memory settings, and more.
- MicroSD Card Reader: Allows storage of multiple floppy and hard drive images (disk .img files).
- RAM : Upgrade conventional memory and add UMB (128kb with 0 wait state other from external PSRAM)
- EMS Memory: Supports 4MB of EMS memory with current drivers.
- USB Support: Provides USB mouse and joystick support via a Micro USB OTG hub.
- NE2000 Network Emulation: Currently in beta, this feature works through the RP2040's integrated Wi-Fi module.
Note that no external antenna is supported, which may reduce signal strength in some computer cases.
- Firmware Updates: Easily update the firmware by copying a single file to the PicoMEM via a Micro USB cable.
The card will automatically reboot and run the updated firmware.
- ROM Addressing: Cards are preset to ROM address 0xD000, allowing coexistence with XTIDE BIOS on existing CF adapters.
- Optional PCM5102 Stereo audio DAC for adlib support.
Development Status:
While the PicoMEM is highly functional, it remains a work in progress with some known issues on various systems. Notably, it is currently incompatible with the Tandy 1000 series. Frequent updates and issue resolutions are documented on the project's GitHub page. The project is actively developed by numerous contributors, including the original creator, Freddy Vetele. For the latest information, drivers, disk images, and documentation, visit the GitHub repository: https://github.com/FreddyVRetro/ISA-PicoMEM
Optional PCM5012 audio DAC :
The picoMEM can be expanded with a stereo DAC : This allows adlib function on PicoMEM.
The DAC is available as both DIY solder-on PCB and as fully presoldered/pretested option.
See DIY solder instructions below for the DAC board supplied by serdaco (it may differ for other DAC boards):
- First inspect the PCM5102 board and make the right solder bridges. Ensure they are properly soldered : 1L, 2L, H3, 4L
- Then solder the DAC board onto the PicoMEM as follows (PicoMEM PCB rev 1.14 shown - this has J5 header + 2 additional mounting pins)
- When ordering the 'presoldered/pretested DAC' option, it will be mounted like this and 100% tested by me.
- Enable sound card and adlib functions in the PicoMem BIOS options, to use the DAC.
Video by Retro Erik showing PicoMEM in action :
Video by Adrian's digital basement :
Video by Ctrl-Alt-Rees :