Image credit: PicoGUS official site, Source.
PicoGUS is a modern 8-bit ISA sound card built around the Raspberry Pi Pico’s RP2040. Rather than being original 1990s hardware, it emulates period sound cards in software — Gravis Ultrasound, Sound Blaster, AdLib, Tandy, and more — with swappable firmware, so one cheap board can be whichever card a given game wants.
What it does
The appeal is straightforward: original ISA sound cards, and Gravis Ultrasound cards especially, have become scarce and expensive. PicoGUS puts that capability back within reach for anyone building a DOS machine to actually use rather than to display, and because the firmware is swappable it covers a lot of ground from a single slot.
Why I want one
It’s on my shortlist for a future 8-bit ISA build. It’s exactly the kind of modern hardware I like — it makes classic systems more usable instead of trying to replace them, and it keeps the hobby accessible rather than gated behind collector prices. I don’t have one yet.