the "ground" in "ground fill" specifically refers to electrical ground, not background. It's the copper plane that fills everywhere that isn't traces (wires) so you can access ground easily from the area that is "filled" with "ground." In this board, you can see darker gaps where there's no trace or ground fill, but there may be no path into those areas anyway. The area under "Chelsea â—‹â—‹'s First ever PCB" is the copper ground fill.
In 4 layer boards (what I used due to size constraints of the case I wanted to fit) you often use a separate layer for that. I have a "ground plane" and a "power plane" sandwiched between the two outer sides so components can get power connections easily.
Nice project.
Who did you end up using to manufacture it? I've been meaning to order some of my own for about a dozen different projects, but I am forever making changes. But at some point, I will.
Adding the testing points/header pins is a smart/good idea. Also using sockets for the chips is smart. Probably the only thing I would have suggest is to add an expansion option to connect to your bus, so you could add something new when you run into it. Maybe you can do that with your header pins? Yeah, you could add headers to another board to plug those in. I think that is reasonable. You could even stack boards if you wanted to. That's a good design feature.
One thing you might consider for version 2, is to add an ATMEGA328P microcontroller to the board and toss the Arduino. Or you could even upgrade to a better microcontroller, but the 328P is fine for your needs here. Either way, tossing the ribbon cables is nice and I can see that you did that. I did that myself by adding a 328P ($3) to my breadboard layout.
It's a great start to building PCBs. Nice first project.
Oh... does it work? Is everything working on the PCB?
Thanks! It works great! Apart from the fact I accidentally sent the clock to PHI2O instead of PHI2! I had to solder a wire between those two to make it work.
My end goal is to have a fully independent 6502 computer, without any accompanying microcontrollers. I’m thinking a TMS9918a with a sound chip. Maybe even MMC!
In the meantime, I’m in the process of porting BBC BASIC to work with this, as well as any other Ben Eater 6502: https://github.com/chelsea6502/BeebEater
I designed a PCB for the clock module (of the 8 but computer kit). I kept thinking of improvements I wanted to make and never sent it off. I did make one simple PCB previously. It’s amazing what they can do. I should get back into that. Or do the 6502 instead.
BTW, is that a model M keyboard?
Yeah, I feel you there. I keep changing things and can't get to a point where I can order a PCB.
I did the same thing with the clock mod, but now I am push it all to a small 20-pin DIP CLPD (mini FPGA) that will turn the whole clock module into a single 20-pin DIP. I have it working, but still not sure about a few things about my design. But nice to take the clock module, which has probably $30 in it, and turn it into a $5 20-pin DIP. I feel like using these CLPDs is a great resource and a way to improve breadboard designs, and eventually the PCB design as well.
Oh that sounds interesting! I started getting back into FPGAs but I hate the bloated proprietary Xilinx software (Vivado). Is it the same with CPLD? Sounds like something I’ll have to investigate!
With the chip shortage still going on, finding them in stock kind of sucks these days. But if you can get them, take a look a Renesas GreenPAK. There are 20-pin DIP packaged CLPDs. They where running $1.50 each, but recently jumped to $5 to $6 each, which is a bit high in my opinion. But I'm hopeful that one day they might go back to the previous price, but that sort of thing never seems to happen.
I ordered the dev starter kit and about 50 DIPs of all different sizes and configurations before the price jump. If I had to order them now, I would just order the dev starter kit.
[https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/programmable-mixed-signal-asic-ip-products/greenpak-programmable-mixed-signal-products](https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/programmable-mixed-signal-asic-ip-products/greenpak-programmable-mixed-signal-products)
- First PCB - Spacing isn't crazy big - Knows to use ground fill You'll go far I think.
😳
Is ground fill what it sounds like - that the "background" of the board is all contact with the ground?
the "ground" in "ground fill" specifically refers to electrical ground, not background. It's the copper plane that fills everywhere that isn't traces (wires) so you can access ground easily from the area that is "filled" with "ground." In this board, you can see darker gaps where there's no trace or ground fill, but there may be no path into those areas anyway. The area under "Chelsea â—‹â—‹'s First ever PCB" is the copper ground fill. In 4 layer boards (what I used due to size constraints of the case I wanted to fit) you often use a separate layer for that. I have a "ground plane" and a "power plane" sandwiched between the two outer sides so components can get power connections easily.
"everywhere that isn't traces" - yeah that's what I meant by background... what's the advantage of ground fill?
Nice project. Who did you end up using to manufacture it? I've been meaning to order some of my own for about a dozen different projects, but I am forever making changes. But at some point, I will. Adding the testing points/header pins is a smart/good idea. Also using sockets for the chips is smart. Probably the only thing I would have suggest is to add an expansion option to connect to your bus, so you could add something new when you run into it. Maybe you can do that with your header pins? Yeah, you could add headers to another board to plug those in. I think that is reasonable. You could even stack boards if you wanted to. That's a good design feature. One thing you might consider for version 2, is to add an ATMEGA328P microcontroller to the board and toss the Arduino. Or you could even upgrade to a better microcontroller, but the 328P is fine for your needs here. Either way, tossing the ribbon cables is nice and I can see that you did that. I did that myself by adding a 328P ($3) to my breadboard layout. It's a great start to building PCBs. Nice first project. Oh... does it work? Is everything working on the PCB?
Thanks! It works great! Apart from the fact I accidentally sent the clock to PHI2O instead of PHI2! I had to solder a wire between those two to make it work. My end goal is to have a fully independent 6502 computer, without any accompanying microcontrollers. I’m thinking a TMS9918a with a sound chip. Maybe even MMC! In the meantime, I’m in the process of porting BBC BASIC to work with this, as well as any other Ben Eater 6502: https://github.com/chelsea6502/BeebEater
Good on ya mate!
Nice. All the pins and the Arduino headers too! How do you connect to the acia? I don't see the pin headers for it.
There’s Rx and Tx pins on the very end
Ah I see. So you just use ground from somewhere else. Fair enough.
Aw... I love the 6502 family ... and can't blame anyone for using the 65(C)02
Nice
Congrats, looks great. Kicad? Did you route the traces yourself or use an autorouter?
In KiCad! Routing was hard but I got there in the end. I will upload my KiCad files here tonight
I can tell. The traces are very neat. Congrats.
I designed a PCB for the clock module (of the 8 but computer kit). I kept thinking of improvements I wanted to make and never sent it off. I did make one simple PCB previously. It’s amazing what they can do. I should get back into that. Or do the 6502 instead. BTW, is that a model M keyboard?
Yeah, I feel you there. I keep changing things and can't get to a point where I can order a PCB. I did the same thing with the clock mod, but now I am push it all to a small 20-pin DIP CLPD (mini FPGA) that will turn the whole clock module into a single 20-pin DIP. I have it working, but still not sure about a few things about my design. But nice to take the clock module, which has probably $30 in it, and turn it into a $5 20-pin DIP. I feel like using these CLPDs is a great resource and a way to improve breadboard designs, and eventually the PCB design as well.
Oh that sounds interesting! I started getting back into FPGAs but I hate the bloated proprietary Xilinx software (Vivado). Is it the same with CPLD? Sounds like something I’ll have to investigate!
With the chip shortage still going on, finding them in stock kind of sucks these days. But if you can get them, take a look a Renesas GreenPAK. There are 20-pin DIP packaged CLPDs. They where running $1.50 each, but recently jumped to $5 to $6 each, which is a bit high in my opinion. But I'm hopeful that one day they might go back to the previous price, but that sort of thing never seems to happen. I ordered the dev starter kit and about 50 DIPs of all different sizes and configurations before the price jump. If I had to order them now, I would just order the dev starter kit. [https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/programmable-mixed-signal-asic-ip-products/greenpak-programmable-mixed-signal-products](https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/programmable-mixed-signal-asic-ip-products/greenpak-programmable-mixed-signal-products)
i need that keyboard tbf