It doesn't really block the socket -- if the stack of two layers of sockets and the ROMs are all pushed down correctly, you can still just about get a podule in there.blocks the slot above, etc - I’m tempted to just redesign that board myself.
Yes, doing a better RAM card section alone would be pretty straightforward, and something I'd considered doing ever since I fully reverse-engineered the MEMC PCB - https://github.com/IJeffray/Atomwide_TwinMEMC - I'd do it more like the original Atomwide 8MB - to plug on to the RAM expansion header (minor nit there is that if it's a 1MB or 2MB board, it needs +2MB or +3MB on the RAM board, PLUS the added 4MB) (second minor nit is if the motherboard is originally 4MB, it sometimes doesn't even have the RAM header populated, so that'd need doing - Acorn being cheap again there). The layout, using a pair of 16bit RAMs as per, for example, my A3000 4MB board, would be straightforward : https://github.com/IJeffray/A3000_4MB
But IME, the MEMC PCB is just as flaky as the RAM card - chiefly, I think, because it's heavy in the socket - and SMT PLCC sockets (i.e. the A5000 motherboard MEMC socket) are always terrible for putting plugs in anyway as they're not deep, like THT ones are (i.e. the A300/A400 motherboard MEMC scocket).
Statistics: Posted by IanJeffray — Tue Dec 10, 2024 5:24 pm