Finally starting the schematic for my first W65C02 SBC

[billylegota]

On a side note, would love any referrals as far as PCB houses go. So far I think my best bet is Eurocircuits (as they will let me order a single quad layer board for $75). I have looked at Advancedcircuits (too expensive w/o student discount and the student discount is only for college students ), OSHPark (minimum of three boards which works out to $180!), and ExpressPCB (requires that I redo my PCB in their software).

***If it matters, my board is a quad layer board that is 6" by 4" (which kind of sucks as there are a ton of deals for 10cm x 10cm boards)***

[GARTHWILSON]

I make some suggestions for board houses just a few paragraphs into my custom-PCB page of the 6502 primer. There is a topic here on the forum about cheap PCB houses. I'm sure BigEd will remember a search term and find it before I do.

[billylegota]

Interestingly enough, my quote from Eurocircuits was $88 (incl. shipping and such) for a single board. When I tried the sites on your primer they all ended up ~$80 (for 5 boards, which is the minimum) but did not include shipping or tax. Unless I find a reason for having 4 extra boards (aside from the off chance that I ruin a board while soldering) I think I'll just go with Eurocircuits as many sites that I have looked at have said that they have a much higher quality than other services (albeit with a hefty premium compared to their Chinese competitors).

[billylegota]

Finally! I just finished my board + have submitted my order on Eurocircuits.

I had to add 0.25" on the top and bottom for a couple of 0.125" ID mounting holes which increased the price a little but will let me use some standoffs to keep the board off of my workbench.

I am about to submit my order for the components on Mouser (as well as an oscilloscope from Amazon) and then I should be golden! I can't wait for all of the parts to arrive!

[billylegota]

Components arrived but I am still awaiting my board. Now I really regret not choosing 7 day service (which was only $25 more than the 15 day service).

On a side note, I took a look at my 1210 SMD caps and resistors and it looks like I am going to have a fun time soldering them .

1210 1M resistor with 65C02 for scale.

[billylegota]

My board finally arrived! I just realized that I forgot the sockets for the ICs and the crystal so I will have to wait until Wed. to finish stuffing the board.

The board looks really nice (props to Eurocircuits). I especially like the matte green soldermask!

I am going to start checking all my power and ground pins to make sure they are the correct polarity and that there are no shorts.

I have really high hopes for this board and think that it *should* work correctly the first time . Wish me luck!

[BigDumbDinosaur]

BUMP

What ever became of this project?

[billylegota]

BigDumbDinosaur wrote:

BUMP

What ever became of this project?

Woah. It's hard to believe that its been more than a year since I last posted an update.

In short, I finished stuffing my PCB, tested the board to the best of my (limited) abilities and then didn't really do much with it for a few months (I was more interested in the hardware design than programming). Eventually I lent the board to one of my friends who is interested in embedded systems engineering. He says that he's made progress in programming a simple REPL for the board but I've not seen it in action.

I've been meaning to do another revision or make a completely new board but I always either become fed up with the limitations of my PCB / schematic package or get stuck with a design I can't route myself. I've been using another PCB / schematic package at my internship that I like a lot better than Diptrace. I may get a copy for my personal computer and try making a board using that.

I'll talk to my friend and see if he's made any progress recently. If not I'll have him send the board back to me so I can give it to someone who will use it; I'm sure there must be someone on the forum who is interested in the 6502 but can't afford to purchase / build their own board.