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PCB BUG!

A project log for PicoRAM Ultimate Rev. 2

SRAM Emulator and SD Card Interface for Vintage Single Board Computers (such as the Heathkit ET-3400, Lab-Volt 6502, and Microprofessor)

michael-wesselMichael Wessel 01/16/2026 at 18:030 Comments

Unfortunately, the current version of PicoRAM Ultimate has a PCB bug: the position of the RE signal on the header is incorrect. Apologies for that.

You can see that in the schematics here:

Wrong RE Signal

When I wired up the IO header on my ET-3400, I flipped left and right and put it on pins 30 and 29 instead of 12 and 11, where they should have been.

I only noticed now, with my new ET-3400A, which already came with the RE signal wired up on the IO header (I only had to install the data lines), that the position didn't match. And indeed, the ET-3400A schematics lists the RE pin positions as follows - you see the difference:

Correct RE Signal

There is an easy fix for this - don't use JP9, but a DuPont wire that runs directly into the breadboard RE signal, as shown in these pictures:

RE Fix 1

RE Fix 2

Eventually, I will create a new PCB version with this bug fix. But for now, the workaround is sufficient.

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