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2 layers21.5 × 37.1 mmROM Emulator, the printed circuit board in 3D

Ted Fried's MicroCore Labs Projects - FPGA CPU cores and emulators for the 8088, 8086, 8051, 6502, 68000, Z80, Risc-V, and also Typewriter and EPROM Emulator projects. MCL51, MCL64, MCL65, MCL65+, MCL68, MCL86, MCL86+, MCL86jr, MCLR5, MCLZ8, MCL6809, XTMax, MCL8080+

Size
21.5 × 37.1 mm
Copper layers
2
Thickness
1.6 mm
Parts
5
Nets
54
Pads
116
Tracks, vias
284, 31
Pours
1
Routed
Yes
KiCad
KiCad 5 (file 20171130)
Created
11 Aug 2019
Updated
28 Aug 2026

Overview

ROM Emulator is an open-source printed circuit board by MicroCoreLabs, from the MicroCoreLabs/Projects repository on GitHub. It is a 2-layer board of 21.5 × 37.1 mm with 5 parts on 54 nets, routed with 284 tracks and 31 vias.

It is built around the 74LS245SC. It belongs with the retro computing and games boards and the NXP (LPC, Kinetis, i.MX RT) boards of this library.

Main components

1

README

README.md

Ted Fried's MicroCore Labs Projects

My blog which has some details on these projects: www.MicroCoreLabs.Wordpress.com

My YouTube Channel with some videos of the stuff in action: www.youtube.com/channel/UC9B3TaEUon-araO2j7tp9jg/videos

Boards:

text
MCL6809     -  Motorola 6809E emulator which runs on a Teensy 4.1 and can be used as a drop-in replacment 
MCLZ8       -  Zilog Z80 emulator which runs on a Teensy 4.1 and can be used as a drop-in replacment 
MCL86+      -  Intel 8088 emulator which runs on a Teensy 4.1 and can be used as a drop-in replacment 
MCL86jr     -  IBMPCjr Accelerator which boosts performance to IBM PC/AT speed
MCL65+      -  MOS 6502 emulator which runs on a Teensy 4.1 and can be used as a 6502 drop-in replacment
MCL64       -  MOS 6510 emulator which runs on a Teensy 4.1 and can be used as a drop-in replacment in the Commodore 64
MCL68+      -  Motorola 68000 emulator which runs on a Teensy 4.1 and can be used as a drop-in replacment 
MCLV20_Max  -  NEC V20 drop-in replacment CPU which uses the MCL86+ board
MCL8080+    -  Intel 8080 emulator which runs on an ATTiny85 and has a SPI interface as the local bus

Emulated Processors:

text
MCL68  - Motorola 68000 Emulator written in C
RISCV  - Simple and compact RISC-V RS32I implementation written in C
MCL65  - MOS 6502 written in C

Microsequencer-based processors:

text
MCL65 - MOS 6502 
MCL51 - Intel 8051
MCL86 - Intel 8086/8088

Other processors:

text
MCLR5 - Quad-Issue Superscalar RISCV
Lockstep Quad Modular Redundant System 

Misc:

text
Wheelwriter  - FPGA based Printer Option for the IBM Wheelwriter 5
Wheelwriter2 - Arduino Leonardo based Printer Option for the IBM Wheelwriter 5
Brother Typewriter - Arduino Leonardo converts Serial RX to a Brother Word Processor
EPROM Emulator - Small PCB which uses Teensy 4.0 to emulate up a 64KB 27C512 EPROM
MCL64_Tester - Extensive, menu-based, tests for the Commodore 64 motherboard
MCLZ8 TRS-80 Emulator - Emulates a TRS-80 Model 1 inside of a Teensy microcontroller board
MCL_TRS_NABU - Emulates a TRS-80 Model 1 using the MCLZ8 which runs inside of a NABU Personal Computer
Turbo NABU - Uses the MCLZ8 to run simple C code on the Teensy to control the motherboard resources of the NABU Computer
MDA Video - Project which uses an Arty Z7-20 SOC FPGA board to diaplay BMP images to an MDA display
IBMPC_68000 - Uses the MCL86+ board to emulate a Motorola 68000 which runs inside of an IBM PC as-if they selected this processor in 1981
MCL65_Apple1 - Converts an Apple II into an Appke 1 by emulating the BIOS PROMs, system memory, and performing some I/O conversion
XTMax - 8-bit ISA card containing a Teensy 4.1 which can emulate RAM, ROM, and peripherals
    

For questions email me at www.MicroCoreLabs.com

Parts

5
QtyValueFootprintReferences
374LS245Package_SO:SSOP-20_5.3x7.2mm_P0.65mmU2, U4, U5
127C512Package_DIP:DIP-28_W15.24mmU1
1Teensy4.0Teensy:Teensy40U3

Questions

How big is the ROM Emulator PCB?

It measures 21.5 × 37.1 mm and has 2 copper layers, 1.6 mm thick.

What parts does the ROM Emulator use?

5 parts, built around the 74LS245SC. The full list of its parts is on this page, with links to each part's symbol and footprint where PCBKit's library has them.

Where can I download the ROM Emulator KiCad files?

From the MicroCoreLabs/Projects repository on GitHub, at the commit this page was made from: the board is EPROM_Emulator/ROM_Emulator_PCB_OE_n/ROM_Emulator.kicad_pcb and its schematic MCL68+/PCB/MCL68.kicad_sch. PCBKit opens the board in the browser, with nothing to install.

Can I use the ROM Emulator design in my own project?

Its repository states no licence, so its author keeps all rights: ask MicroCoreLabs before reusing the design.

More from MicroCoreLabs/Projects

8
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