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2 layers320 × 150 mmDigiTrainer, the printed circuit board in 3D

A trainer board for digital electronics

Size
320 × 150 mm
Copper layers
2
Thickness
1.6 mm
Parts
262
Nets
473
Pads
1,331
Tracks, vias
4,169, 145
Routed
Yes
KiCad
KiCad 8.0 (file 20240108)
Created
24 Jun 2024
Updated
11 Oct 2025

Overview

DigiTrainer is an open-source printed circuit board by RetroStack, from the RetroStack/BitStack-DigiTrainer repository on GitHub, published under the MIT licence. It is a 2-layer board of 320 × 150 mm with 262 parts on 473 nets, routed with 4,169 tracks and 145 vias.

It is built around the 74LS245SC, 74LS373SC and 74LS00SC, with the 74LS194PC, 74LS02PC and 74LS04PC among its other parts. Its parts include 174 connectors, 30 capacitors, 27 ICs, 12 switches and 7 resistors.

Main components

12

README

README.md

DigiTrainer

As part of an introduction in digital electronics workshop at VCF SW 2024, I prepared this board. The intent was to reduce lookup time for datasheets and being able to just connect the inputs and outputs of various gates and logic ICs without caring too much about power supplies. In addition, this board features DIP-switches, a toggle and slide switch, hexadecimal switches, LED arrays which do have a built in resistor for current limiting, pull-up and -down resistors, and much more.

In addition to all of that, it includes a section for a Z80 CPU, static memory, and a ROM to be able to learn to program and work with 8-bit CPUs.

Photo

Latest Files

In the "Latest" folder, you'll find the most up-to-date design files, including:

  • Gerber files suitable for popular online PCB manufacturers like PCBWay and JLCPCB. Most manufacturers should be fine with either.
  • A Bill of Materials (BOM) in both CSV and PDF formats.
  • The full schematics of the board.

Implementation

The board has been implemented using KiCAD 8. The KiCAD project files are included in this repository.

Front Back

How to Use

All inputs of various ICs and gates are on the left side of the indicated gate or IC, while outputs are on the right side of the silkscreen indications. Bi-directional pins are horizontal or on the output side (such as at the Z80 CPU for the data bus).

Many components are already connected to +5V or GND and are indicated by an "arrow up" and "triangle down" respectively. Keep in mind that an LED connected to an IC output with +5V acts as an inverted output due to current sinking.

The top right area also provides a legend of common rules/laws and symbols used in digital electronics (and logic as an extension of it).

Bill of Materials (BOM)

Below is a list of materials needed to assemble the PCB.

ReferenceQtyDescriptionFootprintDatasheet
C1,C2,C3,C4,C5,C6,C7,C8,C9,C10,C11,C12,C13,C14,C15,C16,C17,C18,C19,C20,C25,C26,C27,C28,C29,C30260.1uFCapacitor_SMD:C_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.18x1.45mm_HandSolder~
C21,C2421uFCapacitor_SMD:C_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.18x1.45mm_HandSolder~
C22,C2320.01uFCapacitor_SMD:C_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.18x1.45mm_HandSolder~
D1,D22D_SchottkyDiode_THT:D_DO-41_SOD81_P7.62mm_Horizontal~
DN1,DN2,DN33LED ArrayPackage_DIP:DIP-20_W7.62mm_Socket~
J1,J2,J86,J158,J159,J1606Conn_01x10Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x10_P2.54mm_Vertical~
J3,J16,J17,J18,J19,J20,J21,J22,J23,J24,J25,J26,J27,J28,J29,J30,J31,J54,J55,J56,J57,J58,J59,J60,J61,J62,J63,J64,J65,J66,J67,J68,J69,J89,J99,J100,J102,J109,J110,J111,J112,J113,J114,J122,J123,J125,J126,J133,J137,J138,J142,J144,J145,J146,J147,J148,J149,J150,J151,J152,J153,J154,J155,J156,J157,J163,J16867Conn_01x02Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x02_P2.54mm_Vertical~
J4,J5,J6,J7,J8,J9,J10,J11,J12,J13,J14,J15,J32,J33,J34,J35,J36,J37,J38,J39,J40,J41,J42,J43,J44,J45,J46,J47,J48,J49,J50,J51,J52,J53,J70,J71,J72,J73,J74,J75,J76,J77,J78,J79,J80,J81,J87,J106,J107,J108,J135,J136,J141,J143,J167,J16956Conn_01x03Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x03_P2.54mm_Vertical~
J82,J83,J84,J85,J98,J103,J121,J124,J161,J16210Conn_01x06Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x06_P2.54mm_Vertical~
J88,J90,J91,J101,J104,J105,J164,J165,J166,J173,J17411Conn_01x08Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x08_P2.54mm_Vertical~
J92,J93,J94,J1724Conn_02x02_Odd_EvenConnector_PinHeader_2.54mm:PinHeader_2x02_P2.54mm_Vertical~
J951Barrel_Jack_SwitchConnector_BarrelJack:BarrelJack_Horizontal~
J961USB_B_MiniConnector_USB:USB_Mini-B_Tensility_54-00023_Vertical~
J97,J115,J117,J127,J128,J129,J130,J131,J132,J139,J140,J170,J17113Conn_01x04Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x04_P2.54mm_Vertical~
J116,J118,J119,J120,J1345Conn_01x05Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x05_P2.54mm_Vertical~
R1,R2,R3310kResistor_SMD:R_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.20x1.40mm_HandSolder~
R4,R5,R6,R741kResistor_SMD:R_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.20x1.40mm_HandSolder~
RN1,RN2,RN3,RN4,RN55R_Network10Resistor_THT:R_Array_SIP11http://www.vishay.com/docs/31509/csc.pdf
RV11R_PotentiometerPotentiometer_THT:Potentiometer_Bourns_3386P_Vertical~
RV211MPotentiometer_THT:Potentiometer_Bourns_3386P_Vertical~
SW1,SW5,SW6,SW7,SW85SW_PushRetroStackLibrary:SW_SPST_Push~
SW21SW_DPDT_x2RetroStackLibrary:SW_DPDT_Push~
SW3,SW42SW_DIP_x04Package_DIP:DIP-8_W7.62mm~
SW91SW_SPDTRetroStackLibrary:SW_SPDT_Toggle~
SW101SW_Push_DPDTRetroStackLibrary:SW_DPDT_Slide_RightAngle~
SW11,SW122Hex SwitchRetroStackLibrary:SW_Hexadecimal_Horizontalhttps://www.ckswitches.com/media/1333/cd.pdf
U1174LS07Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmwww.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/sn74ls07.pdf
U2174LS04Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS04
U3174LS266Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mm~
U4,U5274LS00Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74ls00
U6174LS08Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS08
U7174LS86Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mm74xx/74ls86.pdf
U8174LS32Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS32
U9174LS02Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74ls02
U10174LS244Package_SO:SOIC-20W_7.5x12.8mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/sn74ls244.pdf
U11174LS245Package_SO:SO-20_5.3x12.6mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS245
U12174LS51Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/sn74ls51.pdf
U13174LS174Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS174
U14174LS175Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS175
U15174LS373Package_SO:SO-20_5.3x12.6mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS373
U16174LS112Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS112
U17174LS107Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS107
U18174LS161Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS161
U19174LS163Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS163
U20,U21274LS194Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS194
U22174LS283Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS283
U23174LS85Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/gpn/sn74LS85
U241NE556Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmhttp://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ne556.pdf
U251Z80CPUPackage_DIP:DIP-40_W15.24mm_Socketwww.zilog.com/manage_directlink.php?filepath=docs/z80/um0080
U261ROM_27256Package_DIP:DIP-28_W15.24mm~
U271CY7C199Package_DIP:DIP-28_W7.62mm~

RetroStack Libraries

To work with this KiCAD project, you'll need the RetroStack libraries for KiCAD. Please follow this link to access and install these libraries.

Support this Project

RetroStack is passionate about exploring and preserving the legacy of older computer systems. BitStack is a sub-project of RetroStack, focusing on education in digital electronics. My work involves creating detailed documentation and videos to share the knowledge. I am also dedicated to reviving these classic systems by reimplementing them and offering replacement parts at no cost. If you're keen on supporting this unique project, I invite you to visit my Patreon page. Your support would be immensely valuable and greatly appreciated!

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Parts

262
QtyValueFootprintReferences
51~Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x02_P2.54mm_VerticalJ133, J137, J138, J142, J144, J145, J146, J147, J148, J149, J150, J151, J152, J153, J154, J155 +35
46~Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x03_P2.54mm_VerticalJ4, J10, J11, J12, J13, J14, J15, J32, J33, J34, J35, J36, J37, J38, J39, J40 +30
260.1uFCapacitor_SMD:C_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.18x1.45mm_HandSolderC1, C2, C10, C11, C12, C13, C14, C15, C16, C17, C18, C19, C20, C25, C26, C27 +10
16Conn_01x02Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x02_P2.54mm_VerticalJ89, J99, J100, J102, J109, J110, J111, J112, J113, J114, J122, J123, J125, J126, J163, J168
13Conn_01x04Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x04_P2.54mm_VerticalJ97, J115, J117, J127, J128, J129, J130, J131, J132, J139, J140, J170, J171
11Conn_01x08Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x08_P2.54mm_VerticalJ88, J90, J91, J101, J104, J105, J164, J165, J166, J173, J174
10Conn_01x06Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x06_P2.54mm_VerticalJ82, J83, J84, J85, J98, J103, J121, J124, J161, J162
6Conn_01x03Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x03_P2.54mm_VerticalJ106, J107, J108, J135, J136, J167
6Conn_01x10Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x10_P2.54mm_VerticalJ1, J2, J86, J158, J159, J160
5Conn_01x05Connector_PinSocket_2.54mm:PinSocket_1x05_P2.54mm_VerticalJ116, J118, J119, J120, J134
5R_Network10Resistor_THT:R_Array_SIP11RN1, RN2, RN3, RN4, RN5
5SW_PushRetroStackLibrary:SW_SPST_PushSW1, SW5, SW6, SW7, SW8
41kResistor_SMD:R_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.20x1.40mm_HandSolderR4, R5, R6, R7
4Conn_02x01Connector_PinHeader_2.54mm:PinHeader_1x02_P2.54mm_VerticalJ87, J141, J143, J169
4Conn_02x02_Odd_EvenConnector_PinHeader_2.54mm:PinHeader_2x02_P2.54mm_VerticalJ92, J93, J94, J172
310kResistor_SMD:R_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.20x1.40mm_HandSolderR1, R2, R3
3~Package_DIP:DIP-20_W7.62mm_SocketDN1, DN2, DN3
20.01uFCapacitor_SMD:C_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.18x1.45mm_HandSolderC22, C23
21uFCapacitor_SMD:C_0805_2012Metric_Pad1.18x1.45mm_HandSolderC21, C24
274LS00Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmU4, U5
274LS194Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmU20, U21
2D_SchottkyDiode_THT:D_DO-41_SOD81_P7.62mm_HorizontalD1, D2
2SW_DIP_x04Package_DIP:DIP-8_W7.62mmSW3, SW4
2~RetroStackLibrary:SW_Hexadecimal_HorizontalSW11, SW12
11MPotentiometer_THT:Potentiometer_Bourns_3386P_VerticalRV2
174LS02Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmU9
174LS04Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmU2
174LS07Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmU1
174LS08Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmU6
174LS107Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmU17
174LS112Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmU16
174LS161Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmU18
174LS163Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmU19
174LS174Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmU13
174LS175Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmU14
174LS244Package_SO:SOIC-20W_7.5x12.8mm_P1.27mmU10
174LS245Package_SO:SO-20_5.3x12.6mm_P1.27mmU11
174LS266Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmU3
174LS283Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmU22
174LS32Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmU8
174LS373Package_SO:SO-20_5.3x12.6mm_P1.27mmU15
174LS51Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmU12
174LS85Package_SO:SOIC-16_3.9x9.9mm_P1.27mmU23
174LS86Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmU7
1Barrel_Jack_SwitchConnector_BarrelJack:BarrelJack_HorizontalJ95
1CY7C199Package_DIP:DIP-28_W7.62mmU27
1NE556Package_SO:SOIC-14_3.9x8.7mm_P1.27mmU24
1ROM_27256Package_DIP:DIP-28_W15.24mmU26
1R_PotentiometerPotentiometer_THT:Potentiometer_Bourns_3386P_VerticalRV1
1SW_DPDT_x2RetroStackLibrary:SW_DPDT_PushSW2
1SW_Push_DPDTRetroStackLibrary:SW_DPDT_Slide_RightAngleSW10
1SW_SPDTRetroStackLibrary:SW_SPDT_ToggleSW9
1USB_B_MiniConnector_USB:USB_Mini-B_Tensility_54-00023_VerticalJ96
1Z80CPUPackage_DIP:DIP-40_W15.24mm_SocketU25

Questions

How big is the DigiTrainer PCB?

It measures 320 × 150 mm and has 2 copper layers, 1.6 mm thick.

What parts does the DigiTrainer use?

262 parts, built around the 74LS245SC, 74LS373SC, 74LS00SC and 74LS194PC. 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 DigiTrainer KiCad files?

From the RetroStack/BitStack-DigiTrainer repository on GitHub, at the commit this page was made from: the board is KiCAD/DigiTrainer.kicad_pcb and its schematic KiCAD/CPU.kicad_sch. PCBKit opens the board in the browser, with nothing to install.

Can I use the DigiTrainer design in my own project?

Its repository publishes it under the MIT licence: you may reuse it on that licence's terms (keep the author's notice, and for a copyleft licence share your changes alike).

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