CPC Expansion Backplane
This project is an expansion backplane for the Amstrad CPC computers, providing 3 Mother MX4 compatible box connectors.
Each connector is provided with a jumper to select whether power will be taken from the CPC's +5V output or an external PSU plugged into a three pin header on the expansion board.
The backplane needs a ribbon cable to connect to either the edge connector of a CPC 464/664/6128 or the Centronics connector found on the 6128 and 464 plus machines.
The PCB is available from SeeedStudio via the Seeed Gallery. Alternatively all Eagle .brd files and zipped archives of Gerbers are available in this repository's Eagle Releases Directory directory for you to have PCBs made wherever you choose.
A complete Bill of Materials (BOM) is available on DigiKey (UK). You may of course source your parts anywhere but this is the reference BOM. Note that the DigiKey BOM includes a 50W edge connector, cable and IDC connector. If you have one of the Plus machines you will need to swap the 50W edge connector for a suitable Centronics-type connector.
All components are placed on the top side of the board. Note the positions of the polarising keys on all sockets/plugs to be compatible with MX4 cards.
