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Pico506

hmerrett·pico506-pcb

Pico506 PCB layout, top view — open source RP2040/RP2350 board by hmerrett
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About the Pico506 PCB

Pico506 is an open source RP2040/RP2350 PCB design by hmerrett, published on GitHub under the GPL-3.0 license. It is a 2-layer board measuring 138 × 79 mm, with 57 components from 34 distinct parts.

Its main chip is the Raspberry Pi Pico, from the RP2040/RP2350 family. Other key parts include the 74LS05, 7438, AM26LS31CN and MC3486N. By type, the board carries 24 resistors, 10 capacitors, 7 ICs, 7 connectors, 3 diodes and 1 transistor.

From the project

A dedicated PCB for the Pico506 ST-506/MFM/RLL hard drive emulator: two-layer, 138 × 74 mm, all through-hole, with real card-edge tabs so it plugs into a period ST-506 control/data cable pair the same way an ST-225 does.

A dedicated PCB for the Pico506 ST-506/MFM/RLL hard drive emulator: two-layer, 138 × 74 mm, all through-hole, with real card-edge tabs so it plugs into a period ST-506 control/data cable pair the same way an ST-225 does.

This repository is the board only. The emulator itself — the RP2040 firmware, the PIO signal generation, the SD card image format, and the explanation of how any of it works — is Kuba Szczodrzyński's kuba2k2/pico506. Read that first; this board is useless without it. Kuba's write-up Emulating a 1987 proprietary RLL hard drive is the long-form story of the project and the…

Pico506, from the project README
From the project README

Main components on the Pico506

Raspberry Pi Pico74LS057438AM26LS31CNMC3486N

Pico506 bill of materials (BOM)

57 components, 34 distinct parts — part numbers from the project's BOM.

QtyPartRefs
1
Raspberry Pi Pico
U1
2
74LS05
U2, U3
2
7438
U4, U5
1
AM26LS31CN
U6
1
MC3486N
U7
1
2N3904
Q1
1
ST-506 CONTROL
J1
1
ST-506 DATA
J2
1
AMP 350211-1
J3
1
DRIVE SELECT
J4
1
UART
J5
1
SERVO GATE 3V3
J6
1
FRONT LED
J7
1
PS1240
BZ1
1
FRAME GND
FG1
1
WF EN
JP1
1
SD socket
SD1
1
RESET
SW1
1
1N5817
D1
1
ACT amber
D2
Show 14 more
QtyPartRefs
1
PWR green
D3
1
100u/16V
C1
1
22u/16V
C2
7
100n
C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9
1
10u/16V
C10
10
1k
R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8 +2
3
470
R10, R14, R15
2
100
R11, R12
1
4.7k
R13
4
10k
R17, R18, R19, R20
1
220
R21
1
330
R22
1
220
RN1
1
330
RN2

Pico506 design files

The KiCad project lives in the hmerrett/pico506-pcb repository on GitHub; these links point at the commit this page was built from.

Pico506: common questions

What microcontroller does the Pico506 use?

The Pico506 is built around the Raspberry Pi Pico, from the RP2040/RP2350 family.

How big is the Pico506 PCB?

The Pico506 measures 138 × 79 mm, has 2 copper layers and is 1.6 mm thick.

How many components are on the Pico506?

57 components, from 34 distinct parts, with part numbers taken from the project's own BOM. The full bill of materials is listed on this page.

Where can I download the Pico506 design files?

From the hmerrett/pico506-pcb repository on GitHub, which has the KiCad layout, the schematic and the BOM; the links under Design files point to each one.

Can I use the Pico506 design in my own project?

Yes, under the terms of its GPL-3.0 license, which hmerrett chose for the repository.

Can I test firmware for the Pico506 without the hardware?

Yes. HardLabs builds a simulation of the board from its netlist and BOM, so you can run and debug RP2040/RP2350 firmware against it before you order a PCB.

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