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A 512kB external RAM expansion for the Sinclair QL, based on Alvaro Alea Fernandez's design. The circuit is unchanged. This version reworks the board to make assembly and reconfiguration easier, hence the name.
Original project: https://github.com/alvaroalea/QL_512kb_External_Expansion
gerbers/ folder.Board size (97.79 × 35.56 mm) and the circuit itself are unchanged from the original rev 3.
The board adds up to 512kB of static RAM (fast RAM) to the Sinclair QL.
Stacking two boards provides up to 896kB of memory, the same capacity as Miracle's Trump Card.
Two memory expansions cannot occupy the same address range. This applies to Jose Leandro's QBide, the Trump Card, and similar hardware.
The board has an expansion connector for additional interfaces.
The configuration headers provide four settings. The original board uses solder jumpers instead.
The 128kB configuration cannot be installed alone. To use it for a total of 768kB, another expansion card must provide ROM at address E00000h. Without that ROM, an overlap between the internal and external 128kB causes the QL ROM to report a RAM malfunction and hang.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CZWfWcUM5mx/
The folder contains source code for GALasm:
galsoftware/memtest/ contains a RAM test for checking an assembled card on the QL.
It combines a SuperBASIC front end with a 68008 machine-code core. The suite
tests the data bus, address bus, aliasing (GAL decode), March C-minus, and
checkerboard patterns. It supports a QDOS-safe mode and a destructive test of
the complete window. See
software/memtest/README.md.
Alvaro also made the MiniTrump version of the Trump Card disk interface: https://github.com/alvaroalea/QL_MiniTrump3. Unlike the original, the MiniTrump does not include memory. Combining it with two of these RAM cards provides the same functions as the original Trump Card.
Connect the 512kB card to the QL, the MiniTrump to the 512kB card, and the +256kB card to the MiniTrump. Set this board's three-pin mode header, labelled NORMAL/TRUMP on the silkscreen, to TRUMP so the MiniTrump can coordinate with the second memory card.
Original design (C) 2022 Alvaro Alea Fernandez, based on the work of McLeod Ideafix, Jose Leandro, Zerover and tcat among others, with contributions from www.va-de-retro.com
2025 revisions by ArleyJr.
Licensed under: CERN Open Hardware Licence Version 2 - Strongly Reciprocal
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