..

Week of the 06/09/2025 - #24

Contents

tech

  • Perfboard and prototyping resources
  • Dead Bug Prototyping
  • Sega Master

Perfboard and prototyping resources

My Apple //c disk drive emulator is working as far as I’m interested to work on it. It is read-only and only supports .dsk images (technically they are nibilized and stored as a nib image in the SD card) but it even has a small LCD display and can switch to any of the multiple images you can upload. Right now the hardware is all in two breadboards with wires going out of the computer which, since it has it’s top open collects a lot of dust so I want to move the hardware into a perfboard and make everything a bit more stable. For this reason I’ve been doing a little bit of research to see what I can do. Here’s the result of my research.

  • Start Building Cleaner Perfboard Projects Using These Simple Tips - Great tips on using perfboards. “Solderless breadboards are perfect for those just starting out with electronic projects. These practical helpers are also suitable for quick experiments where you often want to swap out parts. However, breadboards are not the best choice when it comes to building a permanent circuit, as parts can quickly become loose from daily use and vibration. Therefore, we must look for another way to create permanent circuits, and perfboards offer such an opportunity. However, handling these perforated fiberglass boards also requires practice, and there are a few tips to keep in mind to make working with breadboards easier and result in better-looking and more reliable circuits.”.
  • Mastering Perfboard: A Comprehensive Guide for Electronics Prototyping - More tips on using perfbards.

  • Perfboard circuit design with Kicad - Tips on using Kicad to design perfboard circuits.

  • Kicad - “KiCad is an open source software suite for Electronic Design Automation (EDA). The programs handle Schematic Capture, and PCB Layout with Gerber and IPC-2581 output. The suite runs on Windows, Linux and macOS and is licensed under GNU GPL v3.”. Documentation KiCad screenshot

  • DIY Layout Creator - A simpler tool to create perfboard layouts. A bit more oriented to Guitar pedal and amplifier electronics. www DIY Layout creator screenshot

  • Albin.jd IG account - James Albin is a master at creating very beautiful perfboard circuits. Have a look at his IG account. He talks about his process in these two reels: type of wire - the process of straightening/bending wires

Albin 2

Albin 1

Albin 3

Dead Bug Prototyping

As a side note on perfboard design I heard in an Telegram account about ‘dead bug prototyping’. It’s closely related to the previous topic with lot’s of interesting resources. Here are some of them:

  • Dead Bug Prototyping and Freeform Electronic - A general article with lots of links to other resources. “Dead bug prototyping and freeform electronics are a way of building working electronic circuits, by soldering the parts directly together, or through wires instead of the traditional way of using a printed circuit board (PCB.)”

DBP example 1

DBP example 2

DBP example 3

DBP example 4

DBP example 6

DBP example 7

  • Prototyping, Methods - “All are handmade, no etching of PCBS. While we are on that subject however, bear this in mind when hearing negative comments about using Ferric Chloride to etch PCB’s at home.”

DBP example 8

DBP example 9

DBP gameboy cart

Sega Master

Sega Masters 1

Last weekend I was at “cyber-cirujas” event and meet with my good friend Arleka and he introduced me to the Sega Master. In the event he had two Sega masters running and I was very impressed at the fact that the Sega Master is an 8 bit architecture (with a Z-80) with very advanced graphics. When I got back home I researched a little at the architecture and found a couple of intereting resources:

Sega Masters 2

Sega Masters 3

Sega Masters 4