Description
The Amstrad Expansion System aka Maplin ROM Card from Maplin is a DIY project by Dave Goodman and John Attfield.
The Amstrad Expansion System (Part 1) was primarily a rom box for the CPC series, but had additional features:
- Special non-standard Buffered Expansion Port (with pre-decoded IOSEL line, on access to "free" I/O addresss)
- Lightpen socket (3.5mm stereo socket - just a connector with LPEN,5V,GND - without any additional electronics)
The DIY project consisted of a 16 page instruction leaflet.
Maplin's Amstrad Projects
Maplin released various projects. The Amstrad CPC related ones are:
- MAPLIN PROJECTS BOOK 18 - Amstrad Expansion System Part 1: an external ROM card system for the Amstrad
- MAPLIN PROJECTS BOOK 19 - Amstrad Expansion System Part 2: describes the 6 x 8-bit parallel I/O Port and PSU Card
- MAPLIN PROJECTS BOOK 20 - Amstrad 8 Bit Input Port
Pictures
Manual
- Amstrad Expansion System Part 1: Maplin ROM-Box Manual (pdf)
- Amstrad Expansion System Part 2: Media:Maplin Part 2.xxx (none such scanned yet?)