Upside Down PLCC Adapter/Reader

[trag]

I only have one example of the Rev. 3 6880M and I didn't want to risk corrupting the Flash contents by desoldering it, if possible.

I noticed that a PLCC socket will fit over a PLCC chip, while it's still soldered to its host board. The chip will just be upside-down in the socket.

So I made these Upside Down PLCC-32 to DIP-32 Adapters. The intent is to read the contents of the ubiquitous PLCC-32 chips carrying card firmware without removing them from the host boards. I don't know how well reading in-circuit will work, if at all, but I figured it's worth a try. Plus it gave me an excuse to make some more PCBs. That's just good fun.

And as long as I was doing one for the 6880M, I did a couple more for the various orientations in which one might find the PLCC chip. Gives one options to avoid physical interference from other components.

If reading the chips in circuit works, then these should work with the TL866II+. Of course powering the Flash may power interfering circuits on the host board....

 

[Trash80toG4]

Nice work, trag. Inverted socket is how the MicroMac Performer Accelerator (and likely every other) interfaces with the PLCC(?) 68000 in the Classic.