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Please Note **** Picture below is a toy Y2K calculator that was given to me. It is not a SimmStick.

SimmStick PICMicro Development Platform , and handy kit of parts
PICMicro Programming software including 87x and hardware config table
Early Chat about PIC001-004 and Basic Stamps, FED Basic  Etc.
Early Systems and Pictures
Some More Early SimmStick Pictures
SimmStick Student Projects  Includes Interfacing an LCD to a computer parallel port and interfacing switches and leds to computer parallel port.
Dontronics welcomes your input for new SimmSick designs
Scenix Micro on a SimmStick Contest99 Entry
SimmStick Catalog by i-Pal Communications. 4Page PDF Document
Convert "Fat Boards" into skinny SIMM-socket mountable SimmSticks.
SimmStick Bus Label zipped .DOC format (courtesy of Alex Shepherd N.Z.)

SimmStick Overview

NOTE **** All SimmSticks use a board thickness of 1.26mm, or .05 inches.

SimmStickTM is a 30 pin simm socket based Single Board Computer designed by Antti Lukats from Estonia that has started with the PIC16Cxx chips and is now migrating to other Microcontroller families such as the Atmel devices. There are now Atmel AVR and non-AVR support boards for both 20 and 40 pin micros. The simm socket used is the common 30 pin one used for many years on PC motherboards.

Small and large proto boards, CPU boards, Motherboards, and many I/O boards are under design. Custom or third party boards are encouraged. Dontronics now has many new board designs available. These include Relay modules, LEDs and Switches I/O boards, and two new motherboards.

Boards are re-usable and reconfigurable for many different applications. You can prototype a design on a breadboard with a 30 pin Simm Socket for your PIC16Cxx or Atmel micro, then a final board design can include or exclude the SimmStick module.

The best part is the price. About $6USD retail per bare printed circuit board for single quanities. This if for a 3.5" by 1" double sided, plated through, solder masked board.

The Dontronics DT001 8 slot Development Platform also contains an inexpensive PIC programmer for the SimmStick bus. A SimmStick bus structure isn't a definite requirement as these modules can also be connected together with straight or right angle 30 pin male and female pins, as a set of header pin holes are provided just behind the edge connector pads.

Specific Questions:

What are the 3 special I/O lines used for?
A1, A2, and A3 are User defined. They can be a card select, Video In/Out, whatever you care to make it for your project. We have used it for alternative RS-232 on some boards.

Why connect D0 to D15 together on the motherboards?
Most small applications may only have 2, 3, or 4 boards connected together. In these cases, the I/O will no doubt be common.

On larger applications, or where multi-processors are used, you may need to custom design or jumper a motherboard to suit.
The idea is to change the mother board platform to configure your SimmSticks. The most common hobby PCB board you can purchase appears to be a simple parallel tracked PCB that matches 30 pin Simm sockets nicely.

If you need to design and manufacture a custom motherboard and use off the shelf SimmSticks, then future design is easy. You don't need to cut tracks and run jumpers on SimmSticks if you do all your configuration on the motherboard.

An Internet Based Distributor network has been setup for SimmStick.
More information can be found at the following Web sites:

A complete listing of the DT series of boards can be found at:
http://www.dontronics.com/dt.html
A complete directory of the site can be found at:
http://www.dontronics.com/dir.html
http://www.dontronics.com

Dealers can be found at:
http://www.dontronics.com/dealer.html

Copyright © 1996-2005 Dontronics