Front views of the CPC. Note the extra 3.5 inch floppy drive, and the side-select buttons.


The floppy disk controller board, between the main CPC board and the 3.5 inch drive. Close-up shows the floppy disk controller IC.


The main CPC circuit board, with lots of extra stuff soldered on.


[top left] The 128k static RAM chip piggy-backed on the Amstrad ROM IC, its NiCd backup battery, and various support circuitry.
[top right] Extra 8255 PIO controller for EPROM programmer.
[bottom left] SRAM disable switch, should any ROM images become corrupted.
[bottom right] EPROM programmer socket.


512k RAM expansion board, located below the main system board.


[top left] Close-up showing piggy-backing of DRAM ICs on a 256k SIMM board, to give 512k of extra RAM.
[top right] Control logic on 512k expansion board.
[bottom left] Socket to connect with main board.
[bottom right] Connector soldered to underside of main board (directly under Z80 CPU socket) for RAM board.


[top left] Circuitry for side-switch. Based around a 74LS74 IC.
[top right] Address decoder, using diodes connected directly to the system addess bus.
[bottom left] Reset switch.
[bottom right] Display on power-on.