A while back, while searching the web for PLA replacements and the theory behind them, I came across DodgyPLA by Upi Tamminen. It’s based around the Xilinx XC9536XL CPLD and is released as open source. His design is routed for home etching, and while I do have some chemicals at home that are up to the task I didn’t really feel like it. The Chinese PCB manufacturers have to eat as well, don’t they?

I added a capacitor that was omitted from Upis design due to space constraints, but otherwise my only contribution here is routing the board for manufacturing. So far DodgyPLA has been tested with ASSY 250407 (with and without _CASRAM RC filter), ASSY 250425, 586220+ Diagnostic with harness, EasyFlash 3 cartridge, 1541 Ultimate-II and Epyx Fastload Reloaded. There are most likely edge cases where the DodgyPLA is… well, dodgy, but for most day to day use it seems stable so far. Big kudos to Upi for releasing this!

My rerouted version is available on my GitLab page: https://gitlab.com/kludge/dodgypla.