Electron User Port & ROM/RAM board with UPURS

The Electron User Port & ROM/RAM board was designed by Martin Barr and has support for his BBC Micro transfer system UPURS built directly into the board.

The board was designed in 2012 after the successful creation of the UPURS disc transfer system for the BBC Micro and was originally intended to provide user ports that would then allow for the UPURS custom cable to be connected and used with the Acorn Electron. Through the design process, the UPURS cable was incorporated into the board in order that a direct connection between a PC and the board using a suitable RS-232 connection could be made.

Martin distributed the board as a self assembly board and I documented my build process showing how I constructed the board which can now be found in the Electron UPURS User Manual.

Using the board with UPURS

The board simply fits into the Electron Plus 1 (or similar expansion unit) and provides two user ports and a built in UPURS RS-232 serial interface. The UPURS ROM image must be installed into an available socket on either the User Port Expansion board or another expansion card that supports fitting ROMs for the UPURS socket to work.

Using the Electron User Port expansion board is as easy as using UPURS for the BBC Micro. The video below shows me loading and playing Cylon Attack using a UEF tape image being streamed from a PC to the Electron.