Description
Pablo Picasso once famously said “Computers are useless. They can only give you answers”. Well, clearly he had never seen the Limited Edition RC2014 Mini II Picasso. This kit doesn’t just give you answers, it asks questions too. Such as;
- Why is the PCB only available in red, yellow, green or white?
- Why are there two resistor spiral staircases?
- Why is the LED so big?
- Why has one chip sunk in to the PCB?
- Why doesn’t the 40 pin socket colour match the other sockets or PCB?
- Why does the power socket not match the LED colour?
- Why is the reset button so long?
- Who hid an Easter Egg on the ROM?
- How can a board this size and shape still be 100% compatible with other RC2014 Mini II expansions?
- Why are the chips not aligned with each other, or the PCB, or the silkscreen, or indeed anything at all?
- Why is this space left intentionally blank?
- Is it true that the curved PCB traces make the electrons go faster?
- How can every single kit contain a unique colour combination?
- How can you spell UART without ART?
- Can the keyhole on the enclosure really be used to hang this in an art gallery?
- Watt is the rating of that 1k resistor?
- Does Pablo Picasso officially endorse this product?
- Why are you calling Picassos lawyers?
The answer to all of those is ART!
This kit is strictly limited to 25 each of the red, yellow green and white PCBs. Each of these with have a unique colour combination of PCB, sockets and LED, with none of the SIL sockets matching the PCB or each other, and the LED and barrel socket not matching the PCB or each other either. You can choose your PCB colour but the other component colours will be pseudo random. You can also choose a Lucky Dip colour which will picked by the z80kits staff at random.
The RC2014 Mini II Picasso is 100% compatible with the original RC2014 Mini II, and can even take the Mini II CP/M Upgrade Kit. The schematic is the same and the ROM contains the same BASIC, Forth, SCM and CP/M images as the original. Aside from the obvious colour and layout changes, the IC sockets have been upgraded to turned pin sockets for that executive feel.
The base of the Perspex enclosure includes a keyhole that can be used to hang your RC2014 Mini II Picasso on the wall. Two top plates are included, one that covers the whole PCB, and the other has a cutout that allows access to the RC2014 Bus header.
A 5v USB CDC adapter is available to plug in to the FTDI socket, although you will not require this if you already have an FTDI cable or use this in standalone form with an RP2040 VGA Serial Terminal or similar.
