Matthew, I understand most of your reasons. Certainly it's worth spending as much time with your sprout as you can. I did that, but still wish I'd done more. He was still a work-in- progress when he was killed two years back.

It's still not clear exactly how you determined that the RAM wasn't there. Could you spell that out? Have you verified, by looking in the SFR to verify that the PMR has the correct value?

What is SENDBYTE coughing up?

You load the timer with 0xFD, which is what they recommend, IIRC, for an 11.0592 MHz clock. Are you getting anything useable/recognizable on the terminal screen? How are you managing that with the 32 MHz oscillator?

Perhaps if you load a monitor, that will enable you to "look" at the SFR's. It will also enable you to "look" to see whether you have RAM at 0x000-0x3FF, which is where it's supposed to be.

As for the planning, what troubles me is that you've left yourself no path of retreat to safe ground.

For what a PCB is likely to cost you, you can get a really good wirewrap tool set and all the supplies you'll need for the rest of your life. If you're going to build hobby projects, it's VERY practical. Supplies and tools are really reasonable on eBay, though you do have to know what you're buying.

RE