A field programmable circuit board provides a set of sockets for receiving electronic components, a set of connector pins for providing external access to the board and an array of field programmable interconnect devices (FPIDs). The FPIDs are buffered, multiple port cross-point switches that may be programmed by a host computer to selectively connect terminals of the components mounted in the sockets to one another or to the external connector pins. Signal buffers within the FPID ports automatically sense direction of flow of bidirectional signals routed by the FPIDs and buffer the signals in the appropriate direction. Each FPID buffer also samples and stores data indicating states of the buffered signals over several system clock cycles for subsequent read out by the host computer.