Subject:
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Re: status of the expansion board
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics.handyboard
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Date:
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Fri, 12 Jul 1996 09:48:53 GMT
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Original-From:
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Scott Seaton - CMC Engineer <SCOTT.SEATON@AUS.SUNnomorespam.COM>
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Viewed:
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1671 times
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Hi
I think that Fred's idea for the expansion board is OK, but I'd also like to
see a "bare-bones" expansion board for those hardware hackers amongst the HB
community.
What I mean is just a simple board with a few more analog input's, and two
sets of digital input and digital output buffers with the rest of the space
devoted to a "breadboard" area (ie holes at 0.1" spacing).
The board should plug into the U4, J3, J6, J8 & J13 headers and have through
connectors for all of these ports (with the same physical offsets as the
existing connectors - to allow for multiple expansion boards). This board
should be offered "as-is" with no extra IC support. That way Fred can put
all of his energy into the "real" expansion board - software support etc
I'd like to do this myself, but I don't have the resources... The only PCB
design software I can get my hands on is demo software from Protel that
doesn't have a save feature. I've designed boards with this software before,
but it has to be done in one sitting (no save) and if you forget/goof
anything you have to start all over again... The other problem is that to
get PCB's made in Australia in small runs costs about US$300 ! I know about
AP Circuits, but the exchange rate really hurts....
If Fred (or someone else :-) could design a "minimalist", "hardware hacker"
expansion board that could be stocked by the HB suppliers, I would certainly
buy a few... I know that this could create problems for suppliers (two
expansion board kits to support etc), but the board could be so basic that
they would only need to supply blank PCB's and the hardware heads amongst us
could procure the latches etc as needed.
Just my thoughts
Scott Seaton
===============================================================================
,-_|\ Call Management Centre Engineer Internet : scott.seaton@aus.sun.com
/ \ Sun Microsystems Australia Pty Ltd Support : 1800 024 417
\_,-\_+ 828 Pacific Highway Phone : +61 2 844 5381
v Gordon, N.S.W., 2072, AUSTRALIA Fax : +61 2 418 2018
The opinions expressed here have nothing to do with my employer etc...
===============================================================================
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