Time to place an order with China

Having spent the last few days putting together the board layout for the development board, and arguing with the autorouter, I now have a four-layer PCB design that is ready to be manufactured in China. All going well, the board should be with me by next Friday.

As you can see, some of the parts are tiny, and have even tinier pads. This is going to test my soldering (and oven-reflowing) skills to the point of potential frustration. We shall just have to see how it goes.

For the development board, I'm going with a red soldermask, and gold plating. I'll also be getting a stencil made so that I can spread solder paste around, slap some parts on and oven bake the thing.

The following image render courtesy of gerbv:

This board measures 160 x 100 mm. The real thing will be wider at 200 mm, but shorter at only 90mm. The extra width will take care of the button pad areas, and will afford PCB space underneath for the battery.

Parts that will not make it to the final design:

• All those tactile switches, obviously.
• The voltage pins on the left side.
• J7 (switch connector) will be replaced by a proper push-button toggle switch.
• The 5 voltage isolator diodes will be replaced with something smaller (and probably surface mount).
• J1 and J5 will be present but not populated.
• J8 will be removed.
• The Flat Flex connector will be replaced by one of a proper polarity (I purchased bottom contact connectors without realising the TFT display has a top-contact connector.
• The SD card socket will move to the top.
• The reset of the circuitry will move downwards.

This week, I need to finish of some remaining (fairly simple) logic in PortaCore, and start working on the initial Portabit Firmware, as well as a basic overlay ROM that has no function.

I also need to 3D-Print a stand/cage type thing for this board to sit in.

"It's not over yet" - Princess Leia, Star Wars - Episode IV - A New Hope