From: Humphreys, David (URB) (david.humphreys_at_honeywell.com)
Date: Wed Oct 29 2003 - 12:51:31 PST
Thank you Ross for your comments.
Well, what do you want to know?
The design started out about 6 months ago but I worked on it only sporadically. The pool of memory boards had dried up
and I was still seeing emate owners who didn't have the expansion card. I knew that both parts (DRAM and Flash) were
obsolete.
However, I was able to locate some via a broker and decided to buy them, not sure at this point if I would even use
them. They sat on my shelf for a couple of months while I took care of other projects. Then, I started seeing traffic
relating to nethopper and other internet apps and the lack of heap and I said ah-ha! Its time to remedy the situation
and the EM300 was born.
The Design
I started by creating the outline. This is pretty much dictated by the M3-SIMM connector.
After that I placed the footprints for the IC's and connected the pins to the appropriate edge connections.
Once I had the 'rats-nest', I proceeded to lay down the traces as groups of signals. The layout starts to take shape and
you begin to see if a particular configuration will work or not. A lot of the signal routes are fairly obvious, some are
not. Typically, you put a bunch of traces down and the last one won't fit and so you have to start over.
A lot of times, you will find that the designers of connectors in a design have given some thought to signal flow and so
when you connect everything up it works out great. Sometimes not...
Making a board aesthetically pleasing is not just window dressing. It has functional value too. Symmetry, for example,
is a visual aid when you are focused tight in on a particular section of the board. It becomes that much easier to see
if a line has been missed or erroneously routed.
After the design is completed, it is checked for shorts and design rule violations and a number of fabrication files are
created.
These are sent to a PCB fabricator who makes the bare board.
The boards are then populated and tested.
I always strive to have a 'clean' looking board design.
I have been doing board design for about 20yrs and electronics somewhat longer.
I can trace my 'love-affair' with electronics to about 1967. A miss-communication with Santa Claus brought me a Philips
MECHANICAL designer kit one Christmas. I wanted the ELECTRONIC designer kit. Oh well! I played with it for a few weeks
until a chance visit to a family friends' house revealed that he had received the very kit I wanted. Furthermore, he
wanted the mechanical kit instead! Some hushed negotiation by the two sets of parents had us swapping kits. And so I
headed down a career path that took me to several colleges, a stint in the Navy and conflict in the Falklands,
University, Marriage, Family and my present post of Designer for aircraft lighting services at Honeywell Inc.
Whoops! Sorry! this is starting to turn into a biography.
Feel free to email me if you have any more questions.
Also, I am available for any board design work you may have. (Fee based)
I also make films and DVDs from your original material. (Fee based)
Regards,
PCBman
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RossO [mailto:newton_at_ordersomewherechaos.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 2:33 PM
> To: newtontalk_at_newtontalk.net
> Subject: [NTLK] eMate 300 upgrade aesthetics
>
>
> I've just got o say that the eMate 300 Upgrade board that PCBMan has
> produced is simply one of the most eye pleasing board layouts
> I've ever
> seen. Dave, are you willing to share any stories about how
> you came to
> the layout, or any of the hurdles you faced in the project?
>
> ...Ross...
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