Hi guys, I've got a batch of DiscFerret PCBs for sale. These are the first-cut boards, and work fine but for one requirement: you need to cut a track and install a 160k to 220k resistor over the break. C6 is missing the "+" polarity marker, though this is on the printed component layout (somehow it got missed off the silkscreen print). I'm happy that the design works, and any parts you need should be available from Farnell or DigiKey (or Mouser, but you'll need to get the FPGA from DigiKey). Soldering can be done with nothing more complex than a decent soldering iron, solder, desolder wick and a good magnifier. A PCB holder or Panavise and some paste flux would be very useful, but not essential. These boards are RoHS-compliant, two copper layers on a 1.6mm FR4 substrate. All vias and holes are fully plated-through, with a green solder mask and a white component layout print on the top side. They were manufactured by EuroCircuits BVBA (www.eurocircuits.com), and have been checked visually for damage or manufacturing issues. Cost is ?45 per board, plus shipping (which is likely to be very little). This does not include any parts, just the bare board, a printed component layout, a copy of the Bill of Materials and a copy of the Service Note which covers the track cut and . There are some extra options available: - TPS75003 chip pre-mounted. Add ?5 to the total. This includes a full electrical test (shorts and opens). - PIC microcontroller soldered down and pre-programmed. Add ?5. This includes programming the bootloader into the PIC, and means you won't need a PIC programmer to bootstrap the DiscFerret. - Both of the above -- add ?9. - Fully assembled and tested power supply section -- add ?25 - Fully assembled and tested PSU, with PIC pre-soldered and programmed: add ?29. Any parts I install will be soldered down with Multicore RP15 solder paste. This is a 96SC-alloy (95.5% tin, 3.8% silver, 0.7% copper) RoHS-compliant lead-free solder paste with a No-Clean flux. If you decide to remove a component and replace it with 60:40 SnPb solder, then desolder the existing part, remove all solder with desolder wick (Chemtronics Soder-Wick works nicely for this), then re-tin the pads with 60:40 solder, remove that solder, then install the part. If you'd like any other components supplying or pre-mounting, please email and ask for a quote. I'm not going to start doing fully-assembled boards until I get the next batch of boards in stock (hopefully this Friday). Basically, the production boards will be from the "0J28" batch, which has a number of part placement differences. These differences render the solder paste stencil for the 0J28 useless for the 0I06... No paste mask, no mass production. Making a DiscFerret using hand soldering techniques takes nearly a day -- with solder paste and a reflow oven, a couple of hours at most. There is no firmware difference between 0I06 and 0J28 boards: you can use the same FPGA microcode and PIC firmware; the only differences are in component placement (0J28 was redesigned to meet the Gold Phoenix 7mil design rules) and that 0J28 includes pads for the 160k resistor. To order, send me an email (this address is fine, or change the user-part from 'classiccmp' to 'philpem' to get my main mailbox) with: - Your name and address (I'll assume the From and Reply-To are set correctly in your mail client!) - What exactly you want to order I'll send a PayPal invoice for the total amount, and will send the boards out when the invoice has been paid. I usually assemble boards during the week, and post them out on Saturdays. For UK customers I'd advise going with Special Delivery due to the cost, and "Airsure" for international orders. If, however, you'd prefer I send them First Class or Airmail, I'll do that as long as you agree not to come after me for a refund if they get lost in the post...! (First Class and Airmail are uninsured) Thanks, -- Phil. classiccmp at philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/