Having got impatient waiting for my PCBs to arrive from China, I went ahead and cobbled together some interim solutions for this project. And what happens? The PCBs arrive the next day.
These are the ‘fixed’ PCBs with the proper footprint for the DB15 connector.
And what can I tell you? They work.
There is one slight issue that I hadn’t considered in the PCB layout, but had started to worry about. And that’s the way the Ethernet cables connect either side of the PCB. With the board plugged into the BBC Micro’s analogue port (or a BBC Master, in my case), the Ethernet cables foul somewhat on the RGB and RS423 serial port cables.
Things are a bit tight in there…
It’s not a major problem. If I were to do a version 3 of this board, I’d probably route the cables off the back of the board. But it’s not enough of a problem to be worth spinning up a new board.
I’m calling this project finished.
The joystick end of things is still a mess of cables, but that’s just a matter of stuffing everything into a box. For me, that kind of mechanical business is the least interesting part of any project. Many makers would eagerly fire up their 3D printers at this point and make a custom case: but I can’t justify the cost and waste of a 3D printer, and online 3D printing services are horribly expensive. So I’ll just hunt around for a box about the right size and get busy with drill and Dremel.
So, there’ll be a major ceremony later today at which I’ll move this project from the ‘work in progress’ to the ‘completed’ section of the projects page. You’re all invited.
But for now, time to fire up Aviator again…