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Folks We had a long discussion regarding transporting intra board
RF signals on the feature connector side of the board. Just for verbal clarification regarding the project
enclosure: Designers have ONLY ONE 100 mm edge for connections to the outside
world. Connections between boards can ONLY be done over the buss. The other
three sides are totally blocked by the enclosure and backplane. Cecil, Bill and I did discuss possible options for
board interconnects NOT on the bus for RF or lvds sigs. Dip header (perhaps 10 pin) for twisted pair lvds sigs mounted
recessed away from the front panel on the project board. Meaning they would not
protrude through the front panel. The boards when slid into the enclosure, would be about 1/8”
from the front face of the enclosure, allowing RG-174 or twisted pair to pass
from board to board, along the front of the enclosure behind the aluminum front
panel. It occurs to me that we really have ‘boxed ourselves
in’ with our EuroBus design. It seems that we really do need an RF bus
and a slow speed buss, to really make this a universal design. Although we have spent a great deal of time discussing this,
we don’t have one penny invested yet. I’m for going back to the PCI buss passive backplane
design I originally suggested. Drop the caboodle in an Aria (or whatever) enclosure
with power supply and have done with it. That way project designers have any
size board with suitable L-Bracket mounting. PCI is going to be around
for some time yet. Also we can use a ‘twisted pair’ IDC connector or
scsi cable at the rear of the boards for the high speed lvds stuff. There is
PLENTY of room in a mini-itx enclosure for crystal ovens and other bulky things
like 100 w PA’s etc. Fans for ventilation etc. Plenty of
prototyping board options. Plenty of leds on the front panel etc. Remember we are not at commit stage. Comments? Eric |