[Xylo-SDR] Backplane stuff... Need input...

["Philip Covington" <p.covington@gmail.com>]

Hi all,

I have been playing around with a Vero protoboard and six 96 pin
DIN41612 connectors this afternoon.  Here is what I came up with.

For a board without provisions for card guides:

3.94" W x 5.75" L    6 slots with 0.800" spacing

For a board with card guides (such as Bivar which are 0.600" wide):

5.00" W x 5.75" L   6 slots with 0.800 spacing

Both are allowing for room on the ends for the ATX power supply style
connector and some LEDs.

Question:

Do we want/need card guides?

Pro:  Card guides will lock the boards in place.

Con: By using card guides we restrict access to the side edges of the
plug-in 3U100 boards.  We would only have clear access to the top
edge.  There would also have to be a keep out area on the 3U100
plug-in boards to accommodate the rail slots in the card guides.

I am leaning towards recommending that we do not use card guides. 
They are nice for longer boards, but for our 3U100 form factor I don't
think we need them.

73 de Phil C