[John Leonard]

SteveGarward said:
"As promised (though a day late - sorry), we have a new blog post up giving details of our first MXP expansion board.

As we read the preliminary definitions and rules, this would be classed as passive. And as the blog post explains, this is not our original design, but a cut back version, while we get clarification from FIRST.

This board is designed to be a pass-through breakout to make the pins more easily accessible.

If you spot a mistake or have any feedback, please let us know."

Steve (and Sam),
I've been looking closely at the MXP option as a simple break-out board also. My layout uses 3-pin MTA-100 connectors with friction locks, like those on the digital sidecar. (Larger footprint, but a more secure connection.) They're available from Digikey, Jameco, etc.

While I have NI's Multisim and Ultiboard, I used PCBExpress' free PCB layout software. Their boards are inexpensive and appear to be of good quality, based on the ones I've seen.

Is the creation of the board prior to Kick-Off in violation of the build rules?

-JL