As usually happens right after I get a new hardware build underway, and completed, I seem to find myself with the schematics and PCB layout open and with new ideas. This tends to happen after each build because I find myself only thinking about how it's laid out when I get out the tweezers and solder.

This tends to be the way I find I develop these boards. It's very focussed on one side of the design (usually split very sharply along hardware/software lines) and then will shift sharply into the other side. The last few weeks have been entirely about software (redesigning the way ethernet TX works, arbitrary UDP send, and a DHCP client). Now it's all about the hardware, which parts I'm using and why.

So another round, and another set of ideas. It's now clear there will be a new design of the Hardware NTP Server board, and it may be a significant set of changes as it looks like the open source toolchain has matured enough to make using the XMEGA line of microcontrollers an option.

I think each time I do a new hardware design I swear this time is the final version.