New FEZ Panda Base board and tinkerer kit

We have some samples in-house and all look good. For those of you who are lucky enough to have this before it is out here are some instructions on how to build this kit. Minimal soldering experience is required.

Start by placing the single row and double row headers on the base board and only solder one pin on each header. This will make it easy for you to bend the headers if you need to.

Here is a bottom view

closer…

Now put the extended header on the special FEZ Panda. Note that FEZ Panda ships WITH HEADERS but this is a special edition one that is offered only with the the Tinkerer kit.

If you already have a panda then you can try to add headers on the bottom or kip connecting these to the base board. After all, you have plenty on the base board.

Here is a top view

We can now place FEZ Panda on the base board. Patience the key here as you do not want to bend the pins…you want them through the holes.

When done, add the rest of the header as needed by your application.

The enclosure shipping with the kit is exact same size as the FEZ Cobra’s enclosure but it is a different color and the board is not cut for any connectors. You will need to make openings as required by your application.

We will start taking pre-orders for these very shortly… *at an incredible price so stay tuned

was thinking of expanding my fez family with a panda … think i`ll wait a little now as i think that looks a very nice combo

This looks great Gus! :dance:
One question; will it be possible to buy the blank board? I can always change the Panda headers with Arduino shield headers my self. And I don’t need the enclosure.

I already answered this :slight_smile:

As of current plans, no we will not offer header-less FEZ Panda but this can be possible with enough requests from the community.

You may want to see the price with enclosure before you say you do not want it ;)…price will be up next week

This one should be (will be ?) a killer, to me ! :o

The only bad news about this is that GHI will have to do even better for the next board and that it won’t be easy :hand: :wink:

:clap: :clap:

Sign me up just like all your other new products.

Is there a point where users have so many options that they get confused and go away?

Serious question…

It is great to have lots of options, but a use who is interested in .NET MF comes here and sees all the options offered, but does not know enough to really make a choice. They might continue on to another MF site which has fewer options, making it easier to understand and choose.

Too much of a good think is not always good.

But what does an engineer know about marketing? ;D

Good point mike

Mike, I believe the code exchange page will help with that :slight_smile:
The comparison chart is a good help too.

Hey Gus,

I like those servo headers at the bottom of the board there. Can you give soem details on how they are wired up?

They are connected to power trance and global ground. You only need to connect the power you need for servos and add a wire from the bottom side of the header to one of the IOs

So the servo power trace IS isolated from the rest of the board? IE, can you wire the power trace up to a custom power supply?

Yes