Bertrand Le Roy

I really recommend using a LED driver such as this one: http://nwazet.com/leddriver (disclaimer: that's my shop; but you can find the equivalent Maxim chip pretty much anywhere). Less than $9 and able to drive a 8x8 matrix. It's the right tool for the job. I have a post on my blog showing how to control an 8x8 matrix with a single shift register: http://weblogs.asp.n...a-netduino.aspx but doing it with a LED driver is a lot cleaner: http://weblogs.asp.n...-right-way.aspx We have a library for the Netduino to drive the chip and a matrix behind it: http://netduinohelpers.codeplex.com/ By the way, this LED driver is what we use to drive the screen of our little game console kit: http://www.pix6t4.com I hope this helps.

one thing that I possible could live without, or with other design.. is that huuge knob for the potmeter. What were you thinking guys??

That knob is gorgeous and feels great.

The DAQ LEDS are visible through the special holes that we cut for them. The LEDs on the Go are also visible. That's 27 LEDs if my count is right.

So drilling the plates works well? I was going to try that, but I was afraid of big chips along the edges, and I didnt want to ruin the beatiful plate!

No, it works beautifully. Wear safety goggles for chips but otherwise it should be pretty clean. That acrylic is fairly soft.

Hi there. Bertrand here. I'm the guy who designed the plates, and they are imperfect, as there was stuff we didn't know when we cut them. There will be improvements on future batches, but I'd like our early customers to not be limited nonetheless. Here's what I did on my own prototypes, which were actually from smaller and earlier batches that had less holes than the ones you have: drill more holes. About the shield base, yes I've been using a small plate as an adapter of sorts, but it's not the only way. It's quite easy to add new holes with a Dremel tool if you mark the spot carefully first. I'm attaching a template that you can print to the right dimensions that has additional holes for the relay and shield base (shield base goes to the right of the go; is that an acceptable position?). Let me know what you think.