Programmable logic (CPLDs, FPGAs) is awesome. Just plain cool. It is all also surface mount. I wanted to convince myself that I could:

1. Design a printed circuit board.
2. Assemble surface mount devices onto it.
3. Have it actually work.

[Large] - [Bare Board]

The board just brings out all the general purpose IO pins in a 30 pin, 0.900" DIP form factor. The special purpose pins are only available via the headers on the top. The 10 pin shrouded header is the JTAG connector. I use a ByteBlasterMV compatible programmer from KNJN.com.

I soldered the two 0603 caps on by hand, as well as the CPLD and all the headers. If you're worried about designing with surface mount parts, don't be. The caps were the hardest thing to put on, and the headers took the longest. (They wanted to slurp up an amazing amount of solder.)

I designed the board with Eagle. I'll have the project files up, soon. I've been working on shrinking down the PCB size. I have it to 0.700" DIP at this point. I doubt I can get it down to 0.600". For now, a picture of the PCB layout as it was fabricated.

I'm also fiddling around with a design for a breakout board for TQFP100 MAXII parts. One of the lower logic density ones is available for less than the MAX7000 I use in the above board, but bringing out 70 IO pins makes for a much larger and expensive PCB.