I placed the order late last night for the PCB!

The PCB design is obviously finished, fully passes the kicad DRC checks, the problems with the footprints were solved.

I’ve decided to go with Seeed Studio’s Fusion PCB service.  This is based on a recommendation from a knowledgeable friend that has been helping me.

I think it’s crazy cheap too.  I’m getting (10) PCBs for $35 not including a $34 Fedex charge from China.  You can ship via the slow boat for about $15 but I upgraded.  This puts the PCBs in the $5-$7 a piece range including shipping.  That’s very reasonable in my mind.

The PCB design includes a small SMT prototyping area that will allow for modifications during troubleshooting if necessary.

The PCBs are approximately 9cm x 10cm — exactly the same width as an A501, so it should fit the slot nicely.  It’s also about 30% shorter.

There were some problems with the prototype that I’m pretty sure are attributable to being a solderless breadboard.  While I expect this PCB to work, there could be some outstanding issues especially related to the chip enable. We shall see!