Here is a one-chip protoboard that I've designed and am thinking about ordering. It's 1.6" x 1.6" in size, and is intended to address some of my complaints about the myriad of protoboards available at Mouser and Digikey and various other places. There seem to be two or three types of protoboards that can be obtained:
The first type more less mirrors the smaller solderless prototyping boards, set up for a row of chips with (sometimes) power bus lines that are either underneath the chips or around the edges. These boards usually do not have any convenient way install I/O connectors at the ends of the boards, and some make it awkward to connect power/ground to the chips incorporating bypass capacitors.
The second type is a simple array of holes (sometimes plated, sometimes not) with one connection between every pair of holes. The difficulty of prototyping circuits with either integrated circuits or passive components is obvious, as well as the potential awkwardness of mounting connectors on the two sides of the board that are parallel to the connections mentioned above.
Another type is that used in the 2019/Issue 6 of NutsVolts magazine, which is not totally bad but can easily lead one into some mistakes in prototyping high-speed circuits (clocks about about 10 MHz, rise/fall times around 10 nS or less).
The board that I've designed would mount most 8/14/16/18/10-pin IC's, both analog and digital. They can be connected end-to-end or side-to-side when more parts are needed, and I/O connectors can be placed on either the sides of the board or parallel. I haven't decided yet if I want to use the staggered connections shown on the top-half of the board or to use the completely parallel connections shown on the bottom of the board.
The first type more less mirrors the smaller solderless prototyping boards, set up for a row of chips with (sometimes) power bus lines that are either underneath the chips or around the edges. These boards usually do not have any convenient way install I/O connectors at the ends of the boards, and some make it awkward to connect power/ground to the chips incorporating bypass capacitors.
The second type is a simple array of holes (sometimes plated, sometimes not) with one connection between every pair of holes. The difficulty of prototyping circuits with either integrated circuits or passive components is obvious, as well as the potential awkwardness of mounting connectors on the two sides of the board that are parallel to the connections mentioned above.
Another type is that used in the 2019/Issue 6 of NutsVolts magazine, which is not totally bad but can easily lead one into some mistakes in prototyping high-speed circuits (clocks about about 10 MHz, rise/fall times around 10 nS or less).
The board that I've designed would mount most 8/14/16/18/10-pin IC's, both analog and digital. They can be connected end-to-end or side-to-side when more parts are needed, and I/O connectors can be placed on either the sides of the board or parallel. I haven't decided yet if I want to use the staggered connections shown on the top-half of the board or to use the completely parallel connections shown on the bottom of the board.
