Was thinking the normal processor I/O could be used for that.
I don’t see a need for any more serial devices other than the Xbee.
The board will not have a processor other than the Arduino mini. The Xbee should interface directly to that. 
I found the Analog devices AD7997. It’s 8 channel A to D with 10 bit resolution. It’s supposed to be around $2.00, but Digikey has all of them priced in that range out of stock. They have a few thousand of the $6.00 ones though… 
Anyone got any other ideas?
So is this going to be available as a kit ?
Yes! I will have the cases ready to go soon. I currently have in stock the plastic boxes, 4 different styles of joysticks, linear slides, and keypads. I am defining several “standard” top panels, and am considering offering a custom service. At first we will just sell the cases, but when the board becomes available we will sell more complete kits. Today I have just received my larger displays from Crystalfontz! I should have everything ready to go in January 2012.
A for awesome. cant wait.
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(and want one)
Would there be interest in making the DIY controller board a community project? I would welcome some help in defining the hardware for the PC board. The goal of the board is to integrate all of the IO needed for the radio along with the Arduino mini processor. I want to be concise with the goal and avoid feature creep. A socket for the Arduino Mini as the main controller. Support for other external processors should be considered as long as it doesn’t over complicate the product. Here are my thoughts so far.
DIY RC Board
Processor Connections
Processor - Arduino Mini, 20 IO pins.
TX0 - (Available for Xbee?)
RX0 - (Available for Xbee?)
D2 - Free (Ext Interrupt Capable)
D3 - Free (Ext Interrupt Capable)
D4 - I2C SDA
D5 - I2C SCL
D6 - Speaker
D7 - DB0 - (D7-D13) Crystalfontz CFAG12864S-TMI-VT
D8 - DB1 - in 4 bit parallel mode.
D9 - DB2
D10 - DB3
D11 - RS
D12 - R/W
D13 - E
A0 - PPM output for AirMod 2.4ghz RC Tx.
A1 - Free
A2 - Free
A3 - Free
A4 - NA
A5 - NA
I2C devices
8 channel A to D with 10 bit resolution, possibly an AD7997. (10 channels would be better)
16 outputs, for LEDs or other uses.
4x5 keypad encoder.
24LC256 EEPROM for storing graphics, robot presets, etc.
Serial Devices
Xbee Series 1.
Currently leaves 6 IO pins.
Im not a big fan of Arduino or similar so I hope you leave it open for other AVR boards. I suppose we can write our own firmware for Arduino boards…
You can use whatever you want as a controller.
It’s just easier to program… 
Don’t need a mini, just the chip! Just add XTAL and a cap or two, gives you the same thing, no?
Alan KM6VV
Probably… but having a loose CPU … not good. LOL
I think using a Mega board is much more usefull…
Alan - Yeah you are right. I think it would bring the cost down as well. Or have another flavor which allows customization of the main controller ?
I was opting to go this route to make the board as small as possible. The mini is almost as small as the DIP chip. Either way it’s not going to effect the decision making process as far as the support chips are concerned. They will work with either solution. I’m simply looking for advice with the selection of these chips.
The programming for a radio should not need such a processor. I made comparisons to the DX6i which is a very capable radio. It has an even less powerful processor. The external I2C bus should easily handle the analog and digital I/O requirements. The EEProm will help with storing much data. I guess the real question is would using a more expensive, more powerful processor offset the cost of the I2C peripherals. If so then the right solution is to surface mount the larger processor on there and be done with it.
The arduino has a huge following so it makes sense to use it for this.
What I want to avoid is stacking boards. The case has only 1.625" height inside.
“Loose CPU” ?
You’d plug the DIP uP into a socket. 168 or 368 pre-programmed (boot loader) Atmel Mega chip. But a mini board is also good, allows a “ringer” board with another flavor of chip (AVR?) to be used. Make 'ur own!
Alan KM6VV
If we want to use standard TX module to be use in normal RC application.
Will we need more I/0.?
Oh… yes…
I always think of surface mount one…
There are currently 6 IO pins free. One can be set aside for a PPM output. This could feed directly into one of these.
Exacly…
Ok if it’s doable it’s ok… !
Switch between “Xbee” and “Module” output.
So i can ditch my JR radio… LOL