PICaxe Platform Module

Let's Make Robots
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I've been working on a design supporting 28 & 40 pin PICaxes. The PICaxe board would support current and upcoming modules like the LCD I/O, motor controller, Internet / IP board, DMX, MIDI, etc. The prototypes came out great:

picaxeplatform.jpg

I emailed the PICaxe folks last week ([email protected]) to get quantity pricing on their IC's. They emailed me back asking for a more info on the product. I sent them info and a few days later they let me know they effectively weren't interested in selling me anything because they felt the module would be 'extremely similar' to their 022 protoboard:

axe022.jpg

I don't think the products are very similar, but even if they were, I don't know why PICaxe doesn't want to foster a community of vendors offering development tools based on their products. I think choice is a good thing. Ultimately, though, they decide which products will be made available, and which will not.

It's highly unlikely that I'll be able to offer PICaxe modules, but here are the design files, offered (like all my other boards) under the MIT license. Hopefully, someone might find them useful!

DipTrace
PDF
Gerbers

Parallax has been incredibly supportive of the community & Arduino is open source, so I was surprised by PICaxe's response. It bums me out, but whatcha gonna do?

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**Im $orry your time wa$**<br><p>Im $orry your time wa$ wa$ted. I gue$$ they just want the moulah and they figure they can get more of it through their board$ than bulk pricing the chip$ to you. It$ a real $hame too, becau$e you think $preading around their chip$ would be a wi$e bu$ine$$ move for them in the long run. They ju$t cant $ee the benefit$ down the track becau$e of all the money clouding their vi$ion?