Here are a few images that MikeD sent me. The SSC-NG is a hybrid mix of the SSC-32 and the Bot Board, that will be programmable in C and retain the SSC-32 functionality via a library, while allowing you to write control programs in C.
Thanks Jim for posting these photos. A few words of explanation and description.
The name BC-MIO-20 was just something I made up when I laid out the board. It probably bears no relation to the eventual name of the product.
The processor is an ATmega644P, with 64K of flash, 4K of SRAM, and 2K of EEPROM. It is clocked at 18.432 MHz for standard baud rates. At that clock speed it needs 5V for correct operation, so the brownout detection is set at 4.3V.
The header right above the DB9 connector is similar to the SSC-32 header that allows you to jumper for RS232 or get TTL levels directly.
The header above the switches/LEDs is for a PS2 connection (DT CM AT CK), or for I2C (SD SC) and serial (RX TX). The ATmega644P has 2 serial ports and 1 I2C port, so I brought them to this header. The other row of pins on the header is alternating 5V and GND. The I2C port has pullup resistors (4.7k) on the board.
The 2x3 header on the left side of the board is a standard 6-pin AVR ISP header. The programming pins are shared with port pins P13, P14, and P15.
The buttons and LEDs are multiplexed on 5 processor I/Os. The buzzer is connected to an output compare pin (OC1B) for easy tone generation. Buttons, LEDs, buzzer, and PS2 connector do not share any of the general purpose port pins P0-P19.
Port pins P0-P7 are A/D inputs or digital I/O. The other port pins are digital only.
I am working on a bootloader for this board that will allow downloading of .hex files directly without the necessity of converting to .abl files. It will load flash or EEPROM, and has a number of other features that the SSC-32 bootloader lacks. So the programming header will not be needed to use the final product–you can download your .hex file using a serial port (with any OS that can send a file over the serial port).
Other features of the board are very similar to the Bot Board II. The VS and VL inputs are divided down and brought to the pins next to P0 and P1 so a simple jumper allows monitoring of input voltages. Selection of VS versus 5V supply is made with jumpers on each group of 4 ports.
I will be developing a C library to support this board, as well as canned firmware for enhanced SSC-32 type functionality.
Mike
This is my route into the AVR world…
Excellent!
Oh yeah! This is what I was hoping for!
This is getting better and better by the paragraph! I’m going to want to get my hands on one of these as soon as they are available. I’ve been wanting to use buttons and such, but never wanted to give up I/Os to them, and with this board we don’t have to. 
You are right up there with Laurentus, Mike, at least in my book! This is the kind of board I have been hoping Lynxmotion would come out with. Now Jim just needs something that will run Linux to round out his line up. The Linux/Robotics market is going to explode very soon. I’m still going through my learning curve with Hammer, but I am getting there pretty fast now.
Please tell me you have used terminal blocks at least as tough as those Dimension Engineering uses on the Sabertooth controllers. I have a heck of a time with the SSC-32 and Bot Board II power connectors, but never had trouble with the Sabertooth connectors at all.
I’m sure there will be plenty of software for this board, Mike. I’m already getting a few ideas of my own.
8-Dale
This is MOST EXCELLENT, Jim! I think this is going to be one of your most exciting new products!
8-Dale
I used a 4-position 3.5mm terminal block. The SSC-32 and Bot Board II use 2-position 0.1" terminals. The terminals on the NG prototype exhibit much less flexing. I think the main reason for that is the increased length and number of pins.
I think the Sabertooth uses 0.2" terminal blocks. This would be due to the high current demands of the motor controllers. The 3.5mm terminals seemed like a good compromise between mechanical robustness, electrical capacity, and size.
Mike
Although I do not recommend this to everyone, I soldered my wires straight into pins of the terminal blocks underneath. Of course the wires have connectors on the other end 
Jim, is this something you’re going to carry in the near future? It’s a really good clean solution to a single-board solution. Plus the dev kit that uses C is a plus!
Yes this is a new product for Lynxmotion. I do not know how long it will take before they are instock. I would think a good estimation would be May - June if all goes well. Mike, James and I are attempting to build bots for the upcoming CIRC robot competition so no major advancements are expected till after Feb. After that Mike is putting this on the top of his priority list.
They look stronger. I am glad you are using beefier terminals.
I just bought some .2" double terminals for my own prototyping. I could not get the slightly smaller ones, like those used on the Sabertooth controllers, for some reason. I think your choice should be a good one, Mike. I’ll let you know after I have had one of these boards for awhile.
8-Dale
I just compared the NG terminals with those on a Sabertooth board. The Sabertooth has some fairly compact 0.2" terminals. I will changing for the NG if I can make the larger terminals fit.
Mike
Mike, its great to see you moving the evolution of this product forward.
Are the A/D going to be 8 or 10 bit ?
In addition to the 8 analog input, will some of the digital be available for input ?
I would prefer seeing the ssc32ng move more towards the power and lighter weight of portable computers instead of botboards, but hey, more analog inputs and more ssc32 features is a good thing.
I look forward to the release of the ssc32ng, good work !
A/D will be 10 bit. I expect there will be an SSC-32 compability mode that will return 8-bit data as today, along with an enhanced mode that will return 10 bits.
All of the digital ports will be configurable as input or output. They just connect directly to the processor pins.
I see this board as a low-end C-based controller or high-end I/O processor. The “real computer” arena is a different ball game. Don’t tell Jim I said this, but I have always thought the Technologic Systems ARM boards were very attractive for real computing power in a compact package at a decent price. I’ve never had the time to try them though.
Mike
I think I like where this new board will be positioned. I would have wished for an Atmega128, but that’s just me. 
I suspect there would not be a lot of room to bring out all the features of the Atmega128 anyway. I think this new SSC-NG board will find areas of interest and use neither you nor Jim have anticipated. I’m going to start looking at setting up an AVR toolchain now, so I will hopefully be ready when this board is released.
I really like the newer Technologic TS-7800, but unfortunately can’t afford to go that direction.
I want something with a Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA (larger is better). I think an ARM9 plus a Xilinx FPGA would be extremely nice to have. I say Xilinx because they have FREE Linux tools available. I’ve never been able to get the free Actel FPGA tools to run under any flavor of Linux so far.
I can not have enough processing power, RAM, or Flash available to me.
8-Dale
Yay! I like C… much more then Basic!
As long as I can use the free C toolchains (avrgcc), then I will be happy. I can’t afford that $240 CodeVisionAVR thing.
any plans on making it USB?
Wow, I have been gone to long! very nice! Great work on the layout!
We are seriously considering making it more like the SSC-32 in layout, bumping the channels to 32 and losing the LED’s and buttons, and going to the Atmega 168. We are still throwing ideas around. We will make the final decision at the beginning of April.
Oh, the design is still being kicked around?
Well then, let me so bold as to add my wishlist 
24 A2D inputs, 10bit min (through expansion chip(s) is fine)*
24 Digital I/O
24 Servo style outputs
At least 2 dedicated I2C bus
At least 2 dedicated USARTs for serial, hardware - not bit banged
*: I don’t know of any robot yet that has 32 DOFs. However, we do have a number of Octopods now emerging, and they need 24 channels minimum to control. If we can get as many analog inputs as we have servo outputs, that means that we can build gearmotor ‘servos’ using our own shaft encoders.
In the end, what I personally am looking for is a very high end I/O controller.
(Oh, and if you can’t fit 24 A2D, etc, on one board, I would be just as happy buying two 16 channel control boards, one for left side and right side )
Wow, thats awesome
a bot board SSC-32 :D:D
incredible work, this sure does make it easier for many people who want to keep electronics to a mium on small servo number robots
btw, is is staying the standard size? IMHO im sure people would be willing to make the sacrafice for a slightly larger size and have all the LEDs and everything along with the 23 channels
The board will remain the same size. We are kicking around the idea of making a daughter board for LED’s and switches. As well as other add-on boards.
By daughter board you mean a second smaller board that would plug into the main board? If thats the case i was thinking that would work too, i just forgot to include it in my post ^^;;