I spent about an hour last night identifying and inventorying all the components for the PockeTerm and beginning the assembly.

As I grow older, it gets harder and harder to make out the codes on very small resistors and capacitors. I've got one of those magnifiers that you wear like a huge pair of glasses to help. Luckily, mine came with three magnifications, so I was able to see the tiny writing on the tiny caps. I would never have been able to do it without them.

So, after getting it all straightened out, I fired up the soldering station and began. The resistors, switches, IC sockets, and the crystal went in fine. Capacitors were no problem till I got to the polarized tantalum caps, and soldered two of them in backwards. Oops!

So at that point I figured it was time to quit for the night. Tonight I'll desolder them and turn them around if I can do so without destroying them. I figure the PockeTerm will be completed and maybe even tested tonight. If I destroy the caps, I'll have to go out to the electronics parts store and buy some new ones. Guess it would be this weekend.

I'll also take some pictures!