The eMBee ONE is nearing production! A lot has happened since the last log entry, so here's a brief catch-up:

• Successfully made the transition from using Arduino Nano modules to standalone ATMega328P chips. Had to learn how to program them using an Arduino Nano, and what supporting components are needed.
• Decided on the 9 volt PP3 battery as a power source. Calculated battery life to be at least 30 hours on an alkaline battery. Decided on the L7805 voltage regulator to get 5V.
• Chose a 2 way DIP switch for power and turning the sound on/off.
• Decided to make the external EEPROM into a removable cartridge
• Realised that the instability of the previous eMBee ONE prototypes stemmed from not having a pull-up resistor on the I2C bus. Now including a 4.7k resistor
• Built not one but two breadboard-based prototypes. Both ran for extended tests with no issues. 

• Designed and ordered the first revision of PCBs! Using easyEDA, I designed the whole computer to fit on a credit card-sized PCB. Just connect a CardKB keyboard via the grove connector and plug in a PP3 battery. Ordered five PCBs from JLCPCB - should be here in the next 2 weeks or so.

• Started drafting the listing for Tindie. Will wait until I've received the first batch and successfully tested them before offering the remaining 4 for sale as 'first edition'! That's the point at which I'll send a tip to Hackaday to let them know about the project. That's also when I'll share the Gerber files on this project page. The software is already available on my GitHub.

So as you can see - there's been a lot of progress! I'll add another log once the PCBs arrive.