Hardware components on the PCB:

• RJ45 jacks for power and comms
  
• RS-422 transceivers in soic-8 package (my first foray into smd components)
• 3-pin JST for connecting to the LED strips
• Jumpers for selecting data direction
• Bypass caps and terminating resistor

EagleCAD has a pretty steep learning curve, but thanks to some Sparkfun tutorials and other miscellaneous Google searches the PCB design process went pretty well.  I hand-routed each trace and it took a while before I had a layout I was happy with.

Thanks to OSH Park, two weeks after finishing the design I had three slick purple PCBs on my desk.

(insert image here)

A couple of changes noticed for the next revision:

• Move the jst connectors to the outside of the board to make it easier to insert/remove.
  
• Replace the two data direction jumpers with a single switch.
• Make the trace that links the +5V lines on the RJ45 jacks thicker.
• Use the two unconnected cat5 wires for power and ground.

Fortunately the board was pretty simple and there were no missing or mis-routed traces.  My big mistake was with the power supply.  I neglected to account for voltage drop over long cable runs, so sending 5V didn't cut it.  The next revision should take 12V or so and regulate it down to 5V.

In working on soldering my first smd components I learned, counterintuitively, that a larger iron tip can make soldering small components easier.  Who knew?