The original CFT form factor was a standard 6U 19" rack. Aside from my being used to 19" racks, the only other reason for this was the Eurocard backplane (which, of course, is made for 19" sub-racks). It's cheaper to build my own case, though, and then all bets are off. The front panel is designed on an imperial grid because the LEDs could go on a generic board, and then we have the standard 100 mil grid. But the case itself can now be any old size. I'm keeping it roughly 19 inches wide, but going metric otherwise. It means I can use standard-sized building materials in Greece.

So the panel is now approximately 19-inches wide and 20 centimetres tall. This combines well with my belief that 6U is just too massive. 20cm is just over 4U, and that'll keep the case more elegant, lighter, and the panel nicer to look at. Here's the first draft of the updated panel artwork. Not only is it smaller, it's also got more space for LEDs: gone are the three generic lights. We now have no fewer than sixteen generic LEDs, although I expect I'll only install a few of those to begin with.

It's also nicer to use (I expect), since it keeps the most important information right in the centre, and only has a single row of switches (the previous three revisions used two rows of switches).