I'm working on a development board which will mount on a solderless breadboard. It uses a 100 pin TQFP IC and Ethernet jack, among other things, so it would be a nightmare to get it to fit on a single section of breadboard at only 1.1" wide, and I'd like it to be big enough for users to make some edits. I'd also like to be able to plug into power distribution rails on the breadboard (like the Sparkfun Breadboard Power Supply).
However, after comparing my breadboard with a few friends and coworkers, I see that there are a number of differences in layout. I hope that I can accommodate some if not all of these differences by including multiple places to mount the headers for various breadboards.
Here's a dimensioned diagram so we're all on the same page. Imagine that there are two full strips side by side (one mostly off to the left), with power rails on both sides.
[Whoops! I forgot the horizontal dimension between B and C. Let's call it E, since I don't have the source for this image anymore.]
1. What are the dimensions of popular, currently manufactured/used breadboards?
In addition to the measurements in the diagram I'd like to know the following:
2. Is there an electrical discontinuity between the top and of the power rails? (If so, is measurement '3' different at this location?)
3. What is the configuration of the breadboard? Using the convention that P is a two-column power strip and M is a middle section (rows of connections with a gap for DIP ICs in the center), my breadboard looks like: PMPPMPPMP
4. How many rows are in the breadboard middle section and power sections? Mine has 64 pairs of 5-pin rows in the middle and 10 5x2 blocks.
5. Any other discrepancies I missed which would affect PCB layout?