While we're on a boards thread...
Something that comes up more often than not is people asking about how to interface with encoders and Arduino.
I've been thinking and it would be possible to pick up a small 8 pin Arduino with an I2C interface, or even a 20 pin and create a board that would receive encoder (quadrature or single pulse) signals and update an internal counter accordingly. The count would then be transmitted via I2C, or even SPI depending on existing hardware in the chip and selection pins.
But then again, I'm not quite sure there would be market for this kind of board... maybe in conjunction with a motor control interface chip... where the 20 pin IC, would count encoder pulses and direction and control a PWM power driver for a motor, all with I2C/SPI interface.
What do you guys think?