Thanks, it's been extremely helpful for my project.  My brother is an amateur photographer and wants to take high-speed photos of water droplet splatters, etc.  The plan, which is about half-way there in software, is to manually set a delay time, arm the trigger, trigger the micro, count down for the user-specified time, and shoot the photo.  These darned things are $1,000+ USD.  We plan to share when it's finished.

Sorry, I've been gone for a few days.

I only bent the pins 8-13.  If you were to only install the analog pins and digital pins 0-7, they all line up fine with each other (0.1" spacing).  Pins 8-13 are the ones that are offset by an odd amount.

Thanks for the link.  That is a pretty decent board and the price is pretty good too.  That's very much like what I've been thinking about.

The board I used has standard spaced holes, so I bent the pins on one set so that they would line up.  I don't have pictures of that.  It would be nice if there were some circuit boards that were drilled for arduino so anyone could build a prototype thing-a-ma-jig like this on their own.

I have posted a few pictures of my homebrew LCD shield.  It isn't as pretty as I would like, but it is pretty good for a first try.  The LCD has male pin headers on it that plug in to the board.  I can install a new on easily if, for some reason, I should kill this one.

I connected a couple of female inline headers to allow access to the digital pins that are not being used by the LCD.  A future version might have a full row of inputs, rather than just the remaining ones.

There are 6 buttons.  One is a reset button while the other 5 are used with the analog inputs.  I turn on the internal pull-ups in the Arduino when I use the buttons, which are connected to ground.  When I'm not using the buttons, I still have access to the power and analog input pins via a female inline header.  As long as you don't press a button, you don't interfere with the inputs while you're in analog input mode.

This should provide a nice platform for working with inputs while employing a human readable interface at the same time.

Check out my picures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyboy19/sets/72157616348500003/

Why not use 2 thermistors.  One would be of known type and characteristics.  The other would be the thermistor under test.  You could have a couple of baths set up in styrofoam cups.  Put each pair of thermistors in the cup, let them stabilize and then take measurements.  I'd think that after 3 or 4 different temperature readings, you should have a reasonable idea of what the curve should look like.  The wider the gap from least to greatest, the better, of course.  Mainly, I'm thinking that you could compare the unknown thermistor to different thermistor charts to determine which one you have.  I know this isn't the automated test you would like to have, but at least you would have something to run with.

If you were to plot several thermistor curves in a spreadsheet and then plot the points you measure from your unknown thermistor, you could do a visual curve fit and a little SWAG to determine the thermistor.

When someone doesn't even have the decency to rename their product after ripping it off of an open source design, they probably aren't worthy of your money and business.  There are all sorts of clones out there with their own name.  I have respect for those guys, but personally, I really like the guys with the original idea.  I reward them with my business, no matter how small I may be.  Chinese Arduino...NO, I wouldn't buy anything from them.

You could do your own single-sided serial arduino.  See the main page here: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardSerialSingleSided3

Regarding your etching, I'd try this method: http://tanjent.com/doku.php?id=pcb_fabrication

Obviously, there are people who feel that their prices are reasonable enough.  Supply and demand.  Suppliers will charge what consumers are Willing and Able to pay.

Maybe you should compete with them.  Sounds like you have it figured out already.  With the amount of money they're making, you should make a killing with your pricing.

I think one of the reasons that the customer is always wrong these days is because the honesty and civility in our country is on the decline.  More and more, it is look out for yourself and screw the other guy.  Just look at the number of lawsuits at any particular time.  All of this to say that Waterppk is right, if it's an electronic device and you hooked it up, it's yours, no refund.  This is the same policy in automotive and other industries as well.

I too have had good experiences with SF.  I've ordered several parts and had no problems with shipping or the items I received.  The complaints about pricing are a bit ignorant, I think.  No one knows how much they pay for parts, manufacturing, or engineering time.  They have a staff, warehouse, manufacturing facility, etc. that must be paid for.  None of us knows what kind of margins they operate on.  They are obviously providing a good service to a lot of people or their business wouldn't be expanding.  They provide chips with pins so close together that no one could do it with an iron.  That takes a very expensive machine to build those parts.  Hobbyists didn't used to have access to some of those things.  Now we have breakout boards.  I tip my hat to them.  Great job!

Do you have to get through all 10 to finish, or can you just take what little you get and run with it?

@Arduino Malaysia, if you are truly selling an official Arduino board, kudos.  I appreciate that you are selling the real thing and not a clone that is being marketed as if it were the real thing.  I see the fake ones on Ebay all the time.  It is a shame and those people should be banned from selling.  I don't have a problem with them selling clones, but they should be labeled as such.  I am in complete agreement.

You can buy a working scope here:  http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/dso-nano-v2-p-681.html?cPath=104_108&zenid=83f0c199e2cfbf32e41e273c23136db2
What you are looking at on deal extreme is the DSONano V1.

I made an assumption in reading your requirements that it didn't need to be directional.  If it does indeed have to be directional, a flip flop or some other electronic logic would probably be required.

No need for flip flops or any electronic parts other than some switches.  Use two microswitches.  On switch #1, connect the common terminal to +V and the NC terminal connects to the NO terminal of switch #2.  Common terminal of switch #2 connects to one side of light bulb or LED.  Other lead of light goes to ground.

When drawer is closed, one of the two switches is open and the other is closed -- light off.  When drawer is half open, one switch is closed and the other is open -- light on.  If drawer is opened past the second switch, one switch is open and the other is closed -- light off.