Yes, the MAX232 driver chip selected is that wide. It would fit under the 1284 if the pins were laid perpindular to the DIP's pins, which would probabaly be good for the capacitors also. However I think routing of the signals in/out of the part then seriously get in the way of the 1284 signals on a 2 layer board. If I think about it tonight, I'll rip the traces up & try it.
The decoupling caps and crystal caps and Reset R/C parts would then have to move out from under the 1284 (or go on the bottom of the board? Hadn't considered that possibility.)
The MAX3232 also comes in a 16TSSOP package which the FTDI part type pin spacing. I went for the bigger hand-solderable size.
The 16MHz crystal won't fit, is too tall.
@mowcius,
"Shouldn't take too long.
Once you're done I'd have a manual tidy up of tracks (I'll have a play around with them if you want)."
Its gonna be hard - there are so many signals, I did not see any readily available spaces to run a trace and vias to get them connected to ground somewhere, and I have hatching on the top & bottom layer. The pads that need to be connected are on their own little ground islands. I think I will have to move things a little and try again, should resolve 2 of the capacitor ground issues, getting ground to IC7 a little trickier now that the crystal caps are under the 1284.
I find it very hard to follow the traces after the hatching goes in.
I suppose I could have it do the routing with no hatching, strip out the grounds, clean up by hand, then let it try & put the hatching in again. Likely just leave me with unconnected grounds again.
Or just route it all by hand, just takes longer and results in more Design Rule checks to clean up as I tend to get things a little too close without realizing it (they look far enough apart when zoomed in!)
What gets me is the clearance errors that need cleaning up after the routing is done, and the Width & Dimension errors. from the libray parts! Specifically the fiduciarys, some interference between SD socket ground pad and hole in the lower right side, and vias that get placed too close to stuff.