Hi... thought I'd post an update regarding the Shipnet for Nomadness. I just did a blog post with a couple of drawings that might be of interest here... the permalink is:
http://nomadness.com/blog/2009/03/shipnet-architecture.html
I'm just now working on the configuration manager, son of my old audio/video/serial crossbar networks (based on Mitel 8816 chips); the new approach is a big uncommitted string of latching relays driven by 595 shift registers. Pieces of this get to be mini crossbars, multiplexers, steering switches for radio controls, etc...
More soon... and thanks for being here! What a great resource...
Cheers,
Steve