I just returned from vacation and it's wonderful to see that you guys have made so much progress. Two questions:

1) When did we settle on the MSP430F5507? At one point, li_gangyi recommended that we stay away from the QFN package, but that part is available only in QFN. Also, the 32 kB flash memory could end up being a limit, although probably not. I still don't understand how the USCI ports work exactly, but would it be helpful to get one of the chips that has 2x2 USCI? Forgive me if I'm missing something, I just want to make sure this important decision is being made carefully.

2) Is anyone checking for the availability and prices of these components? I've been in trouble before because I designed a board using Eagle's libraries, then looked for the parts on Digikey and many of them weren't available. It's good practice to build a BOM with supplier part numbers and prices as you go. If this still needs to be done, I'll gladly work on this.