ENC28J60 library, GM counter

As promised and planned, I took better look at the SW SPI modification of the ENC28J60 library. I am not sure I mentioned what library I am using, so here's the link.
Unfortunately, there are two problems:

• the library I originally got was version for regular Arduinos. It took me some time and research to find out there is a branch numbered 1.5.x that is compatible with Arduino Due and Arduino 1.5.x. In fact, I figured this just as I am writing this text. I originally only got a ZIP file what was linked from forum, and just now I realized it's a branch of the library. Anyway, I had problems to compile the thing, and in the end something went wrong and the library stopped work at all. I suspect Arduino, I was changing the versions of the library, and at one moment I had Arduino actually using a library I already deleted!
• the library seems to have a known bug that the communication hangs after a short while. This was supposedly fixed in the branch I didn't have this morning, so I had no chance to test it, and then I moved to another project.

However, my SW SPI modifications actually worked.  The problem I was facing yesterday was just a minor bug in SPI read. The SPI clock goes high, then the data from slave can be read, and then the SPI clock goes low again. After fixing this, Due communicated with network... until the library bug caused it to hang.

I was fed up with that, and moved to the GM counter project. I used slightly different HV power supply for this variant, and it wasn't a good idea. The power supply is safer, sort of, because the output voltage bleeds to zero quickly when I remove the battery. The previous power supply kept the output capacitor charged, and despite it's just something like 10nF, those 450V made a nice spark when I shorted it with a screwdriver! The new power supply drops the voltage to zero within a second or so. Another problem with this new one is the power consumption - unloaded, it draws around 5mA from 5V power supply. The old one, with some tweaking, draws less than 500uA. I am considering to change the new power supply to the old one. See this page. The very first one is the "new" one, second is the "old" one. The second is simpler and better, and given the fact I power it from 4.2 LiIon, there's no need to stick with the new design.
I also found out that when it comes to inductance, bigger is better. The guy recommends 10mH, but I am getting the best performance with an inductance so big I even cannot measure it. The second best is my home wound pot core inductor with something like 80mH. Less inductance means bigger power consumption.

I also received some small toroid cores and I tried to wind my own inductor in an attempt to make the 10mH reference one as being used by the "old" HV power supply. I found nice video about winding toroids, and tried it myself. It's a good idea, unfortunately my wire was thinner, and curled all the time. It took me a lot of time to straighten the curls every turn, and in the end some curls bent, and the wire broke after some 30-40 turns out of 100 planned turns. The enamel on the wire was pretty worn out at some spots, and I wouldn't really want to use the resulting coil in a mission critical application. However, with thicker wire, more patience and after finding a way to straighten the wire so it stays so, I can make my own inductors!

The fastest way to high inductances turned out to be a combination of pot core with plastic holder, and an electric drill. In no time, I had a pot core with few hundreds of turns.