An additional reason to have 2 full sized SD ports with one being SDIO


Wow! I had no idea that the SD slot could be used for such things

Using this card for those who want to use the pandora as a phone is a much more practical and cheaper option, than to have it hardwired/designed onto the motherboard.

I have a free SD slot so I would welcome this.
 
I was wondering - how possible and how expensive would it be to make the pandoras current SD slot into one that reads SDIO?

Is a mod like this possible?
 
I think the hardware supports SDIO as it is - the difficulty is that there are few (if any) linux driers for SDIO devices
 
Iirc, the internal wifi module is connected through the sdio interface.
 
That is what I thought as well, but I just looked at the OMAP3530 spec sheet and it specifies serial communication on all three SD ports. Haven't looked through the DM3730 but I've got no reason to believe it would remove this feature)

So I guess in theory it could work?
 
I actually have a few SDIO devices sitting in front of me right now.  

SanDisk Connect Wi-Fi 802.11b

Veo Photo Traveler

I used to use them with my Tapwave Zodiac 2.  I might have to fiddle with them and see if I can see it at all in either of the Pandora's slots.  

Unfortunately, both of my Pandoras are broken and sitting in a box until I can get parts for them.  I don't want to damage them any further.  My original CC case has disintegrated so badly that it won't hold the battery on the contacts and the key mat falls down through resulting in video issues - damaging what's left of the LDC cable.  My #67 1Ghz has gone from PSOD through GSOD to BSOD to no video at all - internal LCD cable is toast.

The parts I need are never all in stock at the same time - can't fill a basket at the Dragon-Box shop.  So, I have a big parts order request waiting in ED's in-box.  Hopefully it will see the light of day soon.  I'm tired of listening to music on my Galaxy Note II - the Pandora's sound is SOOOooo much better.

In the meantime, if someone is really really interested, promises to send them back unharmed, and can claim the knowledge to make them work, I could send one or both of these SDIO devices to them for testing with.  That wouldn't get us to 'drivers for the 3g card' but it could at least do some basic SDIO testing to see if it's responding through the slot.
 
Back in the day, I had a Mio GPS PDA, which was amazing, and I had to use an SDIO WiFi card in that. Whilst I haven't seen many SDIO devices about, I do really like the idea of them being supported
 
Um.. why would only one of the SD card slots be SDIO? Why cant both of them have SDIO? (and mini SD)
Because SDIO is an extension on the SD specification and requires that the device actually support it. That means additional circuitry in the SOC and if the manufacturer decides it isn't worth it to add it to multiple then we can't do anything about it.
edit: upon further investigation, wikipedia says "The SDIO and SD interfaces are mechanically and electrically identical" and goes on to imply that the only thing preventing SD memory supporting devices from also supporting SDIO is software.

So long as we have full sized SD slots I don't think we'll have any problem supporting SDIO.
 
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Um.. why would only one of the SD card slots be SDIO? Why cant both of them have SDIO? (and mini SD)
Because SDIO is an extension on the SD specification and requires that the device actually support it. That means additional circuitry in the SOC and if the manufacturer decides it isn't worth it to add it to multiple then we can't do anything about it.
oh its based on the SOC? Ok. I was thinking it was just an attachment to the SOC (like soldering on an additional USB port or something)
 
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oh its based on the SOC? Ok. I was thinking it was just an attachment to the SOC (like soldering on an additional USB port or something)
Yeah, the SD slots are basically just wires that connect to pins on the SOC in a useful little package.
 
The OMAP3530 has three, one of which is being used for the wifi/bluetooth. I'm pretty sure now, after further investigation, that the only thing preventing SD from being treated as SDIO is software. If the SOC has 3 SD slots then we'll have three SDIO ports. Most have at least 2, frequently 3.
 
I would rather have 3 SDIO than 2 SDIO and Wifi, personally

that way I have the option of 3 SD cards in place of wifi if I so chose
 
I would rather have 3 SDIO than 2 SDIO and Wifi, personally


that way I have the option of 3 SD cards in place of wifi if I so chose
A wifi SDIO card in an SD slot is probably much bigger and more expensive than a wifi chip soldered to the PCB
 
but it opens up more options to the user. OPEN pandora, not "we made some choices for you" pandora
I'd rather have WiFi and Bluetooth built in rather than have them in a form factor I could lose. SDIO is great for adding functionality that a niche needs, or for adding functionality that didn't exist when the product was designed. It doesn't need to be used to add things as mainstream as WiFi and Bluetooth.

-God Ginrai
 
Not really. We barely had room for two SD card slots on the Pandora. Where are you going to find room to fit a third one?

-God Ginrai
 
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