Idea For Socket Of Socketed Nubs!

[xyta]

As ED wrote in the official support forums, the OP team plans to use a kind of socket for the nubs on future batches. The big advantage of this solution is that these socketed nubs can be exchanged very easy e.g. if they are broken.

After thinking a little bit about this plugged- nubs/socket system the idea came into my mind to use these nub holes for further extensions. Perhaps the existing traces to the nubs already allow to "misuse" a nub socket for other things...

But if additional SDIO and high power traces were connected to a nub socket, the chances would grow of operating other extensions in a nub hole...

I'm thinking of extenions like

-acceleration sensors
-GPS/compass
-microSD slots
-keyboard light
-vibration motors for forece feedback...
etc.

 

[WizardStan]

But if additional SDIO and high power traces were connected to a nub socket, the chances would grow of operating other extensions in a nub hole...

The nubs themselves don't contain any digital lines, just analog. Any extensions you'd be interested in would have to be analog in nature, and probably wouldn't be compatible with the ADC anyway.

 

[EvilDragon]

Yes, and the pinout won't change, so that the socketed nubs can also be soldered onto Batch 1 units if a nub breaks there.

 

[wardred]

Sounds good all the way around. I'm definitely interested to find out what Android devices the iCP fits and to hear how well the socketed nubs works as opposed to those soldered directly to the board. Since you had to scrap the boards for the initial ICP, what's the lead time look like for ordering them come the 20th?

 

[xyta]

Yes, and the pinout won't change, so that the socketed nubs can also be soldered onto Batch 1 units if a nub breaks there.

Hmmm but mabe it's possible to keep the pinout compatible to batch 1, AND put additional SDIO pins between these "legacy" pins. So such a socket could be soldered on a batch 1 board as well. The additional pins would remain not connected on batch 1 boards, so that future SDIO nub hole extensions could only be used on batch 2 and later devices, while batch 1 would support only nubs in the nub hole...

(On some computer mainboards there is a similar situation with PCIe x16 slots which have only 8 lanes connected to the hub)

 

[xyta]

.

 

[WizardStan]

Hmmm but mabe it's possible to keep the pinout compatible to batch 1, AND put additional SDIO pins between these "legacy" pins.

Adding extra pins would require redesigning the board. The traces for those pins would have to go somewhere, which would mean MWeston moving things around to get them back to the CPU, and entirely new boards would need to be created, complete with prototyping. Just not worth it.
Not to mention there really aren't anymore GPIO pins left on the OMAP to be redirected. MWeston did a pretty good job of using them all or already exposing them to us.
If you want to be able to plug in extensions like this, that is what the EXT port was designed for. The pins for the EXT port are also available as solder pads on the inside of the case, so if you really wanted to you could mod your own wires from there to the nub holes you are free to do so.

 

[Caine]

It would be kinda cool if you could swap out a nub for a trackball.

 

[xyta]

The advantage of a nub hole extension is, that it is included into the case - in contrast to an ext port module which will be sticking out.

Simple analog sensors would be possible...

-trackball
-thermometer
-barometer
-maybe an acceleration sensor if someone finds a simple resistance based one...