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+-- Forum: Pinebook Pro (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=111)
+--- Forum: General Discussion on Pinebook Pro (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=112)
+--- Thread: GPIO breakout question (/showthread.php?tid=17829)
GPIO breakout question - pinus_pinea - 01-17-2023
Hello, gonna front-load this with an apology for my utter newbness, and probably a whole slew of subsequent dumb questions.
I have a thought and I would like to ask if this is something that is possible. I was thinking about how one could go about getting access to, or expanding, the GPIO resources for the Pinebook Pro. In my searching around for existing info, I found the following:
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=4785
I'm not so enthusiastic about doing everything through the SD card slot like that, but I def appreciate that that user was able to really probe the system for that functionality like that.
I had another thought: is it possible to create some kind of add-on board/card using the PCIe x4 connection, some kind of bridge chip, and possibly some kind of MCU or other supporting ICs, that one could install through the M.2 connection, and then create a port physically somewhere on the case (I'm actually thinking of somehow machining the aluminum bottom case somehow to do this but whole other can of worms)? A whole "GPIO board" mounted on that connection using that bus?
Is that dumb? Crazy amount of work? I'm not even sure where to start, mostly just wanted a lot more GPIO/physical computing ability for this platform.