Template:NEXT/connectivity

Wireless 802.11a/b/g
done with the new wifistix expansion board.

More Ethernet
How about NetTrio or NetQuad expansion boards? I want to build a small firewall with support for a DMZ, and maybe put my Wifi AP on its own network segment as well.

Even More Ethernet, falls in line with AP request above
An AP literally would only need a wifi chip and two ethernet jacks. (Broadcom based solutions such as the WRT54G get around this by using a switch that supports vlan tagging, so the 4 lan jacks and the interweb jack are all on the same switch, which is plugged into an internal ethernet jack on the broadcom board). So, the only thing that would actually complete the Gumstix platform is a cross between NetCF and NetDuo: a Netstix expansion board that has a CF slot and two ethernet jacks. -- DiabloD3

In addition, many broadcom-based WRT clones have USB host functionality to support external mass storage devices and printers to do file sharing and print sharing. If breakout-gs could be altered to do USB host instead of client, people could actually turn around and build cheap yet superior alternatives to WRT setups. (For comparison, some WRT clones go for upwards of $200. For about $250, you could get all the parts you need except for the switch to build a Gumstix based router that both performs well, and can perform other complex tasks.) -- Diablo-D3

USB Host
Instead of just a USB client, how about having a USB host controller, so the gumstix can control USB devices: ethernet dongles, storage, class-A bluetooth (100m range), more serial ports, web cam, audio I/O (analog or digital), even a keyboard and display.

semi-done: the linux kernel in 2.6.12 includes a driver for this Ratoc card, which can be used with cfstix

USB 2.0 (host) support.

done in Q1, 2007 with verdex motherboards.

USB again
I'd like to urge a serious USB host board. I know about using that CF USB thing in the CF adapter board but I'm talking about something with multiple ports, USB 2.0 high speed, and the ability to source significant amounts of power over the USB bus. It would probably need its own power input, which could be +5 regulated if necessary (that's what it has to provide over the bus), or it would really be cool if there was a dc/dc converter on the board that could run on 7.2 in or even 3.6 in. Having this with (say) 4 ports would solve a lot of the requests people are making. You could plug in a USB hard drive, bluetooth and wifi devices, audiophile a/d converters, keyboard/mouse/display, pretty much anything you can imagine. The wimpy CF thing is just not up to this task. --phr

done in Q1, 2007 with verdex motherboards.
 * No, Verdex doesn't support usb2 high speed (480 mbps). --phr

Serial
Export RS-232 -compatable (at least electrically) connections for all four UARTs if possible.

More Serial
Fix the Tweener, so that if one wants to use it between the Gumstix and the Robostix and keep the serial for the Gumstix console, one doesn't have to cut a teeny-tiny little trace less than a scant mm from other traces. Either place the traces to cut out in the open, at least 3-4 mm away from other traces, or use a jumper, or *something* other than how it is now, for how it currently is sucks. add Y0_RTS and Y0_CTS signals to Tweener serial out.

PCMCIA expansion
Title says it all, many expansion possibilities arise having that. Any chance of having 2 PCMCIA slots?

Firewire
I need to put these in a UAV with a lot of data coming from a firewire camera. Data needs to be stored on a big CF, or transmitted wirelessly over tcp/ip. These would be fantastic glue.

Bluetooth ad-hoc networks with other Waysmalls? Or with a central controller?
Getting TCP/IP running over bluetooth to a remote machine would be a big win. done: There is a TCP/IP over bluetooth protocol service called PAN (or personal area network). PAN is provided on linux by the pand daemon, which is configured to run automatically in continuously-scanning client mode on the gumstix. Also: see the BluetoothHowto for a step-by-step guide.

Zigbee
... market still developing, but there are three or four different 801.15.4 transceivers that could connect using SPI (SSP or NSSP) for wireless sensor networks. Put one of those onto your robot, with your Robostix, and have Linux manage a swarm of mobile sensors... or maybe just use static ones to figure out what to do next. The transceiver and its support, even antennas, wouldn't take much boardspace at all.

Backplane
Boards or ribbon cables that can be combined in various geometries to add additional bus or hirose connectors and give you an arbitrarily large backplane for adding boards. That way you can have ethernet, audio, usb, cf, etc. and have it in a planar or stack geometry.

I'm thinking along the lines of riser cards only made of ribbons, I'd also like to reference the prior 'waysmall' suggestion by another user.

A 5-10 cm flexible printed circuit with hirose connectors on each end would make a great accessory. Like these

More Capable Expansion Board
A slightly bigger expansion board that wraps up the functionality of your existing expansion boards into one: etherstix, signal break-outs so we could interface an LCD, audiostix and the waysmall boards all in one. Even a flash memory expansion if possible. Maybe some jumpers so that we could have access to the serial signals before the line drivers. It seems like a lot of applications require functionality that exists on several of your boards.

Single-cable expansion / dev board
An expansion board with only a USB connector. Power the Gumstix via the USB cable, and map all of the Gumstix serial ports to USB (perhaps with jumpers to enable disable BTUART/HWUART mapping for BT-enabled Gumstix), as well as the regular USB device interface. Thus by attaching a single cable to the host computer one can have TCP/IP connectivity (over USB), a console, and access to the other serial ports. (This might require a host-powered USB hub built into the board to multiplex the serial ports onto a single USB cable?) The convenience would be nice, the fewer cables the better IMO.

Netstix Development Board
A business card sized development board that includes I/O breakout and USER breadboard area and fits in a case with a full netstix. Nice if included other small requests like LEDs, POE, regulator, switches, and external (through case) access to Hirose 60 connector (via cable). Add a DS2480B (Dallas Semi, SOIC-8) and pickup 1-wire!!! Very nice if socket for low cost Vinculum VDRIVE USB host. Could be barebones and user adds application specific parts as desired.

flat flex cable adapters
How about an adapter board for DF12 male/female to two 30-position FH19 flat flex cable connectors and an adapter board for FX11L male/female to two 50-position FH19 flat flex cable connectors.

The board layout for each adapter would have one gender of DF12 or FX11L on each side for connection to either either platform or expansion boards (or interposed between one of each, like the Tweener) and a FH19 on each side for connection to a pair of flat flex cables.

These adapters could then be used to adapt either platform or expansion boards, interpose between platform and expansion boards, stack with each other for multiple vertical flat flex cable connections, and wire between each other via flat flex cable.

Note that the reason I suggest interconnection using two flat flex cables is based on easy availability of 30-position and 50-position cables in small quantities since this seems to be an appropriate design goal for a prototyping/hobbyist platform.

Someone skilled in board layout could probably easily design what I've described and have small quantities of boards built relatively cheaply by the existing online PCB houses.

To this end, here are the links for all of the parts from |DigiKey.

0.5 mm contact flat flex cable pdf FH19 pdf DF12 pdf FX11L pdf

Simple Hirose 60 to Hirose 60 Cable
I would love to see a hirose cable so I can separate boards for mounting. It is extremely difficult to mount the Connex with multiple expansion boards. If each board could be connected with a flexible cable you could mount boards side by side.

Wireless AP complete package
You already have NetCF, which allows for using a CF wi-fi card. Add a connex CPU and voila! the hardware is done. Now for something that 'Just Works', Instead of reinventing the wheel, You can adapt Sveasoft's Open Source Firmware, possibly co-developing the AP (as Sveatoft's system will possibly need changes to work on the new hardware). Linksys has crippled new AP hardware, they are looking for alternatives now. I believe there is a great opportunity for both companies in this option right now.

Sveasoft has gotten in trouble for GPL violations, he basically uses a hacked up version of OpenWRT. What I'd like to see is OpenWRT for ARM systems. -- DiabloD3

Waysmall
Use short, flat connectors similar to the Hirose DF14 or DF3. Mount the external serial ports to the case of the Waysmall and run short cables to the board. This eliminates stresses on the little electrical connections that some people are breaking.

MiniPCI
How hard would it be to add miniPCI card support?

Power over Ethernet
There was mention several months back of a PoE version of the EtherStix. Has anything happened to this? Ideally I want a NetCFDuo that can accept PoE on one port and get enough juice to run the CF card as well.

How about adding just a small amount of circuitry, such as this National part. http://www.national.com/pf/LM/LM5071.html

Breakout board modification
Add another Hirose 60-pin connector on the other side of the board (like in Tweener) so it could be stacked in between Gumstix and another expansion board (Robostix in my case).

AirPcap
Id like to see a Module for a intregrated version of the AirPcap from Cace.

USB powered waysmall
There should be a box that connects the gumstix to a usb port and is powered directly by the port. --phr

Low power gumstix
There should be a new gumstix board running at much lower power, maybe using one of those mp3 player chips which typically have a 100 mhz arm7 or so. These things will run for 15+ hours on one AAA cell, meaning they draw well under 0.1 watts, or about 1/10th of what a gumstix uses, while still being similar in architecture (the Sandisk C240 mp3 player has a dual core 100 mhz arm7 and 32mb of ram, hardware that should be able to run a Gumstix-like linux just fine). This low power is important for many battery powered applications which can get by less than the current gumstix cpu performance. An integrated dc-dc converter to power the board directly from 1.5 volts (really down to 1.0 volts or so, to accomodate the alkaline discharge curve, and 1.2 volt nimh cells) would be a big plus. --phr