Raspberry Pi IO Interface

[csoutreach]

We're trying to get some IO expansion for Raspberry Pi. We're starting simple and then adding more later. Since the Pi was originally to teach programming we're aiming at those people, but I think hackers have some interest too.

The first board is has a couple of relays, a few flashy lights and switches, 8 open collector outputs and 8 inputs. The prototype has gone off to be manufactured, and if all goes well we'll be sticking a bigger order into seeed.

In the meantime here's a high quality paper render. ;-p

What we'd like to know is what do you think should be on a board?

[arhi]

what kind of gpio pi offers?

[csoutreach]

Schematics for Raspberry Pi without the interface are available by googling "raspberry pi schematics" -- the forum blocks me posting a direct link.

Without our add on board it offers about 8 I/O pins which aren't buffered and can only sink about 14mA max. We were also concerned that if someone misconnects an I/O pin it blows the board leading to disappointment for in-experienced users.

Our interface offers a few hundred mA drive and if it does blow, you can plug in a new one for a dollar.

[arhi]

I'v seen the schematic and remember that there was seriously limited gpio so was confused about your board (it looked like 20+ gpio's) ... thanks for confirmation... looks like olinuxino is the way to go

[GvdB]

It looks good. What ICs do you intend to use? It would be nice is this board is extendible too. Then you can use this board as protection for the RPi and put another one on top with more circuits. That way the connectors on the sides of this board can be used and other functionality can be built on top.