Niche expansion cards

Creators & Developers Expansion Card
251

small laser distance measuring device.
all kind of sensor, like temperature, humidity, air pressure

252

How about smart home hubs like Zigbee, ZWave, etc?

253

Small RISC-V cpu Expansion Card

2 Likes
254

@0xN1C0 US9991657B2 - Magnetic adapter - Google Patents might cover something like this; itā€™s a patent from apple for a magsafe female to usb-c male adapter

1 Like
255

USB Killer Expansion

It kills the laptop when plugged in.
That is all

2 Likes
256

I donā€™t have very weird ones, but a few I might use/make myself

  • An expansion bay with a Wemos D1 mini inside. I develop a lot for wemos D1 mostly wifi (MQTT, HTTPS, web-pages, ntfy messaging) and I have a board hanging from the USB port, so it would be nice to put in a bay for development. Wifi antenna could still be decent if the casing is plastic. GPIO pins can be covered, never use it during development.
  • VGA for the poor folks that have no HDMI monitor
  • Full size SD card (this is serious, I need it for camera/3D printer)
257

Framework is working on a full size SD card reader. They have announced it a few weeks ago in a blog post and the development will be documented in a series of YouTube videos.

258

Christian_Kaser

4h

Framework is working on a full size SD card reader. They have announced it a few weeks ago in a blog post and the development will be documented in a series of YouTube videos.
[/quote]

There have been a couple of projects in this community to fit an available full SD reader into an expansion card. A quick search should fine them. I think they are what spurred FW to investigate doing their own one seeing that these could fit the connector.

1 Like
259

I pickup up one of these on eBay. It was supposed to be a 4.5mm one, but it is actually a 7.4mm one. Yet to try it out. Have investigated disassembling it, but it seems to be well glued up.

1 Like
260

You can pick similar/opposite converters, way smaller too, for different brands from third parties. I have one for an old HP laptop I own that chargers only with barrel and now I can charge with a generic 65W usbc charger.

261

How about a chopstick holder card? I can image a mechanism simular to extensible cup holders in cars. You push onto it and it unfolds two donuts.
Why you might ask? Well I really like eating asian takeout foods while working and this would make it more practical.

262

Blockquote
How about a chopstick holder card? I can image a mechanism simular to extensible cup holders in cars. You push onto it and it unfolds two donuts.
Why you might ask? Well I really like eating asian takeout foods while working and this would make it more practical.

@_Lennart_Schuster
Maybe ask @XenoCow
This could be a simple adaption of the existing snack drawer:

263

Blockquote jontor24

(Niche expansion cards - #25 by jontor24)

I thought the module could plug into the laptop and then get wider to receive a CAC/smart card.

264

I gave this some thought and have a couple ideas. The best of the two requires an addition to the drawer that has been suggested and I would like to implement when I get the motivation to.

265

@Neil_Fox

I guess should be possible to use multiple usb extension cards as a mouse for haptics and function. When used with a cable there could be a sdcard(micro?) slot inside the mouse and even a usb c passthrough would be nice! I have an idea how the cable and button mousepart should split horizontally so the upper part stays in the slot and gives good relive to the connector and the cable kinda folds out. I dont know how to put the cable back insideā€¦ :wink:

266

Three letters:

NFC

1 Like
267

Iā€™ve been thinking about how to do this, and I think that there is possibly a way to do it in a module that will be only slightly oversize. It is taking some thinking about the physical arrangement, and wonā€™t be here soon.

1 Like
268

itā€™s ā€¦ not necessary glue, but more of heavy clipping and clever design.
Yes, the two flat sides come out, and the PCB just slide out. Not unlike how their power supplies are built.

I dropped my power supply a while ago, thatā€™s how I got it open. If you really want to give it a crack, pinch it in a vice or whatnot would help. Or just hit it with a hammer.

I will be extremely interested in the chip they actually use.

269

So my Framework is going to be a while more (16 batch 12ā€¦probably end of Q1), but Iā€™m thinking a FTDI module with switchable 3.3v/5v would be awesome. Basically SparkFun USB to Serial Breakout - FT232RL - BOB-12731 - SparkFun Electronics tih a 0.1mm plugs for the basic 4 pins, activity LEDs, and probably nothing else. Not a full RS232, but sufficient for the basic hobbyist ESPHome/Arduino type projects.

Also a NFC module, might work tapping to the side of the keyboard. SparkFun has a fairly small breakout board, and NFC module, that with some re-working might be able to go onto a board small enough with the right USB-C connector.

Or maybe try and see if I can re-make one of these adafruit multi-protocol, Adafruit FT232H Breakout - General Purpose USB to GPIO, SPI, I2C [USB C & Stemma QT] : ID 2264 : $14.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits.

270

That sounds quite doable, why not give it a try?