@Shawn_Lewis
It’s totally possible. The cubic volume of this USB C SD card reader is similar to a Framework card, and that’s while having a micro SD slot. Sure, you might have a lot of the SD card sticking out, but it’s possible.
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How are these two different?
I doubt you’d be able to fit anything that wouldn’t be worse than the iGPU. Cooling, especially, would be a serious problem.
This has been requested before, and as already pointed out, there’s basically no way you’d get a meaningful capacity…
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@matthew3 An audio DAC is some high-end audio controller that reduces signal noise and crates a high-fidelity audio output.
It’s kinda like saying “earbud” vs “in ear monitor”. They’re the same, but not.
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One is a physical form factor (or two).
The other is (usually) an electronic device - which may or may not host said form factor(s).
Just sayin’.
[quote=“Jake_Richter, post:430, topic:193”]
I feel confident in asserting that there’s a DAC associated with the “stereo out port”, and a port associated with the “audio DAC”. (Unless the former is asking for a TOSlink / SPDIF port?)
I suspect that what @Samuel_Johnson really wants in “an audio DAC” is something specific that isn’t already available via the existing DAC and ⅛" jack. Apparently, my encouragement to extrapolate was too subtle.
(FWIW, I am also skeptical that a secondary DAC, particularly one that can fit in an expansion card, is actually better in some meaningful way compared to the one that’s already on the main board. Feel free to try to convince me otherwise, though.)
Honestly, yeah. Professional DACs are huge.
Since right now one whole port is taken by a charger using USB-C expansion slot, perhaps this would be more efficient:
- Charging barrel / USB-C combo for preferred choice of connector.
- Double USB-C combo where one would be for power delivery only.
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They are, but I was always under the impression this was because of pre-amps (for those that have ADC capabilities as well) and amps. There are no shortcuts to amplification. If the amplification portion is external than the actual DAC could fit on an expansion card quite easily, but we are talking about a dongle then.
An enclosed expansion card (no external port) that can be easily opened with a female USB port inside would be nice for small wireless mouse dongles that will always be plugged in.
That way you can leave the dongle plugged in all the time but won’t have it sticking out at all. To me, that would be an improvement functionally and aesthetically, and the signal loss from having to go through a layer of plastic shouldn’t matter with how close the mouse/keyboard likely will be.
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some of the options in the survey is just … weird.
LED matrix? like a flash light?
I would go further and say that if we do release a LED matrix, we should also do a Infrared matrix. although nobody use infrared anymore.
Also. I noticed this thing from the picture:
it look like a full size SD card, except that those pegs seem to not be SD card prongs. Nor are those any other card readers.
There seem to also be a plastic cable connector on that PCB’s bottom side, which adds to the intrigue.
Perhaps this is some sort of pre-release test modules
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They have mentioned about a microprocessor in a module with pins on the outside for the i/o
I suspect that is one of those.
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it do look a lot like a microprocessor in a module with pins on the outside.
They sound like “Arduino Micro in a shell” type, which is very curious on exactly what they are trying to do, since the Micro is capable of many things (e.g. native USB connection, SPI, I2C, ADC and DAC)
If they wanted a Arduino-Micro-in-a-shell, they shouldn’t bother and instead just provide USB-C to micro USB cables. In fact, they don’t even need to do that because we have USB-A connector expansion cards.
Well there are a few of us that have an actual use case for a microprocessor in a module, and also are working on it. In fact I already have one running prototype.
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I noticed. In this thread, this is shown:
Which is really intriguing. Perhaps as things like USB chip programmers and the sort.
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The amount of difficulty I have in swapping out the expansion cards convinces me more every day that a Kensington lock card would be very effective.
If someone saw an opportunistic thief struggling to press the release button for 30 seconds to disconnect the laptop from the lock, it’d probably stand out 
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There’s a thread around here somewhere addressing the first. Nirav mentions that they found it takes about 10 insertions/removals for things to become easier and more consistent.
Regarding the second, the K-slot on the laptops I fix are usually reinforced with a metal plate and a relatively hefty screw. I don’t think it’d fit in a module, and doesn’t seem like it would protect the laptop much if it did.
(Imagining a poor little expansion card dangling at the end of a security cable…)
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Anyway, the plastic probably would snap/break and probably bend with aluminum. It may be possible to have a singular slot that is high security, whether that be a locking mechanism that requires a magnet to release out of the slot, which would require a small amount of steel above the security slot.
I love this idea. I came to suggest laptop attached input devices in general. I’d personally love an attached numpad or trackball too. someone suggested a side wheel too.
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The monoprice SD card reader is 34mm L x 40mm W. It also looks like it’d be slightly longer and wider than an expansion card with the case stripped away. Seems like a promising footprint though 
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