Addons standard

[V3lectronics]

Need to come up with a smart standard for designing add-ons.

The Pine64 magnetic (?) pogo connector system can be used as an inspiration.

Electronics requirements:
-power lane (5/3.3V) at least 1-2W
-GND
-I2C, UART (or other simple protocol) lanes
-SYS connection (system power, see power schematic) for external batteries
-protection on all of the exposed pins (overcurrent, overvoltage, polarity etc.)

Mechanical requirements:
-mechanism for securely and conveniently attaching the addons to the chassis, probably at the back. Needs to be discussed with chassis team probably.

Pogo pins connectors:

e.g. phone can be male, addon can be female.

After we have a suitable standard it needs to be tested and documented in the wiki. Then people can start developing addons.

[gingrspacecadet]

how fancy do we want to go with these? Cause I am all for custom kernel drivers!

[Cactys12]

We should probably opt for the 4- pin connector to have 1 power lane and 1 data lane, we could then potentially try to integrate it as an internal USB, which could make it easier to use with Linux

[vertigofilip]

I personally am bigger fan of Berg connectors, as they can hold each other to some extent without use of magnets. Also USB-C (like in framework laptops), or it using different connector could be an interesting option in my opinion. USB-C has power delivery that can set the voltage of the output, and it can do so much more, but I think, that for now I2C would be better, as the USB-C is more complex, and can be added in version 2.