Minnowboard:Expansion Interfaces

The table below describes the various different expansion interfaces on the Minnowboard:

+5V Power
This is the primary input from the external power jack!

General Purpose Input/Output
These are GPIOs that can be used for basic input and output.

CAN
Controller Area Network(CAN), or as it is commonly known, CAN-bus, is a communication protocol originally designed for automotive applications. It is an asynchronous serial bus network that connects devices, sensors and actuators for control applications. CAN is now standardized in ISO 11898, ISO 16845 and SAE J1939 for automotive, industrial and general embedded communications. CAN-bus is now commonly employed not only in automotive and aerospace applications but also in medical equipment. For more information, please refer the links below:

http://www.partssource.com/site/ControllerAreaNetwork

http://www.elinux.org/CAN_Bus

PCIe
PCI Express (PCIe or PCI-E) is a high-speed, serial computer expansion bus standard that connects a computer with its attached peripherals. PCI Express was developed by Intel Corp. in 2004 to replace the peripheral component interconnect (PCI) and PCI-X expansion buses, along with the accelerated graphics port (AGP) graphics card interface. Today, PCI Express is the primary connection method for most video cards to modern computers. For more information refer the link below:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/190

GND
GND or Ground is simply a reference voltage level(called zero potential or ground potential) against which all other voltages in a system are established and measured.

LVDS
Low-voltage differential signalling or commonly abbreviated as LVDS, was introduced in the mid-1990’s and is very popular in computers, where it forms part of very high-speed networks and computer buses. It is a high-speed digital interface that is used for several applications that require high noise immunity and low power consumption for high data rates. LVDS are designed to be used for applications including flat panel displays that use an LVDS connection to the graphics card as well as for high data transmission in printers, digital copiers and cell phones. LVDS is also used in commercial and military applications. For more information refer the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-voltage_differential_signaling

FPD(Flat Panel Display)-Link was the first large-scale application of the LVDS standard. For more information refer the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FPD-Link

SDIO
A SDIO (Secure Digital Input Output) card is an extension of the SD(Secure Digital) card specification to cover the I/O functions. Host devices that support SDIO can use the SD slot to support GPS receivers, modems, barcode readers, FM radio tuners, TV tuners, RFID readers, digital cameras, and interfaces to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, and IrDA.The SDIO card includes all the firmware and software needed to operate the peripheral that’s integrated into the SDIO card. For more details refer the link below:

http://securedigital-inputoutput-sdiocards.articles.r-tt.com/

HDA
The Intel High Definition Audio(HDA) Specification describes an architecture and infrastructure to support high-quality audio implementations for PCs. Intel High Definition Audio is capable of playing back more channels at higher quality than previous integrated audio formats. In addition, Intel High Definition Audio has the technology needed to support the latest and greatest audio content. For more details refer the link below:

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/chipsets/high-definition-audio.html

SMB
The System Management Bus is a two-wire interface and is used in personal computers and servers for low-speed system management communications. It uses I2C as its backbone. The SMbus is also used to communicate between ICs, Temperature Sensors and batteries.

http://smbus.org/

UART
Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter(UART) is a piece of computer hardware that translates data between parallel and serial forms. It is an integrated circuit used for serial communications that contains a receiver (serial-to-parallel converter) and a transmitter (parallel-to-serial converter), each clocked separately. Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitters are commonly included in microcontrollers and are designed to be used for several applications. UARTs are used for devices including GPS units, modems, wireless communication and Bluetooth modules, amongst many other applications. For more details refer the link below:

http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/Signal-Interface/uart.aspx

SPI
The Serial Peripheral Interface(SPI) is a simple 4-wire serial communications interface used primarily for a synchronous serial communication of host processor and peripherals. However, a connection of two processors via SPI is also possible. For more information please refer the link below:

http://www.mct.net/faq/spi.html

I2C
I²C bus is an abbreviation for Inter Integrated Circuit bus. It is also known as IIC and I2C. I²C is a serial and synchronous bus protocol. It is a simple, low-bandwidth, short-distance protocol. For more information please refer the link below:

http://www.elinux.org/BoardBringUp-i2c

SATA
SATA or Serial ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) is the next generation drive interface, following the traditional Parallel ATA (PATA). It is an IDE standard for connecting devices like optical drives and hard drives to the motherboard. For more information refer the link below:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-sata-or-serial-ata.htm

USB HOST
USB Host mode allows you to connect various USB devices (external hard drives, digital cameras, card readers, input devices, etc.) to your device just like a regular computer.